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Compass Minerals, an Overland Park, Kan., producer and marketer of salt and specialty potash, paid off $20 million of its $150 million "B" loan in June and is planning another $10 million payment this month. "At the financing roadshows, the stated goal was to pay down debt," saidRodney Underdown, cfo. In the first quarter of this year, Compass paid down almost $40 million off its $135 million revolver, he noted.

Levels for Crown Cork & Seal's bank debt were down early last week on news that the company had pulled its spin-off of Constar International, but the paper recovered somewhat on rumors that a refinancing is in the works. Some $10 million of Crown Cork paper traded in the high 80s on the news, and dealers claimed that a lot more than that traded hands.

Deutsche Bank has hired a new securitization generalist for its London-based European securitization research team. Carole Bernard joins from J.P. Morgan Securities where she had been a securitization structurer for two plus years, says Ganesh Rajendra, head of European securitization research and to whom Bernard will report. Bernard was brought on to respond to the growth of Deutsche Bank's European securitization business. The firm is currently ranked first in the European securitization league tables. A J.P. Morgan spokesman did not comment by press time.

Laura Marcano, the recently departed assistant counsel of The Bond Market Association, says that she left the group to pursue her long-time interest in public interest work. Marcano, who resigned last month (BW, 7/22), says she is seeking to apply her legal skills in one of several fields, including community environmental initiatives, economic development and education. She says education is particularly of interest, because she spent several years prior to law school as a teacher.

Jay Weintraub will retire at the end of the month from Merrill Lynch, where he is a managing director and U.S. bank analyst. Weintraub, 54, was formerly the co-head of investment grade research, but was relieved of his managerial responsibilities during a recent reshuffling of the credit research group (BW, 1/13). He has spent 11 years at Merrill. Previously he spent eight years at Salomon Smith Barney. "Coming up on 20 years is a long time on the sell-side. I felt like I wanted to do something else. What it will be I don't know yet," he says.

GenTek saw downward movement in its bank debt levels last week based on news that its senior lenders have decided to block the company from making the Aug. 1 interest payment on its subordinated notes. Gentek's paper began sinking in response and, at last check, had fallen into the mid-60s, traders said. The paper had an average bid of 71 the previous week.

Last week was mildly positive for high-yield through Thursday. Bigger liquid names saw a bit of a bounce, and a pair of new issues with hefty coupons came to market. Here was some notable action.

Betsy Roberts, head of the private placement group at Hartford Investment Management Co., retired recently. Reached at her home in Connecticut, she said she took time off to be with her family. Curt Nyman, v.p., is serving as interim head of the private placement team, but a search is well under way for a permanent successor, says Cynthia Michener, a spokeswoman with the buy-side firm. Nyman, who joined Himco in 1997, reports to Tim Corbett, managing director. Nyman was on holiday and could not be reached. As of June 30, Himco had $80 billion in assets under management, including $2.3 billion in private placement securities.

BNP Paribas and Bank of America have pushed back by more than a week the deadline for commitments on Iasis Healthcare as market conditions turn. But the $463 million refinancing is still on track and has not been postponed or cancelled, according to Carl Whitmer, cfo. "It has been a difficult market over the last couple of weeks but, with the growth of investors in bank debt that need access to quarterly results, we wanted to wait for the results to come out." The due date for commitments is now Aug. 9, and third quarter results were announced Aug. 1.

The International Finance Corporation, which promotes the development of capital markets in developing markets, is seeking a structured product specialist. The new hire will be a member of the IFC's structured finance group in Washington, D.C., according to market officials. Structured finance officials at the IFC were not available for comment and a spokeswoman was unable to respond to inquiries. The new hire will be responsible for structuring, modeling and executing structured transactions in several asset classes including senior debt, mortgages and trade finance receivables.

Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs' refinancing for PETCO Animal Supplies is fully subscribed with the $193 million "B" term loan taken out with a new "C" loan. The new deal cuts the interest spread from LIBOR plus 31/ 2% to LIBOR plus 3%, and PETCO is paying a 15 basis point fee for a capital expenditure amendment, said a banker. The refinancing trend is slowing and this deal could have been done 25 basis points tighter a few weeks ago, he noted.

Yearbook and class ring producer Jostens is expected to maintain stable cash flow, but both Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's are concerned about the company's high leverage following its leveraged buyout by Investcorp in May 2000.