Search results for

After flexing pricing upwards, Lehman Brothers has filled the book on the $130 million "B" term loan for The Aerostructures Corp. The institutional tranche initially was priced at LIBOR plus 33/ 4%, but it was finally sold at 99 with a coupon of LIBOR plus 4%. Calls to Lehman bankers were not returned by press time.

Jeremy Hood, a v.p. in alternative assets at J.P. Morgan Securities, was let go two weeks ago, according to one of his colleagues. He reported to Romita Shetty, managing director and head of structured products. Hood reached at his home declined to comment, citing company policy. Shetty says Hood will not be replaced.

Allison Taylor, executive director of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, put two former board members on the spot during a distressed trading panel at last week's LSTA conference, asking them why their institutions were not members of the trade association. The two buysiders, Chris Pucillo, portfolio manager at Stanfield Capital Partners, and Victor Khosla, chairman and ceo ofStrategic Value Partners, had been members of the sell-side during their time of board membership.

Charter Communications was the talk of the loan market last week, following the company's announcement that its chief operating officer, David Barford, was placed on paid leave due to the pending status of a grand jury investigation. The bank debt traded in the 81 1/2 - 82 1/4 context following the announcement, although dealers noted that trading was thin as market players got comfortable with the news. By week's end, the paper had slipped even further to the high 70s.

The primary market has entered a state of virtual permafrost as we record another week of dismal volumes. International Paper's $1 billion 10-year deal was the only corporate issue of note in a week that saw just $2.5 billion in issuance. The IP issue was upsized from an originally intended $750 million and tightened a couple of bp on the break, indicating that there is a degree of pent up demand in the market. Those issuers who meet the desired criteria as regards ratings stability and appealing spread have less need to issue however, in this economic environment and so the current depressed volumes are likely to be with us into year end.

TD Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston launched a $400 million credit facility for Tucson Electric Power, a subsidiary of Unisource Energy, last Friday. The credit consists of a six-year, $200 million "B" term loan and a five-year, $200 million pro-rata piece split into a $60 million revolver and a $140 million "A" term loan. Pricing on the institutional piece is set at LIBOR plus 31/ 2%, but the spread on the pro-rata portion was not set as LMW went to press. One banker said the spread is likely to be LIBOR plus 3% with a facility fee of 50 basis points. Bankers at CSFB and TD did not return calls by press time.

The Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures (CUSIP) system was addressed in detail at the conference, with the pilot launch of CUSIPs assigned to new bank deals scheduled to commence in the coming weeks. Eight agent banks will begin assigning the unique nine alpha-numeric characters to their bank deals in order to identify the overall credit agreement and the tranches comprising each agreement.

Merrill Lynch's move last week to cut three veterans from its loan group has many players questioning the investment bank's commitment to the loan market. "There is no more loan business there; it's as simple as that," one rival banker said of the investment bank's decision to let go of Harold Siegel, Amy Miller andNeil Brisson. "These people are good, and it makes no sense to cut them and not everybody." Other rivals, however, see the move as a vital cost-cutting measure and believe Merrill is in it for the long run, albeit with a slimmed-down crew during the currently lean M&A period. A Merrill spokesman confirmed that Wednesday was the last day for Siegel, Miller and Brisson (LMW Web site, 10/23). He would not comment on Merrill's commitment to the syndicated loan market.

cStatic pools remain the domain of the credit derivatives desk headed by Boaz Weinstein. Zeitlin's new group creates a CDO platform that centralizes all managed deals, whether synthetic or cash flow, for all asset classes. As of last Thursday, staffers were still awaiting an internal memo on the matter. Ted Meyer, a spokesman at Deutsche Bank, referred calls to Zeitlin who did respond.

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston will launch the bank meeting for Rexnord Holdings this Thursday. The $435 million bank deal backs The Carlyle Group's acquisition of Rexnord from Invensys for $913 million. The bank debt is split between a six-year, $75 million revolver and a seven-year, $360 million term loan, a banker said. Pricing has not yet been set on the deal, and officials at the banks did not return calls.

Last week, the Loan Syndications and Trading Associationheld its seventh annual conference at the Hilton New York Hotel. Highlights included discussions on the link between default and recovery rates, distressed settlement and the risk associated with private information. The staff of LMW was on hand and filed the following stories.

Andrew Weber has joined Deutsche Bank's collateralized debt obligation structuring group from J.P. Morgan Securities. He will report to Anand Parekh, who heads the group out of New York. Weber was unavailable for comment. Ted Meyer, a spokesman at Deutsche Bank, declined to elaborate.