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The relocation of a swaps trader from Nomura Securities International to Greenwich Capital Markets has set off a bit of a sniping match between the trader and his former boss, Nomura's fixed-income chief Alex Noujaim. The trader,Becker Drane, took Noujaim to task in his letter of resignation when he left in October. Noujaim responded by calling Drane's new boss, GCM co-president Jay Levine, and reportedly criticized Drane and the letter he wrote upon his October exit.

American Tower's debt is rebuilding in the market, hitting 96-98 from the 94 range. There was a report of a $2.5 million trade in the 96 3/8 range late Tuesday. One dealer attributed the support in levels to technicals, but said the outlook on telecom credits remains mixed. Tower credits recently stumbled in the aftermath of the telecom problems and lowered projections on the use of tower space. The Boston-based company operates 13,600 broadcast and telecommunications towers. Joseph Winn, cfo, has said demand for the company's towers has been solid. He did not return calls for comment on the latest levels.

UBS Warburg is preparing a January launch for syndication of a credit for Hollywood Entertainment, the second largest video store chain in the U.S. A banker said the loan will refinance the existing $255 million Société Générale-led credit facility that expires next March, and is contingent on a $100 million common stock sale. Diane Shand, analyst at Standard & Poor's, said the company needed to refinance since it was facing a heavy amortization schedule on its existing facility. The video-store company is also planning a $300 million shelf registration to reduce debt, she said.

Moody's Investors Service lowered the rating of Penton Media's $372 million of credit facilities to B2 from B1 due to the company's poor operating performance. The severity of a revision in cash flow guidance and the proximity of the revision to previous modifications led Moody's belief that management's visibility is severely limited at the present time, which remains a large concern for the rating agency.

About $7.5 billion of investment grade corporate bond supply hit the market for the week ended December 13, with the $3.75 billion two-tranche Verizon Wireless deal accounting for half of the flow. It looks as though the corporate bond market will end the year with close to $600 billion of debt issued, about 50% more than 1999's then-record pace of $400 billion. The weighted average credit quality for the week dropped to BBB, its lowest level in months as high yield syndicate desks rushed to bring deals into a hot market. About $3.3 billion in junk bonds were brought to market, with a high concentration ($2.5 billion) of single B names. In fact, over _ of total issuance for the yield was single B rated, the first time this year that high yield has been such a large proportion of total issuance. Total high yield issuance for the year is likely to end up around $90 billion, over 2.5 times issuance last year although still well short of 1998's record pace of $140 billion.

Adam Tashman, Merrill Lynch's senior collateralized debt obligation analyst, was recently laid off according to a structured finance executive at the firm. Tashman's official title is senior specialist in the high-yield strategy department, and he focuses almost exclusively on CDOs. He reported to Brian McManus, a first v.p in high-yield strategy who heads Merrill's CDO research. McManus declined comment. Tashman's voicemail at Merrill says that he is no longer working with the firm and calls were referred to McManus' extension. Tashman could not be reached for comment. With Tashman's departure, McManus is now the only analyst listed for CDO coverage at Merrill.

BMO Nesbitt Burns, SunTrust Bank and Scotia Capital are eyeing a mid January return for the "B" term loan for Canadian door manufacturer Premdor. The pro rata portion of the deal was oversubscribed, said Surjit Rajpal, executive managing director with BMO, but the "B" did not fly with investors post Sept. 11. "There was expectation there would be changes," Rajpal said, but lead arranger BMO decided to put the credit on ice until conditions in the loan market improved, rather than use the techniques available to make the deal more saleable, as seen on CommScope and Appleton Papers.

The Kingdom of Thailand heralded its return to the international bond markets after a four year absence, pricing a ¥35bn three tranche Samurai bond issue this week in the face of taxing market conditions. The kingdom's comeback has fuelled hopes that other borrowers, not only Asian but also international, will return to the Samurai market en masse. Early signs are encouraging, with Volkswagen (VW) and Household Finance set to launch deals early in the new year, albeit delayed from earlier this year.

Shares of Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco), China's largest producer of alumina, made an uninspired debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday, closing little changed from the offer price on a day when the Hang Seng Index performed well. The shares closed at HK$1.39, compared with an offer price of HK$1.37. This is despite reports that the global share offering was more than 11 times subscribed. Morgan Stanley and CICC arranged the deal.

Australia With nickel prices depressed, Moody's this week downgraded two of the producers in the sector. The agency lowered the rating of Murrin Murrin Holdings (MMH) from B1 to B3 with a negative outlook and dropped Glencore Nickel's rating to B1 from Ba3.

HSBC Australia and SPI PowerNet launched successful transactions into the domestic Australian market this week, rounding off a busy end of year period. HSBC was first, debuting in the market with a A$170m five year fixed and floating rate subordinated debt issue.