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Standard & Poor's hosted its annual CDO/CBO conference at the McGraw-Hill building in New York City last week. Loan Market Week Managing Editor Alison McKiegan and Reporter Pierre Paulden reported the following stories from the conference.

Cleveland-based Geo Specialty Chemicals, Inc. is expecting a price flex down on the "B" tranche of its $145 million credit co-arranged by Deutsche Bank and Salomon Smith Barney. George Ahearn, ceo for the chemical manufacturer, noted that the deal blew out within hours of the bank meeting two weeks ago. The $100 million "B" that priced at LIBOR plus 4%, came in three times oversubscribed, said Ahearn, and the $45 million revolver, with a spread of LIBOR plus 3 1/4%, also filled out. He referred further questions on the potential flex down to officials at the lead banks. Ahearn said he was not surprised by the demand for the credit in a liquid market for "B" loans, after an intimate bank meeting.

Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Dobson Communications is seeking to raise $250 million in the loan market, said Bruce Knooihuizen, executive v.p. and cfo. Dobson is in discussions with several banks about the credit facility, including Bank of America, which was the sole lead arranger and book runner on Dobson's $900 million senior credit facility and on its $300 million senior notes offering last year. Knooihuizen added that Dobson may also look to the capital markets to replace the bank facility after it is secured, but has not yet determined a specific time. The fresh capital will pay for the PCS licenses it purchased at last year's Federal Communications Commission wireless spectrum auction.

First Union, Salomon Smith Barney, Barclays Capital and West LB launched a $3.2 billion credit last week for Allentown, PA-based PPL Corporation. The financing includes a $1.2 billion synthetic lease and $1.1 billion of revolving credit facilities for the holding company, PPL Energy Supply. Each of the four leads has reportedly committed $300 million to the transaction. BANK ONE has signed on as the fifth agent with a $250 million commitment, and Union Bank of California committed $75 million prior to the bank meeting.

FinishMaster, Inc. recently signed a $100 million credit facility with National City Bank after the company's relationship with BANK ONE was phased out in a focus shift by the bank. Robert Millard, cfo, said the company changed its lead because "BANK ONE changed its strategy." He declined to elaborate. A bank spokesman declined to comment on its relationship with FinishMaster, but he did confirm that the bank had made some changes. "We're now saying we want a relationship that's beneficial to both of us. If it's a loan only, it may not be enough to be beneficial to us," he said.

Australia AMP Diversified Trust last Friday sold 25.5m units in a placement handled by UBS Warburg, raising A$60m. The placement underlines the continuing strength of interest in the property trust sector. The deal took place at a 3.3% discount to the market price of A$2.43 and at the placement price of A$2.35 was priced to yield 8.3%.

Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) is attempting to raise the largest ever equity placement from non-Japan Asia in the form of a $800m global depository receipt (GDR) issue for Hynix, the troubled electronics company. Hynix, formerly known as Hyundai Electronics, is seeking to recapitalise its over-leveraged balance sheet. It accounts for 17% of the world D-Ram market and nearly 5% of Korea's GDP.

Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities will act as joint lead managers and bookrunners for the sale of 3,072,000 tracking shares in Sony Communications Network Corp (SCN), a Sony subsidiary. This will be Japan's first ever tracking stock and is a purely domestic offering, which will raise around $100m. A tracking stock is a share issued by the parent company and which is valued on the fundamentals of the underlying subsidiary, in this case SCN. The 3,072,000 tracking shares are equivalent to 30,720 new SCN shares. The proceeds of the issue go to Sony, which will then invest in the new issue of 30,720 SCN shares.

ANZ Banking Group is completing roadshows for a $1bn global RMBS deal that will be priced next week. Kingfisher Trust 2001G-1 will comprise a single jumbo senior class 'A' tranche totalling $1bn and rated triple-A by all three rating agencies; and a A$41.5m subordinated 'B' class rated AA- by Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch.

Bear Stearns launched a greatly increased Samurai bond this week, taking advantage of strong demand and heading up a steady pipeline of deals. The bank joint lead managed the issue along with Japanese bank Mizuho Securities, arranging a ¥30bn, two year tranche and a ¥20bn five year tranche. This compares with the bank's original plans to launch a ¥20bn deal, split equally between the two tenors.

Deutsche Bank has limped home with the $175m convertible bond for Powerchip Semiconductor. The bond, a five year zero coupon with rolling puts beginning at the end of year one, secured a two times subscription level, but only after a gruelling effort by the lead manager and a premium at the low end of the indicated range. "The deal went fairly well, considering the market conditions in Taiwan," said a banker working on the issue. "A two times subscription level is a good achievement when the sentiment towards the D-Ram sector remains so negative. The investors liked the company but some had concerns over the sector and hence the pricing."

Citibank/SSSB, Goldman Sachs and SG have launched the Eu3.3bn acquisition facility for Sodexho Alliance, France's largest catering company, to senior syndication. The borrower has made a $1.08bn offer for Sodexho Marriott Services, which was formed in 1998 when the company merged its US catering business with Marriott's.