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Market players are renewing their interest in Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp., and speculate that the company will pursue an initial public offering and a new note issue. While the levels for the company's second lien loan are resting in the 98-99 context, the revisited recapitalization buzz has come with the perceived strength of the high-yield market and its reception to other entertainment companies, such as Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment. "[The bond market is] the first one in the water," commented one dealer, noting that if the bond market stays strong, bank deals will follow.

Merrill Lynch has reshuffled its structured finance operation by merging the global structured credit products, new product development and reinsurance groups into an expanded unit called global structured products. Steve Padovano, managing director, who had been head of the global structured credit products group, has been shifted out of that role. The timing for this move, which was finalized two weeks ago, appears related to efforts within the bank to streamline the structured finance business, says a person familiar with the situation.

Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch launched retail syndication of Penn National Gaming's $800 million acquisition credit last Thursday. Pricing on the $600 million "B" piece is LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. A banker familiar with the deal said there were some commitments straight out of the bank meeting, but an amount could not be confirmed. When launched at the managing agent level, the spread was LIBOR plus 3%. The pricing on the $100 million revolver and $100 million "A" piece increased from LIBOR plus 23/ 4% to LIBOR plus 3%. The banker said the pricing increases are in sync with the expected B+/B1 ratings on the credit. Multiples are 3.1 times senior leverage and 4.7 times total leverage. Bear Stearns and Merrill bankers declined comment.

Lead manager Deutsche Bank last Friday priced the first Australian RMBS of the year, a $1bn offering for Macquarie Securitisation Ltd. The deal is the third global securitisation under the Puma programme, taking the originator's total SEC registered issuance to $3.2bn. The senior tranche of Puma Global Trust No 3, with an average life of 3.32 years, was priced at 23bp over Libor. Originally the unofficial price talk was 20bp-22bp, but it widened 2bp during marketing in the face of competition from the multi-billion Granite 2003-1 RMBS for Northern Rock. Puma's last global deal came at 16bp over in June 2002.

Mandated arrangers RZB launched syndication of the $20m four year 'B' loan for BankTuranAlem yesterday (Thursday). Syndication has been targeted at a limited number of banks. Three tickets are on offer: arranger for $3m; co-arranger for $2m; and lead manager for $1m. The deal carries an all-in margin moving from 350bp-360bp over the life of the loan. The credit has an average life of two years as banks have the option of requesting prepayment after that time. For more details see EuroWeek 786.

Macquarie Bank on Tuesday night sold 58m Macquarie Airports shares at A$1.15. That was 23% below the A$1.50 level at which the bank underwrote an issue by the company in July last year. Nevertheless, as that had already been written down to A$1.02, Macquarie Bank made a nominal book profit of A$7.5m before tax.

Mizuho Holdings is planning a record breaking preferred rights issue of up to ¥1tr, after announcing the biggest loss in Japan's corporate history. The banking group, which is Japan's largest, announced that its net loss for the fiscal year ending March 31 would be ¥1.95tr - nine times higher than its November estimates. The amount mostly relates to the group having doubled its loan loss provisioning to ¥2tr.

The mandate to arrange the Eu125m three year bullet term loan for Bank Millennium (formerly BIG Bank Gdanski) has been awarded to BayernLB. The deal will be launched into senior syndication next week. Proceeds will be used for refinancing and for general financing purposes. The borrower last tapped the market in April 2000 with a $170m three year bullet term loan. Mandated arranger was BayernLB. That facility paid a margin of 47.5bp over Libor. Moody's upgraded the borrower's long term credit rating in January from Baa1 to A3.

JAPAN Lehman Brothers has privately placed a ¥25bn securitisation of loans to small and medium sized enterprises originated in Osaka prefecture for Daiwa Bank.

Sinotrans launched its Hong Kong public offer yesterday (Thursday) in Singapore. China's largest transportation and logistics company is selling 1.55bn shares, of which 91% are new and 9% existing stock. Including an additional 15% greenshoe, the deal could raise up to $500m. The offering, lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of China International, will finish on February 13 when the stock will be listed.

Australia AMP Shopping Centre Trust launched a A$50m 2008 floating rate note through funding vehicle Quay 62 into a quiet market this week.

Wan Hai Lines and Quanta Display priced convertible bond issues this week and both enjoyed keen interest, predominantly from European funds. The deals also secured strong demand from Asian accounts and growing enthusaism from US buyers. Hi-Tech Computer was also in the market for $60m yesterday (Thursday) via UBS Warburg. Convertible bond specialists in Hong Kong believe that following the recent burst of new issues there will be another flurry of deals from Taiwanese issuers after the Chinese new year.