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Merrill Lynch has promoted Michael Freda, co-head of U.S. portfolio trading in New York, to head of portfolio trading for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Michael Stewart, head of global portfolio trading, has been running the EMEA desk since Zach Tuckwell's departure in March for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Stewart said, "I wanted to take some time to get to know the desk and find the right person for the job."

Alan Mittleman, an interest-rate swaps trader at Credit Suisse First Boston, is heading to Bear Stearns to take a similar role. He replaces Edward Rich, managing director in interest rate swap trading, who left last month (DW, 6/15), according to a professional familiar with the hire. Mittleman and Rich could not be reached.

Merrill Lynch has hired two structured products marketers for insurance and pension fund clients in its structured equity group in London. Johan Nordin, on the institutional sales and structured products desk at D Carnegie in Stockholm, will cover the Scandi market, and Eric Dutruit, equity derivatives salesman to the Benelux region at Commerzbank Securities in London, will join in similar role, according to Joachim Willnow, EMEA head of the structured solutions group at Merrill in London.

Pinault Printemps Redoute, an international luxury goods company, has entered an interest rate swap to convert part of the proceeds from a recently issued six year EUR750million (USD859 million) bond into floating. Juliette Psaume, a spokeswoman, said that it was an internal accounting decision to have part of the liability at a fixed interest rate and part in floating rate. The swap and the bond mature in 2009.

Moody's Investors Service will, for the first time, release its methodology for rating collateralized debt obligations referenced to credit-default swaps. Yuri Yoshizawa, v.p. and senior credit officer in New York, said the methodology will also include a new haircut on recovery rates. The rating agency has analyzed CDOs referenced to corporate debt since 1997, but this will be the first time it has come out with a consolidated explanation of the processes and factors it looks at to rate the deals on a global basis, she said. Moody's plans to release the methodology this week. Fitch Ratings has already published its ratings criteria and Standard & Poor's plans to (DW, 7/7).

Helix Investment Partners will consider entering credit and equity derivatives transactions to hedge exposures in its soon-to-be-launched Helix Combined Multi-Strategy Fund. Lara Branton, marketing manager in Los Angeles, said the fund, which will launch with USD15 million in assets, will consider buying credit default swaps as well as buying and selling puts and calls to hedge risk.

Credit protection sellers have started inquiring about independent trading vehicles for selling credit protection, according to Nik Khakee, director in structured finance at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Mark Neuberger, managing director in equity derivatives proprietary trading at Morgan Stanley in New York, has quit to launch a long/short equity hedge fund. "After 22 years with the firm it's time for a change," said Neuberger. The fund, which is backed by New York-based equity trading shop First New York Securities, will trade both over-the-counter and listed derivatives, Neuberger said. During his tenure at Morgan Stanley he also headed its client equity derivatives trading desk.

Korean domestic banks expect the regulator to open the onshore credit derivatives market by year end. The move will be a boon for international firms as they are likely to structure and risk manage the products. B.J. Kim, executive v.p. at Dongwon Securities in Seoul, said the Ministry of Finance and Economy has indicated it will permit domestic securities houses to enter the credit derivatives market. Kim continued that once allowed, local houses including Dongwon will look to distribute products such as credit-linked notes structured by offshore entities.J.S. Kim, director of the foreign exchange and external debt division at the MOFE in Seoul, declined comment.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets is gearing up to structure synthetic collateralized debt obligations in Asia. "We're getting ready for the first phase," said Anthony Yuen, managing director and Asia Pacific regional head in Hong Kong. He added, "We're still building up."

"After 22 years with the firm it's time for a change."-- Mark Neuberger, managing director in equity derivatives proprietary trading at Morgan Stanley in New York, commenting on his reasons for setting up a hedge fund. For complete story, click here.