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U.S. Can Corp.'s bank debt has climbed back considerably over the last couple of weeks into the 84 1/2 to 87 context from the low 80s. No trades could be confirmed but, traders suggested the paper has regained some ground because of better prospects for the company and the economy in general. Others suggested that the name was just stronger in line with improvements in the rest of the market.

Valassis Communications took a shine to ABN Amro subsidiary Standard Federal Bank's service-oriented style, illustrated through the bank's employee-based service offerings. This landed Standard Federal the sole lead on the company's new $125 million revolver, said Robert Recchia, executive v.p. and cfo of Valassis. "[Standard Federal] did a nice job over the past 12 months and wanted to do more," he stated, explaining that Standard Federal had implemented a bank-at-work program for the company, along with an on-site ATM machine at the Livonia, Mich., headquarters.

NDCHealth has completed its first term loan "B" and high-yield offering in conjunction with a larger recapitalization plan, noted Randolph Hutto, NDC's cfo. The company decided to pursue a recapitalization plan because the need to refinance roughly $145 million in convertibles due November 2003 was putting pressure on NDC's stock price, Hutto explained. Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston led the senior debt financing. With the new funds now in place, the Atlanta-based provider of health information services is looking to redeem all of the notes on Dec. 26.

Porsche Holdings will start a E220 million conduit financing program next year through ABN AMRO, says Jochen Stich, group treasurer. Stich says Porsche is opting for the asset-backed commercial paper route because it has a need for continuous financing. ABN was tapped for the deal because the firm brought Porsche's first term deal to market in 2001. Ultimately, Porsche will go for a term deal, says Stich, but that will not happen until 2004.

Premcor Refining Group's pending $465 million acquisition of the Williams Company's Memphis refinery and $170 million of inventory, could have positive effects on Premcor's bank debt rating. The $315 million base purchase price is potentially appealing and the proposed financing is supportive of sustaining a long-term growth-by-acquisition strategy in a volatile sector.Moody's Investors Service has placed the Ba2 rating on the $650 million revolver and term loan facility on review for upgrade.

Japanese consumer finance firm Orico Corp this week tapped the international market for the 10th time through its Oscar auto loan securitisation programme. Oscar Funding Corp X, arranged and led by Mizuho International issued $163.5m and Eu151m of bonds rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Oscar was helped by relatively generous pricing - both tranches, averaging only 1.36 years, offered a spread of 35bp over the respective floating rates. Yet this was still 10bp inside this week's Globaldrive issue from Ford.

MobileOne made a less than sparkling debut on the Singapore stock market on Wednesday. Yesterday (Thursday), UBS Warburg was revealed as the buyer of 24m MobileOne shares on the first day of trading for Singapore's second largest mobile telephone company, presumably making use of a portion of the 90m share greenshoe. The buying was designed to help stabilise the shares on a day when investors were selling in the wake of more data that indicated Singapore's economy would continue to be weak.

Samsung Life Insurance Co Ltd this week brought a new asset class to the international capital markets. Bichumi Global 1 Ltd, a $299.6m deal arranged and led by Morgan Stanley, is the first cross-border securitisation of Korean residential mortgages.

At the Euromoney China Conference in Beijing this week, senior government officials said they considered a strong bond market to be a key feature of a healthy capital market and were looking to improve it, including eventually allowing private companies to issue bonds, as well as the state owned corporates that currently issue. "Are we looking to expand the corporate bond market? - absolutely," Li Qingyuan, director general, strategy and development committee at the CSRC told EuroWeek. "We are examining ways as a regulator to encourage the market. A lot of that involves encouraging effective and stable agencies to help provide transparency."

Australia Macquarie Bank this week priced a A$300m consumer loan ABS for UFJ Australia. Symphony Trust No 3 is secured on commercial hire purchase and chattel mortgage agreements.

DRAM maker Powerchip completed the sale of $90m of convertible bonds on Monday. Due to the wide credit spread for the issuer and the consequent difficulty of attaining a high bond floor, the company agreed to the inclusion of a novel conversion price reset option, devised by Nomura. Without the inclusion of the mechanism, it is unlikely Powerchip could have raised the funds, given the general difficulties in the Taiwan stock market and the uncertain outlook for the DRAM sector.

The People's Republic of China opened up its stock and bond markets to international investors this week. Under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) scheme - which became effective on December 1 - qualified fund managers, insurance companies, commercial banks and securities companies can access the renminbi 'A' share and domestic Treasury bond market for the first time.