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Medical device manufacturer Medex completed a $170 million credit for the buyout of the intravenous catheter business of Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, after decreasing the size of the bank deal and increasing the size of a concurrent bond deal. The bond deal was increased from $150 million to $200 million, said Mike Dobrovic, cfo, explaining that the shift was made to take advantage of a hot bond market and also to reduce the company's senior debt. One Equity Partners--the private equity arm of Bank One--invested in Medex to become the majority shareholder of the Dublin, Ohio-based company and to enable Medex to complete the acquisition. Dobrovic would not state the purchase price or terms related to the acquisition.

Levels for Mirant Corp.'s various revolvers climbed more than 10 points into the 75-80 range last week with some original lenders taking the opportunity to get out of the name after a slump into the low 60s two weeks ago. Levels for the parent company's revolvers and the five-year revolver at the Mirant Americas Generation (MAG) subsidiary were "all over the place, but significantly higher" said one banker. She noted that the $1.125 billion revolver maturing in July was quoted in the 73-75 range. The $1.125 billion revolver, maturing in July 2005, was quoted in the 75-80 context, according to a trader. Only two weeks ago the '03 revolver was quoted as low as 57-62 (LMW, 6/16).

Moog, a manufacturer of precision control components and systems, has refinanced its $75 million term loan and $265 million revolver through lead bank HSBC. East Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog increased the overall size of the credit to repay $120 million in 10% notes completed in 1996, noted Tim Balkin, Moog's treasurer. The bonds became callable on May 1, so the company decided to tap its bank group and increase the loan to $390 million, he said. At the time of the refinancing the company's former term loan had been reduced to $45 million. Moog is basically exchanging 10% debt for 4% debt, Balkin explained.

UBS Warburg's $285 million deal for Nellson Nutraceutical oversubscribed days after syndication launched, with the $260 million "B" term loan flexing down 1/2% to LIBOR plus 3%. The credit backs the Irwindale, Calif-based nutritional bar and powder manufacturer's acquisition of Bariatrix Products International, another bar and powder manufacturer. The deal also includes a $25 million revolver. Leverage is expected to be 3.5 times debt-to-EBITDA after the transaction is completed. The total purchase price for Bariatrix could not be ascertained. Equity firm Fremont Partners purchased Nellson last October for $300 million (LMW, 11/18). A UBS official declined to comment and a Fremont spokesman did not return calls before press time.

The AMP saga continued this week when UBS, underwriter of the A$500m retail portion of the recent jumbo AMP share financing, sold the unwanted A$404m of the placement to institutions at home and abroad.

Australia's domestic prime mortgage backed securities market re-opened this week with a flurry of deals, while another issuer followed the now well-beaten path into the offshore market.

Beijing Capital Land's 'H' share institutional offer was more than 10 times covered and the deal was priced this week at the top end of the range to raise HK$937.9m ($120m).

Hong Kong

Australia

AES China Generating was forced to pay up when it returned to the dollar market after seven years yesterday (Thursday), despite the strong appetite for high yield bonds in Asia.

China

Lehman Brothers yesterday (Thursday) afternoon sold $90m of convertible notes for Powerchip, the Taiwanese DRAM computer chip firm.