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Turner Investment Partners is looking to add some 10% to its corporate allocation in its intermediate and core products to take advantage of attractive yields in the asset class. Roger Early, who oversees $750 million in taxable fixed-income assets, says it will take at least until the end of the quarter before the allocation shift is complete. He declined to specify the exact dollar amount of the trade, but says it will be less than $75 million, as many of the short-duration products carry little or no corporate exposure. The firm will finance the trade by selling Treasuries and agency debentures, which Early says have benefited from the flight to quality and are overvalued relative to other asset classes.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.

Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook on Cinemark USA from positive to stable following the company's postponement of a planned initial public offering and bank loan refinancing. "The postponement of the IPO due to weak market conditions will delay the expected improvements to Cinemark's capital structure and liquidity that were factored into the previously assigned positive outlook," said Steve Wilkinson, credit analyst. The rating agency affirmed Cinemark's corporate credit rating of B, but it withdrew its BB- rating on the proposed $250 million bank loan.

Jim Higgins, a managing director and New York-based head of the high-yield trading desk at Salomon Smith Barney, has moved to London, according to a buy-side trader and a trader at a rival firm who have spoken to people on Salomon's desk. The reason for the move could not be determined, nor could it be determined who would replace Higgins, or what his new responsibilities will be. Higgins could not be reached, according to a trader on the desk who declined to give his name. Mark Mulcahy, a senior high-yield trader on the desk, declined comment. Dan Noonan, a firm spokesman, was not available for comment shortly before press time.

Giant Eagle has decided to tap the institutional market for $300 million of its $550 million credit facility. According to Mark Minnaugh, cfo, the supermarket company wanted access to additional sources of capital and the ability to put longer-term debt in place. "We thought that our industry would be attractive to the market," Minnaugh said, adding that the notion was confirmed when the "B" tranche was oversubscribed.

URS scaled back its planned $250 million bond offering by $25 million as the market demanded a higher yield than expected. With price talk in the 12% range, Credit Suisse First Boston and Wells Fargo Bank were able to shift allocation to the "A" term loan of the accompanying bank deal, a banker said, adding that some covenants changed in the process. In addition, pricing reportedly was flexed up by an undisclosed amount on the $350 million "B" term loan, but this could not be confirmed. Pricing was set to open at LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. Calls to CSFB and Wells Fargo were not returned.

Wachovia Securities has underwritten a $340 million credit facility backing Veridian's $227 million acquisition of Signal, a provider of information technology and engineering services to the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies. In June, Wachovia provided Veridian with a $200 million credit, comprising a $70 million revolver and a $130 million "B" term loan, and the new line is an expansion of that facility, one banker explained. The new money will consist of a $160 million add-on to the term loan. Officials at Wachovia did not return calls.

Primary market volumes remained depressed this week with just $3 billion of investment grade issuance coming to market but there were some notable developments. On a macro level the rally in Treasury yields that followed from the Fed moving its bias of risks towards weakness has taken yields to historic lows. This has raised the question of whether we will see a surge in opportunistic funding from yield-sensitive issuers who seek to capture very appealing levels at which to lock in long term funding. We have seen evidence of this phenomenon each time yields have hit new long term lows and it is likely we will see further evidence of it when the primary market picks up speed in September, post the summer hiatus, when we expect volume to pick up from current depressed levels. The second notable event of the primary market this week was the resumption of telecom issuance as SBC Communications brought $1 billion of 10-years to market at a spread of + 200 bp. The deal was reassuring in that it was placed successfully even in the week when the company had its Aa3 rating place on negative credit watch by Moody's, reinforcing that investors recognized the problems that have plagued credits such as WorldCom and Qwest can be isolated despite the challenges that the industry as a whole faces.

Centre Pacific, a Los Angeles-based asset management shop led by John Casparian andHeather Creeden, is in the market with a $409 million collateralized loan obligation called Cascade CLO, the firm's second CLO. UBS Warburg is the underwriter for the cash-flow arbitrage deal, which will consist of high-yield loans and some bonds, according to a banker. It could not be ascertained how much of the underlying collateral has already been purchased. Centre Pacific's debut vehicle, Sierra CLO 1, contained 90% loans and just under 10% bonds.

A small piece of Adelphia Communications' Century Cable term loan is believed to have traded in the 63 1/2 context last week, down from the 68 level where it had been quoted two weeks ago. In its 8-K filing last Monday, Adelphia disclosed that approximately 600,000 subscribers previously believed to be collateral for the company's Century Cable and Olympus credit facilities did not back those loans. According to an analyst that follows the company, the development would lower the recovery value expected on the Century Cable debt but not Olympus, which is considered over-collateralized.

Levels for Land O' Lakes' bank debt has fallen 10 points since the company released its quarterly earnings report, triggering some jitters among investors. "Investors are spooked by their latest release," said one dealer. Before the results came out on July 26, the company's bank debt was sitting pretty, clocking in above par. Since then, levels have fallen for three weeks and were recorded in the 90-93 context when LMW went to press, according to LoanX. No trades could be determined.