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Valuations on senior loan funds have moved up significantly in the last few months, as demand for the long-troubled funds increases. "People have been exposed to the story and are asking when [interest] rates rise, where can I take advantage," explained Jon Maier, a director in global equity research at UBS Warburg. UBS began coverage of some of the funds last year, when prime rate funds were trading at a large discount, reflecting both the market interpretation of the risks associated with the funds as well as the average price of their bank loan assets (LMW, 12/2).

The roadshow for the £1.2 billion securitization of fees payable to Metronet, the consortium responsible for maintenance of the London Underground, will kick off next week, says a Metronet spokesman. The deal had been slated to come to market last year, however, political opposition to the Public Private Partnership, caused it to be delayed. The deal is being lead-managed by Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS Warburg.

Microcell Telecommunications' bank debt climbed from the low 70s into the 76-80 range last week with a piece of the debt trading in the 77 context. Dealers said investors are anticipating a faster restructuring than anticipated after the company filed its plan of reorganization last month. The bank debt has rebounded significantly over the last three months. In November, the paper climbed out of the 20s into the 35-40 range as lenders predicted a restructuring that would be good for those holding onto the bank debt (LMW, 11/11).

Fitch Ratings is looking to hire analysts for its newly established Moscow office, which is set to open in about a month, says Paul Taylor, group managing director in London. The office will be headed by Natasha Page, managing director, and will eventually house 10 analysts. Taylor says the office will be staffed by a combination of new hires and internal transfers.

General Electric Capital Corp. signed on for a $50 million piece of Bresnan Communications' $400 million credit last Tuesday, the first commitment following launch. No other commitments could be confirmed by LMW's Thursday's press time. Margot Bright, Bresnan's v.p. of finance and a former director in TD Securities' syndications group, said GE would most likely commit $10 million to the $175 million pro rata and $40 million to the $225 million "B" piece, however that breakdown is not definite. The deal backs Comcast's transference to Bresnan of 317,000 basic cable subscribers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah for $675.4 million. J.P. Morgan, TD, Wachovia Securities, Bank of New York and Société Générale have fully underwritten the deal, she added.

Global Crossing's bank debt was actively trading in the street last week with small pieces of all tranches trading flat in the 18-19 context. The latest movement comes as reports indicate that IDT Corp. will make a $255 million bid for the bankrupt company. Howard Jonas, IDT's Chairman said in a statement that an IDT purchase of Global Crossing would be good for the United States' economy and national security, whereas the proposed sale to Hutchison Telecommunications Limited and Singapore Technologies Telemedia would compromise security.

General Motors Acceptance Corp. has issued what is believed to be the first Dutch residential-mortgage backed securities deal in which the interest-rate risk is hedged. In this E400 million ($430.74 million) securitization the special purpose vehicle has entered an interest-rate swap with Citigroup, in which it pays the fixed rate it gets from the portfolio of mortgages and receives three-month EURIBOR, the rate it needs to pay on the notes. In previous transactions the issuer has had to hold the risk of interest rates falling and homeowners refinancing their mortgages, also known as prepayment risk.

Goldman Sachs has reconfigured its London-based collateralized debt obligation group. The firm has split its synthetic and cash CDO teams and brought the cash business into the same group with principal finance and securitization, says an industry official. Goldman appears to be the first firm to split the cash and synthetic CDO businesses apart. The synthetic CDO group is now a stand-alone entity.

New York-based American Capital Access is looking to add two asset-backed securities analysts, says Maryam Muessel, chief operating officer. Both analysts will report to Laura Schwartz, managing director and senior credit officer for ABS, who supervises a group of 60 staffers. Schwartz says both positions are newly created due to the growth of the firm's structured finance operations. The two new analysts will be in charge of making recommendations for bond purchases. One will specialize in residential mortgage-backed securities while the other will be a generalist.

A group of high-yield paper and forest products companies are expected to tap the market to refinance close to $2 billion in high-yield bonds over the next year, according to sell-side analysts. Some of the issuance may also be the result of M&A activity, with rumors that certain Enron-owned facilities may be bought by companies in the sector, says Joe Stivaletti, analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Dole Food Company's $600 million "B" loan was nearing its filling point as LMW went to press last week. Market players noted that commitments started flowing in faster after conference calls were held that further explained the deal's structure. A banker familiar with the credit explained that the institutional piece is being issued from Dole's Bermuda-based operations and the call helped clarify related details. "It allows the lenders to get closer to the international assets," he said, adding that the banana and fruit company has several assets outside of the U.S. An investor also noted that the call cleared up other credit details related to Bermuda's tax laws. The "B" is priced in the LIBOR plus 33/ 4% range.

IASIS Healthcare Corp. has sealed a new $475 million refinancing credit with new lead banks after an earlier refinancing attempt failed last summer. The new deal is led by Bank of America and Citibank. The facility refinances a $455 million bank deal and also increases the company's capital expenditure allowance, said Carl Whitmer, IASIS' cfo. He declined to comment on the bank switch, saying only that, "People change banks all the time." The main reason for the refinancing of the credit was to renegotiate the capital expenditure limitations in the old bank agreement, explained Whitmer.