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An East Coast buy-side analyst and a sell-side analyst say the bonds of AT&T and Sprint Corp. are going to recover over the next few months as they take market share away from Qwest Communications and WorldCom. Marion Boucher Soper, head of investment-grade research at Deutsche Bank, says Sprint's bonds will trade up two to three points once the sale of its directory business goes through, as she believes it will. She also argues that AT&T's bonds will climb three to five points as the market becomes more comfortable with its debt profile and ability to compete in long distance.

Faced with growing inventories of unsold synthetic collateralized debt obligation, dealers and increasingly skittish investors are turning to more novel structures to entice buyers, according to BW sister publication Derivatives Week. The new twists structurers are putting on CDOs include kickers to the mezzanine tranche, adding structured products to the equity slice, securing ratings for deals that would previously have been placed without a rating and even putting tranches in other asset-backed products.

Charter Communications traded in the Street at 87 1/4 last Tuesday. Traders said the name had fallen back a point last week after a brief uptick that followed a report that majority equity holder Paul Allen would look to take the company private. Dealers said the paper was pulled back down by the current market mood.

Citigroup Investments has hired Pete Tauckus as a v.p. and high-yield trader based in New York, according to a trader familiar with the situation. Tauckus, who joined last week, declined comment. He reports to Tom Hajdukiewicz, head of high-yield, who did not return calls. Tauckus replaces a trader who recently left the firm whose name could not be determined.

Deutsche Bank's $600 million "B" term loan for Commonwealth Brands is said to have gathered more than $500 million in commitments, after investors were offered a 1/4% upfront fee on the tranche. That enticement follows a 1/2% price flex from LIBOR plus 31/ 2% to LIBOR plus 4%. The credit facility also includes a $17 million revolver, which will satisfy Commonwealth's small capital expenditure requirements. A Deutsche Bank spokesman could not confirm the details by press time.

Conseco bank debt slipped from the high 60s to the mid-50s following a bank call last Tuesday. The details of the bank meeting could not be ascertained, but the company later disclosed that operating results combined with non-operating charges would reduce shareholder equity from $4.7 billion, where it was recorded at the end of 2001, to $533 million at the end of June. At least $10 million in paper is believed to have changed hands.

ABN AMRO has recently relocated Frank McKirgan, head of Asian equity derivatives in Hong Kong, to a new role in London, according to Ali Ahmed, now-Asian head of equity derivatives trading in Hong Kong. Ahmed noted that he joined last month from Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities, where he was the Hong Kong head of equity derivatives trading, to assume responsibility for the trading desk. On the back of McKirgan's repatriation, ABN has restructured the desk by splitting his duties between the head of trading and Anthony Wah, head of marketing for Asian equity derivatives, noted Ahmed. McKirgan did not return calls.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) is poised to head up a flurry of Korean bond issuance in the final quarter with its much anticipated $650m-plus issue. Bankers believe that the state utility's transaction will be one of several deals that should be arranged before the year draws to a close. So far there has been disappointingly little bond issuance from the country compared with previous years.

Lend Lease US Office Trust has raised A$120m through the sale of 88.2m new units to partly fund the acquisition of a 50% stake in a 55-storey office tower in Miami for $135m (A$250m). The deal took place on Wednesday at A$1.36 per unit and is the latest example of the strength of the Australian listed property trust sector. Local and foreign investors continue to focus on the sector's defensive attributes and attractive dividend yields.

Macquarie Bank shares have again been under pressure this week, after Australia's only independent investment bank was forced to purchase more than 42% of the securities offered in the IPO of its latest infrastructure fund. Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group (MCIG) closed at A$1.80 on Tuesday, A$0.20 below its A$2 issue price, having recovered from the intraday low of A$1.60. Retail stockbrokers and investors helped the recovery as they spotted the opportunity to purchase for yield.

Bankers and investors are rallying around Malaysian credits as the country's bonds improve on the back of the recent Fitch upgrade and positive rating prospects. Fitch upgraded the sovereign to BBB+ from BBB on August 7, citing the country's good external reserves and corporate restructuring progress.

Australia Westfarmers conducted a roadshow this week in advance of its debut A$250m three and five year bond issue. The A- rated diversified industrial company is widely expected to make a resounding success of its first deal because of its strong following from equity investors.