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Bank of America and Fleet Bank are shopping a $135 million credit for Eye Care Centers of America, a Thomas H. Lee portfolio company that owns 360 optical stores across the States. The new credit will refinance the existing deal used to back the acquisition by the private equity shop in 1998 for $300 million. "This company stumbled out of the blocks when it was first bought," said a banker. Now, the company has small capex requirements and has met EBITDA targets for the year already, she added.

GenCorp's new $125 million "B" term loan, which backs the acquisition of General Dynamics' space propulsion business for $90 million, is significantly overcollateralized, according to Standard & Poor's. The ratings agency has assigned a BB+ rating to the tranche. The remaining funds from the "B" piece will be used to pay down the outstanding amount on the company's existing $137 million revolver. The company also has an existing $76 million "A" term loan.

Levels on the bank debt for Pacific Crossing, the bankrupt affiliate of Global Crossing, have dropped in the wake of a cash distribution that paid off some bank debt. The debt was trading in the 8-9 context before the company distributed some of the cash off its balance sheet to bank lenders, one market source explained. The bank debt is now worth roughly 6-8 cents on the dollar, he added. One dealer explained that the price was up because lenders were expecting a paydown. It dropped because the debt that wasn't paid off was worth less. When the paydown was distributed and how much each bank debt holder received could not be determined by press time.

Barclays Capital has hired Grant Ashton to run euro- and dollar-denominated bond high-grade trading for Europe. The position is newly created, because the firm has seen significant growth in the volume of this business and expects more, says a firm spokeswoman. Grant, who joins from Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, will report to John Kreitler, global head of credit trading. At SSSB, Ashton was head of European currency Eurobond trading. A spokeswoman at SSSB says Ashton's position has not yet been filled.

Barclays Capital in New York has hired Steve Madsen, a utilities trader, from Deutsche Bank, according to traders at both firms. Madsen becomes the second corporate bond trader to leave the German bank for its British rival in recent weeks. Mark Jicka, former head of corporate bond trading at Deutsche Bank, also left to join Barclays (BW, 8/11). Jicka will join Barclays in roughly a month, according to an official there. Madsen could not be reached, and his start date could not be determined. John Kreitler, Barclays' London-based head of global credit trading, did not return a call. Steve Murphy, Deutsche Bank's U.S. head of corporate bond trading, referred questions to Ted Meyer, a spokesman for the firm, who confirmed the departure and says his responsibilities will be handled internally.

Bank of America has hired Martin Leppin for its European fixed-income origination team. Leppin, who moves over from Lehman Brothers, where he held a similar role, will cover frequent borrowers and financial institutions in Austria and Germany along with Dimitri Toseland. Leppin was hired to support the growth seen on the frequent issuers desk, says Toseland. Calls to a Lehman spokeswoman seeking details of Leppin's replacement were not returned.

Centennial Communications changed hands a few times in the high 60s context last week, as traders said interest in the paper picked up once the company disclosed in its Aug. 29 10-K that Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, one of the company's largest shareholders, bought roughly half of the company's 103/ 4% subordinated debt. The investors bought roughly $175 million out of $375 million of the company's high-yield bonds, noted Michael Small, company ceo. The move was seen as a bullish sign for the company, noted one trader. It could not be determined how much of the paper traded last week. Calls to Jonathan Rather, general partner and cfo for Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, were not returned by press time.

Rating: Aaa Amount: Eu3bn cédulas hipotecarias

SG Australia this week launched the first public term securitisation to be backed mainly by agricultural equipment loans. The A$490.5m issue refinances the warehousing of loan receivables from debut issuer CNH Capital Australia. The loans are made for the purchase or lease of new and used agricultural (93.7%) and construction (6.3%) equipment across Australia. The receivables have been warehoused since last June in two conduit programmes managed by SG Australia and Citicorp Capital Markets Australia. The notes issued by CNH Capital Australia Receivables Trust refinance these programmes.

Credit Union Australia (CUA) this week became the first of Australia's 196 credit unions to issue a term securitisation, when it priced a A$200m transaction backed by residential mortgages. UBS Warburg has the mandate to complete A$750m of issuance for CUA in the next three years. The first issue from the Harvey Trust was 25% oversubscribed.

Korea Fitch Ratings has upgraded the long term rating of Kookmin Bank to A- from BBB. At the same time, the bank's individual rating is raised to B/C from C.