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Doubts about the global economy, persistent weakness in the equity markets and bad news from corporates regarding accounting, has London-based Govett Investment Management looking for plain, simple and traditional corporate borrowers. Bob Attridge, fixed-interest manager of the firm's £200 million corporate monthly income fund, says he is looking for long-dated, quality bonds, because, in addition to being concerned about lower-rated corporates, he does not foresee the Bank of England raising rates in the near-term. He says he is considering the upcoming deal from Anglian Water, because, "You can't get much more straight forward than a water company."

1-800-OOPS... An LMW staffer trying to activate his new Chase banking card got a fine how do ya do when he mistakenly dialed a hybrid of the English-speaking number provided and the Spanish-speaking number listed just below it. The hodge-podge of numbers connected him to the sultry (recorded) voice of a woman who said, "I've been waiting for your call, baby." Yikes. Sure, the right relationship is everything, but that seems like a bit much. A quick hang-up and a second try at the number brought the desired result activation of the card.

Mitch Stapley, portfolio manager at Fifth Third Investment, will rotate 5%, or $150 million, of the funds he manages from Treasuries into corporates to take advantage of bargains created by the recent accounting woes. He will focus on companies with good fundamentals. It is not so much "what you own but what you don't own," he says, stressing the importance of identifying and selling early those names susceptible to negative headlines. As an example, he has already liquidated notes issued by Qwest Corp. (Baa3/BB+), Clear Channel (Baa3/BBB-) and Cox Communications Inc. (Baa2/BBB).

McGlinn Capital Management is looking to reduce its telecommunications holdings by about 0.5%, or $5 million, according to J.P. Weaver, portfolio manager of $1 billion in taxable fixed income. Weaver would not name specific issuers in the sector whose bonds he is looking to sell, but says he is hoping that a few of the troubled credits will rebound slightly.

Citigroup Asset Management released the former Smith Barney Asset Management taxable fixed-income management team last week, a 12-person operation that oversaw some $7.5 billion in assets and included 14 mutual funds. Mary Athridge, a firm spokeswoman, says the move will cut costs and makes sense given the current downturn, though the Smith Barney group was in no way bleeding assets. No further moves are planned at this time, she says.

Levels for Qwest Communications International's bank debt fell to a wide 75-80 after the company admitted that the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver was conducting a criminal investigation into the company. The name had been offered at 83 before the announcement, one dealer noted. No trades were reported, and market players suggested that investors are waiting to see what happens next.

Delco Remy International has selected Wachovia Bank and its subsidiary Congress Financial to lead a $250 million credit facility after incumbent BANK ONE pulled back from lending to the sector. "BANK ONE has not been very aggressive at lending and has been pulling back on the auto sector," said Raj Shah, cfo. BANK ONE has been pulling away from certain sectors and businesses that do not provide ancillary business, enabling the firm to meet profitability hurdles. A BANK ONE spokesman declined to comment.

Xerox's bank debt moved briskly in the secondary markets last week, with levels on all tranches dipping about one point earlier in the week before recovering by mid-week. Traders quoted the company's "B" tranche in the 92-94 range, the "C" loan at the 97 1/2 98 1/2 level and the revolver in the 76-78 context.

Deutsche Bank has hired Nicholas "Trip" Mestanas as head of Pass-Through trading. Mestanas resigned from Goldman Sachs last week where he was also head of Pass-Through trading. A person close to the situation says he was likely start at Deutsche Bank late last week. Mestanas could not be reached. John Sobol, head of mortgage-backed securities trading at Goldman, and Fred Brettschneider, head of MBS at Deutsche Bank, did not return calls.

Deutsche Bank and Bank of America will launch a $340 million exit financing for Pinnacle Towers on Wednesday in the wake of the company's rapid emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The loan is divided into a $300 million amortizing "B" loan priced at LIBOR plus 4% and a $40 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. Officials at the company and the banks either did not return calls or declined to comment.

Deutsche Securities in Tokyo, part of the Deutsche Bank group, has hired Yukio Egawa as head of Japanese securitization research, a newly created position. The position was created to complement the securitization business Deutsche Securities is building in Japan, a firm spokeswoman says. Egawa joins from Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo where he covered securitization as well as financial institutions and government-sponsored agencies. He reports to Karen Weaver, managing director and global head of securitization research.

A pair of sell-side gaming analysts are urging high-yield investors to add to their holdings in the sector. They predict a rally when second quarter earnings announcements kick off this week with Boyd Gaming. Jacques Cornet, analyst at CIBC World Markets, says gaming credits have traded off of late because money managers are liquidating assets to pay back investors fleeing high-yield and its telecom-related woes. He expects many gaming companies to easily beat analysts' estimates, and recently upgraded the sector from "market weight" to "outperform."