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Moody’s upgraded Russian oil firm Lukoil from Ba1 to Baa2 yesterday, taking it to investment-grade. The upgrade was triggered by Lukoil’s track record of strong operational and financial performance, as well as Moody's view that the operating environment for privately owned Russian oil companies in general, and Lukoil in particular, has stabilised.

Deutsche Bank this morning pulled the repricing portion of the amendment it was in the market with for Hertz Corp.

Concluding this year’s Article IV consultation with Kazakhstan, the IMF praised the country’s responsible macroeconomic policy, but warned on rising inflation and significant risks in the banking sector. The IMF stressed the need to toughen monetary policy beyond the recent raising of banks’ reserve requirements and other regulations in the financial sector. It recommended further regulatory measures in real estate, foreign currency loans and investment activities. It also recommended an appreciation of the currency, the tenge, to hlp control inflation which could hit 8.5% this year.

High leverage and rising interest rates are contributing to wider residential mortgage-backed securities spreads, but RMBS credit-default swap spreads are near all-time tights. Traders said the discrepancy between the cash and synthetic markets is growing and is being driven by hedge funds shorting RMBS protection.

Credit Suisse's head of equity derivatives flow trading in London has left for a role at Merrill Lynch.

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are slated to put together the largest term loan on record to back the $12.3 billion buyout of Univision by a consortium of private equity groups.

Chile's special pension reform commission will propose opening the pension fund management business to other players such as banks and insurance companies to be run separately from their banking units. Entering the local pension fund business is a long-standing ambition of Chile's banks, but the pension regulator has refused to allow them to run funds directly on the grounds it would lead to the cross-selling of products and create conflicts of interest. About 70% of Chile’s mandatory pension market is controlled by international financial groups like ING, Citigroup, BBVA and Grupo Santander.

Los Angeles-based TCW Asset Management is decreasing the proportion of credit-default swaps in the latest installment of its hybrid collateralized debt obligation series because of tightening spreads. The USD500 million deal, dubbed STACK 2006-1 and structured by Morgan Stanley, references A- through BB-rated residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed CDOs.

Tom Doyle, deputy head of alternative investment sales at SG Corporate & Investment Banking in London, has left after a few months to return to KBC Financial Products. Doyle joined SG in February (DW, 2/3) reporting to David Escoffier, head of equity derivatives in the U.K. Doyle could not be reached for comment and Escoffier did not immediately respond to a message.

Calyon later this month will transfer Cedric Dubois, global head of exotic equity derivatives trading in Paris, to Hong Kong to become head of equity derivatives trading for Asia. Dubois is replacing Jean-Paul Brasier, Asian head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, who left in recent weeks to take time out of the industry (DW, 6/2). Dubois noted he will be in place by mid-July, declining to further comment.

Citigroup has recruited Ashish Sekhri, v.p. and credit structurer at Credit Suisse in Singapore, as a structured credit trader in Hong Kong. "We still see a lot of opportunities in the structured credit space," said Debashish Dutta Gupta, in global credit derivatives trading in Hong Kong. The desk is looking for at least one additional hire this year on the back of growing client interest for more exotic products, he added.

Deutsche Bank's Vinod Aachi, co-head of equity structuring in the global markets group in Singapore, has now also taken up the reins for the firm's nascent retail unit in Asia. The move follows the recent retirement of Ken Sue, head of the investment products group in Hong Kong, who helped establish the unit last year (DW, 5/19).