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Managing director, lead portfolio manager of collateralized debt obligations and director of fixed-income research at State Street Research & Management. The Boston-based subsidiary of Metlife closed one asset-backed securities CDO last year--the $400 million Fort Point transaction.

GoldenTree Asset Management has hired Corey Geis, a bank loan trader from TD Securities. At GoldenTree he will trade loans and also high-yield bonds, equities, and other securities, according to a senior buyside official. He will report to trading heads Josh Press and Linda Grillo. Geis declined comment when reached at his desk and Grillo did not return a call. At TD Securities, Geis worked in loan sales and trading and reported to Mark Sorensen, trading head, and Greg Hurley, sales head. Sorensen declined to comment.

Regal Entertainment Group has earned a two-notch ratings boost by Moody's Investors Service, which upped its ratings on Regal's $145 million revolver and $225 million term loan to Ba2 from B1. The upgrade comes on strong operating performance and the expectation that the financial position will strengthen in 2003.

TRW Automotive's $900 million "B" loan is chugging along with more than half of the institutional piece filled as LMW went to press last week. A banker familiar with the deal said it should fill out soon because the concurrent $1.58 billion bond issuance-- the largest junk bond sale in two years-- hit the market last week. He added that interest has picked up in Europe's retail commitments as well. The facility launched in Europe to retail on Jan. 17. It launched on Jan. 27 in the U.S. Credit Suisse First Boston, J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America are leading the deal. Bankers on the credit either declined to comment or did not return calls.

Simon Adamson and Helen Rodriguez, two of Deutsche Bank's European research heads, have left the firm. Adamson, who headed European corporate and financial institution credit research, left last week, and Rodriguez, head of European high-yield research, left two weeks ago, according to a firm insider. It could not be learned if the pair have joined other firms.

Two more distressed debt shops are ramping up as players continue to look to capitalize on the mass of defaulting companies. Former Cerberus Capital Management portfolio manager Joyce Johnson-Miller is preparing a private equity fund and a hedge fund that will focus on distressed debt and a group from Octagon Holdings and Instinet have started a distressed debt shop. The Los Angeles-based firm, Altus Global Investors, plans to launch its first distressed debt fund before the end of the first quarter, said Stephen Sanderson, co-founder, who was the former head of institutional sales effort for the West Coast for Instinet.

Duke Street Capital Debt Management is planning to launch its second collateralized debt obligation, which will be backed by leveraged loans. Ian Hazelton, London-based chief executive, says the new deal, dubbed Duchess II, should close within the next six weeks. This deal will be slightly smaller than the E1 billion debut deal Duchess I, which closed in June 2001.

Duke Street Capital Debt Management is planning to launch its second collateralized debt obligation, which will be backed by leveraged loans. Ian Hazelton, London-based chief executive, says the new deal, dubbed Duchess II, should close within the next six weeks. This deal will be slightly smaller than the E1 billion debut deal Duchess I, which closed in June 2001.

Several new issuers are expected to tap the high-yield homebuilding sector on the back of improving credit quality, according to two analysts who follow the sector. The whole sector is set to be moved up a notch by the rating agencies, says Rob Manowitz, analyst at UBS Warburg and a first-teamer on the 2002 Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Team. Upgrades to existing issuers will open up the lower rungs of the ratings ladder to smaller regional players that may view the high-yield market as an opportunity to secure long-term fixed capital, Manowitz says. "There are probably something like a half dozen issuers out there that fit the characteristics the high-yield market is looking for," he argues. He declined to volunteer company names that fit this description.

Callidus Capital Management has chosen Wachovia Securities to be the underwriter for its debut loan deal, the $300 million Callidus Debt Partners CLO Fund II, after being won over by Wachovia's proprietary credit-swap feature. "Wachovia is acting as underwriter, because the APEX structure was a very attractive concept. We looked at half a dozen structures, and this was the one which best fit with our theme of capital preservation, while also enabling the deal to avoid an expensive BB tranche," explained Richard Ivers, a founder and managing director of Callidus. He declined to name the other banks considered. The expense of the BB tranche reduces the overall return to equity investors in CDO deals.

Katonah Capital Management became the first manager to issue notes on a collateralized loan obligation this year by raising debt for the approximately $350 million Katonah CLO IV. One analyst said the $265 million of Triple-A notes priced at LIBOR plus 55 basis points, which is tighter than the recent CLO arbitrage pricing of LIBOR plus 60. But, Katonah reportedly priced the Triple-As with a discount margin in the realm of LIBOR plus 60-65. The BBBs traded at LIBOR plus 290 and priced at par. Officials at Katonah and lead underwriter Credit Suisse First Boston, could not be reached by press time. Katonah IV has a weighted average rating of B1/B2 and references a pool of 85% loans and 15% bonds.

Lehman Brothers last week lost a brace of mortgage-backed security professionals to two Wall Street rivals. Peeyush Misra, senior v.p.-collateralized mortgage obligation structurer and trader, left Lehman early last week to join Bear Stearns, where he will take a new position heading new issue structuring and trading. He declined to comment when reached at his desk.