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Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, UBS Warburg, BMO Nesbitt Burns and Morgan Stanley have flexed down pricing on Del Monte's "B" piece to LIBOR plus 33/ 4% from LIBOR plus 4%. In addition, the banks have rolled a $300 million floating rate note into the $500 million "B" tranche, according to bankers familiar with the deal. There was word of investor grumbling about the consolidation of the two tranches because they initially liked the diversity offered with the "B" and note combination, said a banker. The note's spread was also a 1/4% higher than the "B" loan. The $1.4 billion debt package launched last month, with the "B" oversubscribing within days of launch. The "B" has since been twice oversubscribed. Bankers on the deal either declined to comment or did not return calls by press time.

Deutsche Bank has hired Haejin Baek, the commercial mortgage-backed securities trading chief at Nomura Securities International. She tendered her resignation at Nomura and is slated to start trading at Deutsche Bank. Baek had left the firm and could not be reached to comment.Ted Meyer, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, confirmed the move, but declined further comment pending Baek's arrival at the firm. Deutsche Bank CMBS trading head Justin Kennedy declined to comment.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government benefited from its ties to Japan through the World Cup when it launched a ¥48.5bn five tranche Samurai bond issue this week. The Samurai market has been quiet for most of this year, but the launch of a successful ¥155bn issue for Citigroup two weeks ago revealed the depth of Japanese investor appetite for Samurai bonds.

HypoVereinsbank Singapore is arranging an international securitisation of residential property receivables for CRL Realty Pte Ltd. Aragorn Investment will issue two triple-A tranches of $28m and $72m, and two subordinated tranches of S$10m. HVB will subscribe for the $28m tranche, funding the notes in September 2003.

Hana Bank on Tuesday struggled against a slow bond market and confused domestic investor sentiment to launch the world's first non-investment grade perpetual hybrid tier one issue. The $200m Reg S transaction is Korea's first tier one hybrid deal, and has opened the door for similar transactions from other Korean banks.

Korea Western Power (KWP) was poised to make an unconvincing debut in the international bond markets with a $150m five year transaction this week. Secondary market trading volumes have dried up with the approach of Christmas and a recent deluge of Korean bond issuance has meant little investor appetite for new Korean names. This has left joint lead managers ABN Amro and Lehman Brothers struggling to complete the deal.

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) launched a ¥61.75bn ($500m) two tranche transaction this week for Philippines' debt laden National Power Corp (Napocor). The 18 and 20 year Reg S issue carried guarantees from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Republic of the Philippines to boost the rating to Baa1.

Banks were signed into the £900m dual tranche loan for BBB rated RMC Group plc on Monday. The deal proved a tough sell and was reduced from £1bn. "RMC is suffering from post merger blues," said one banker, "on top of which banks are a little wary of the sector."

Mandated arrangers Raiffeisen Zentalbank Österreich and ZAO Raiffeisenbank Austria have closed syndication of the $10m six month pre-export finance facility for Ak Bars Bank. The deal has been oversubscribed and increased to $15m. Banks will be signed into the facility in the next two weeks. The credit pays a margin of 390bp over Libor. Repayment will start in the second month and will be repaid in equal monthly repayments thereafter. The facility also carries an option for a further six month extension at the lender's discretion. Proceeds will be used for export finance transactions. The borrower is 20% owned by the Republic of Tatarstan.

Merrill Lynch continued to slim down top management this week, as part of chief executive Stanley O'Neal's efforts to cut costs by replacing co-heads with single chiefs. The bank announced that two of its top managers in Europe are to step down in February. Michael Marks, the bank's chairman for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Paul Roy, co-president of global markets and investment banking (GMI), are set to leave the firm.

Guarantor: Shell Petroleum Company Ltd/Shell Petroleum NV Rating: Aaa/AAA