Search results for

Adelphia Communications' Century Cable bank debt took a hit Wednesday, falling from the 99 range to 98 1/4 - 98 3/4 after its earnings release disclosed more than $2 billion in debt under the company's "managed entities." Dealers moved roughly $20 million of the paper.

More than $10 million of Exide Technologies' debt traded down to the 62-64 range this week from 66 earlier this month as the expiration of the company's covenant waivers approaches. The company has waivers on its financial covenants until April 12 and traders believe the company might opt to file for bankruptcy protection.

Hughes Electronics' $600 million add-on has been well received with $20-30 million trading at par to 100 3/8 since the paper broke into secondary market last week. One dealer said the paper is believed to have traded as high as 100 1/2. Market players said the name was trading among its original bank group as buyers who were pared back on allocation look to fulfill their original hunger for the name.

Rotech Healthcare's $275 million deal broke for trading midweek with roughly $50 million trading in the 100 1/4-100 3/4 range. During syndication the oversubscribed deal was highly popular with institutional investors looking to scoop up the recently spun off Integrated Health Services subsidiary. As a result, buy-side allocations were said to be slim (LMW, 3/18).

Tatsuya Takeda, v.p. in the e-markets group at JPMorgan in Tokyo, has joined Nikko Salomon Smith Barney in a new position as a director of structured solutions in the fixed income group. He will be responsible for marketing exotic interest-rate derivative structures, according to an official at the firm. Takeda, who starts next week, reports to Ikuo Morimoto, head of fixed income in Tokyo. The official said the firm is looking to expand its presence in the structured products market because of increased demand, declining to elaborate. Morimoto declined comment.

Flowserve has tapped Bank of America and Credit Suisse First Boston to lead an upcoming acquisition financing deal after landing the Flow Control Division of Invensys for $535 million last week. "Flowserve was involved in an auction for the division last August, but pulled out after Invensys would not accept the bid," noted spokesman Sean Clancey. "We were very firm on valuations. In December Tyco International pulled back from their proposed bid and our chairman [Scott Greer] got a call to re-enter negotiations in late January," he added. Clancey declined to say how much debt would be involved in the acquisition, but said the company will have no higher overall leverage after closing than the current level, as measured by debt to EBITDA. Equity as well as debt will be used to finance the deal which is expected to close within two months, he noted.

Dealers believe that Owens-Illinois will carve out 20% or roughly $500 million of its revolver for a term loan to make the paper more attractive to institutional buyers. Traders said small pieces of the name's revolver and term loan had been moving from dealers to institutions at 97 1/8 and 100 1/4, respectively. An official at the company declined to comment on the rumor noting the privacy of the bank debt.

RCN, the fiber optic services company locked out of the capital markets for the foreseeable future, has struck a deal with its lender group that increases the interest spread on the bank debt and also reduces the overall lending commitment. "RCN will pay down $187.5 million on its term loan, with cash on hand, and will reduce the size of the pro rata," said Kevin Kuryla, director of investor relations. Interest rates will go up to around 6 1/2% to 7% all-in, but that is still comparatively cheap, he added. RCN has been pressured by competition from incumbent digital subscriber line and cable modem providers. In the past year, competitors have been more aggressive in their offerings of high-speed data services, the growth driver under RCN's competitive business model. Last week RCN's bank debt jumped nearly 10 points in about $30 million in trades as the market started to buzz about an imminent paydown (LMW, 3/25).

UBS Warburg has launched a fixed-income and derivatives research portal that consolidates its research across the fixed-income markets. UBS instigated the move to centralize its fixed-income and derivatives trading recommendations in the over-the-counter markets as well as general market comments, said Guillaume Salomon, fixed-income strategist in London.

Source: www.loanmarketweek.com

Source: www.bondweek.com