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UBS Warburg and Deutsche Bank hit the market last Thursday with a $750 million refinancing credit for cable and communications products provider Amphenol. The deal comprises a seven-year, $500 million "B" loan priced at LIBOR plus 21/2% and a five-year, $125 million revolver and $125 million "A" piece at a spread of 2% over LIBOR. A banker familiar with the deal noted that the new term loan sports a better premium than the company's existing $375 million "B" piece, which is priced at LIBOR plus 11/2%. The existing credit also includes a $310 million "A" loan and $150 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 3/4%. Deutsche Bank leads this credit with J.P. Morgan and Bank of New York also acting as top tier lenders. A UBS official declined to comment. A Deutsche Bank banker did not return calls.

A two point dip in the price of Calpine's bank debt was attracting a lot of attention from bank debt players last week as a $20-30 million piece traded hands and those watching the credit speculated that the term sheet on the proposed extension of the company's $1 billion revolver due in May could be sparking activity. "There has to be something going on," said one buysider, noting that Calpine's bonds dipped as well. The buyer and seller of the piece could not be determined. Traders said the name had been quoted as high as 95 1/2 96 1/2 before this latest slip.

Credit Suisse First Boston has promoted Don Pollard and Bruce Ling. CSFB officials say the promotions come as Bennett Goodman, who had been global head of leveraged finance, looks to free himself up to assume broader responsibilities within the firm. Goodman, now chairman of merchant banking and leveraged finance, added merchant banking duties to his brief earlier this year. Pollard and Ling had been co-heads of the syndicated loan business. Pollard now assumes sole oversight of syndicated loans. He reports to Doug Ostrover and Tripp Smith, who have become the new global co-heads of the leveraged finance unit. Ling, meanwhile, has become chairman of corporate banking and a member of the investment banking operating committee. He is reporting to Bennett Goodman and working closely with Adebayo Ogunlesi, global head of investment banking.

Nordea Bank Finland seized the lead from Bank One for a $225 million refinancing deal for Houston-based offshore drilling company Atwood Oceanics after Bank One would not cough up the tighter pricing and longer tenor that the company wanted on the credit. "[Nordea] gave us a better offer, plain and simple," said James Holland, executive v.p., cfo and secretary. "[Bank One] couldn't go more than three years," he added. The present deal, which is fully underwritten with Credit Agricole Indosuez Capital, Fortis Capital and Hamburgische Landesbank, includes a five-year, $150 million term loan and a five-year, $75 million revolver. Holland noted that Bank One's business policy did not allow it to handle the maturity and pricing that the company was demanding. Bank One is not involved in the new deal. Bankers from Bank One and Hamburgische could not be reached by press time, while officials from Nordea, Credit Agricole and Fortis declined to comment.

Two seasoned leveraged finance players have left their posts at General Electric Capital Corp. and U.S. Bancorp to serve the ultra-low end of the middle-market with a new leveraged buyout fund. Richard Buckanavage, formerly a managing director for sales and market intelligence in the loan syndication group at GE and Timothy Hassler, a former v.p. of capital markets at U.S. Bancorp, have co-founded the new Westport, Conn.-based fund Patriot Capital Funding.

Investors devoured at least $1 billion of the $1.5 billion institutional loan for Allied Waste Industries by the time last Wednesday's retail bank meeting was held. Pricing tightened from LIBOR plus 31/2% to LIBOR plus 31/4% ahead of the launch because of the strong reception, a banker stated. The coupon still beats the existing term debt's LIBOR plus 23/4-3% spreads. More investors were expected to jump into the loan last week as LMW went to press, and another market player suggested that pricing could be flexed down further. The "B" piece is joining a $1.5 billion revolver that had been filled out ahead of the retail launch and priced at LIBOR plus 3% (LMW, 4/7). J.P. Morgan and Citigroup are leading the $3 billion refinancing credit, with UBS Warburg, Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank also serving as top tier agents. Bankers on the deal either declined to comment or did not return calls.

Creditors to Hayes Lemmerz International reached a compromise that will allow the company to go forward with its reorganization. Bank debt holders wanting more value coming out of bankruptcy did not consent to the company's previous plan of reorganization, leading senior noteholders to threaten litigation, and sending creditors back to the table (LMW, 4/7). The bank debt traded in the 82-83 1/2 context after the new plan was announced up from the 80 1/2-81 range where it was moving two weeks ago.

InSight Health Services has added a new $50 million, three-year delayed-draw term loan that the company intends to use as an acquisition line. The company recently tapped some of the new facility to fund its purchase of 13 diagnostic imaging centers from the Comprehensive Medical Imaging subsidiaries of Cardinal Health. Acquisitions are one of the pillars of the company's three-part growth strategy, noted Kent Tuholsky, InSight treasurer. Internal growth and the development of de novo centers, or new operations, make up the other two pillars, he said. Tuholsky declined to comment on how much of the loan has been used.

The $200 million "B" piece financing Kmart's exit from bankruptcy picked up a $30 million ticket from Eaton Vance ahead of the retail launch. Whitehall Business Credit and one other shop also were named as participants last week. One source said LongAcre Capital Partners was the third ticket holder, but an official at LongAcre denied this. A banker familiar with the deal would not cite the size of the two additional tickets, but he said that more investors were getting close to signing on late last week. GE Commercial Finance, Bank of America and Fleet Retail Finance are shopping the loan along with a $1.8 billion revolver in order to facilitate the mass merchandising retailer's "fast-track" plans to emerge from bankruptcy by April 30.

Murry Stegelmann, a managing director and head of the bank loan group at General Electric Capital Corp., is set to leave the firm in the next few weeks to start a distressed debt fund based in Norwalk, Conn. Stegelmann is dipping his toes into the pool of distressed funds that have formed in droves in recent years, responding to the market's downturn and the resulting influx of distressed paper. Stegelmann declined to comment.

Tesoro Petroleum's new bank deal was trading in the 100 3/8 101 context after the credit broke into the secondary market last week. With a non-call provision in the first year and 103 call protection for the second, one trader thought that the bank debt would be trading at more of a premium. A dealer commented that Tesoro "is not out of the woods yet." He said although the new deal has a decent interest rate and call protection, the old deal traded in the mid 90s before the refinancing got underway.

Tesoro Petroleum Corp.'s $800 million credit, which broke into the secondary market last week, still has high leverage despite reductions in the size of the line. The company downsized the line from $1.275 billion, keeping on track with its goal of debt reduction, but the acquisition of three refineries in the last 18 months has still left Tesoro with a substantial debt load, explained Bryan Caviness, director at Fitch Ratings. Fitch has assigned the senior secured credit a BB- rating with a negative outlook, reflecting the company's high leverage and ongoing volatility in the global crude market and U.S. refining sector.