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Raymond James & Associates has hired Catherine Mountjoy as an asset-backed securities banker, says Bennett Cole, managing director. She will originate and structure term ABS transactions, reporting to Cole who has headed the ABS effort for the bank since he joined from Wachovia Securities last March (BW, 4/1). Mountjoy also joins from Wachovia, where she was a collateralized debt obligation analyst, reporting to Curtis Arledge, deputy head of fixed income. So far, three staffers out of the four-unit team have joined from Wachovia, notes Cole. Arledge did not return calls.

Société Générale has hired Paul Schmider as director for its credit structures group, the asset-backed commercial paper origination arm of the bank, says Marty Finan, who heads this group out of Chicago. Schmider, who is based in New York and started last Tuesday, will report to Finan. The group is comprised of 10 people, two in Chicago and eight in New York. Finan says the position is a new slot, created to increase the bank's origination efforts. The credit structures group handles all the commercial conduit activity of SG for its clients, says Finan. Finan is responsible for two multi-seller conduits, Barton Capital Corp. and Asset One Securitization, both of which combined, have issued $10 billion of short term ABS paper.

Jay Mueller, the chief economist at Strong Capital Management, has officially replaced Brad Tank as head of fixed income. His new role ends speculation as to whether Tank, who left the firm at the end of July, will be replaced internally. Mueller will report directly to Dick Strong, chairman of the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based asset management firm. He will oversee fixed-income portfolio management while continuing his chief economist role. Mueller says he has worked at Strong for 11 years.

Standard & Poor's has placed Tesoro Petroleum's $1.225 billion in credit facilities on watch with negative implications after the company announced a 15% decrease in predicted production levels at its six refineries through the end of September. "The margins are down, and now volumes are down as well," said S&P analystJohn Thieroff. That could translate into diminishing cash flow, he noted, predicting that progressively limited cash flow could increase Tesoro's chances of violating its interest coverage covenant at the end of the third quarter.

Buysiders that have committed to the $200 million "B" piece for Swift & Co., the name given to ConAgra Foods' beef and pork processing business, are set to receive a 3/8% ticking fee after waiting all summer for the deal to fund and close. The credit, which totals $550 million, was syndicated by J.P. Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney in July, but an accompanying $400 million high-yield bond deal was put on ice when ConAgra was embroiled in an E. coli scare. As a result, loan investors were forced to sit tight until the bonds could return to market. Calls to J.P. Morgan and Salomon were not returned by press time.

Lenders to Clean Harbors could potentially be pitted against the government authorities overseeing environmental liabilities in the event of a distressed scenario. This is because of the Braintree, Mass., company's planned acquisition of Safety-Kleen's Chemical Services Division for $46.3 million and the assumption of $265.4 million in environmental liabilities. The acquisition is being financed with a proposed $225 million bank deal, which has been rated B2 by Moody's Investors Service.

CONMED recently secured a new $200 million facility through J.P. Morgan in order to refinance a $105 million credit set to expire in December. According to Robert Shallish Jr., cfo, the Utica, N.Y., surgical equipment company decided to refinance early because of the possibility that interest rates would be higher in December due to an influx of bank deals. "Word was that more deals are coming later in the year and the pricing would get worse," Shallish said.

At least one portfolio manager and one sell-side analyst agree that the bonds of auto issuers are more likely to get cheaper than they are to rebound any time soon. Rance Duke, portfolio manager at Fort Washington Investment Advisors in Cincinnati, recently sold Daimler Chrysler 8.5% notes of '31 at 215 over the curve. He believes car companies will be forced to continue issuing new debt to pay for their incentives programs. Pressure from foreign competition and labor contracts that make factory closures impractical give car companies few business options, says Duke. The portfolio manager says that while he is underweight autos, he would continue to sell off-the-run paper, particularly that of General Motors if he receives an attractive offer. He has already sold most of his Ford Motor Co. and Daimler bonds, he says.

Credit Suisse First Boston is launching syndication today of a credit facility backing Francisco Partners' acquisition of GE Global eXchange Services (GXS), a business-to-business e-commerce company. A banker said the $210 million credit comprises a six-year, $175 million institutional tranche and a five-year, $35 million revolver. Pricing and ratings on the facility have not yet been set. CSFB bankers did not return calls.

Collateralized debt obligation market players are pointing to the J.H. Whitney Market Value Fund as perhaps the first market value CDO transaction to ever be downgraded. This prompted one dealer CDO analyst to point out that in such cases the CDO collateral manager is supposed to sell the assets to pay out the note holders. The deal, first rated in 1999, has been downgraded three times by Moody's Investors Service this year. Mike Deflorio, the portfolio manager at J.H Whitney & Co., did not return several calls seeking comments. Gus Harris, head of Moody's CDO group, declined to comment. Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings did not rate the transaction.

High-yield was mostly unchanged in light trading through Thursday. Despite the poor week in equities, strong inflows from the previous week helped bolster the market somewhat. A deal from Gray Broadcasting was expected to price last Friday or today. Here was selected action.

Crown Cork & Seal was a popular credit in the secondary market last week, with dealers citing trades of the company's revolver in the 88-89 context. One analyst said investors were pleased that the company was able to pay down $234 million in notes due Sept. 1, as there was some concern that the company would not be able to handle its 2002 maturities. The paper rallied from the 85-87 range, where it had been languishing at the end of August, according to LoanX.