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Bank of America is expected to launch in a few weeks syndication of a $300 million debtor-in-possession facility for Kaiser Aluminum, which filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 12. A banker said some lenders including CIT Group are already lined up, but other participants could not be ascertained. A variety of factors forced Kaiser down the bankruptcy path, including significant near-term debt maturities during an unusually tough time for the aluminum industry. Kaiser is also facing the increased burden of asbestos litigation and growing obligations for retiree and medical costs. All of these factors led to the company's inability to access the markets, according to a company statement. Subsidiary Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical missed a $25.5 million interest payment on its subordinated notes last month and efforts to restructure did not pan out. Company officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Wachovia Securities is in the market with an $85 million bank deal for MedSource Technologies, a Minneapolis-based provider of engineering and manufacturing services to the medical device industry. The credit accompanies a proposed initial public offering for the company and is split between a $25 million revolver, a $20 million delayed-draw term loan and a $40 million "A" term loan, said a banker. Pricing on the three five-year tranches is LIBOR plus 21/ 2%.

Deutsche Bank is marketing what is believed to be the first weather derivatives product to its retail clients. In the certificates, priced at EUR100 (USD87) a shot, investors receive EUR108 if the average temperature between June 1 and Aug. 31 is over 20.3ûC in Frankfurt. Investors get EUR98 back if the temperature is below 20.3ûC, according to Akos Zold, v.p. in structured products in London.

JD Capital Management, a hedge fund in Greenwich, Conn., has hired Eric Madoff, v.p. in the equities division at Goldman Sachs in New York, to join its relative value strategy team. Madoff reports to David Rogers, the fund's founder. Madoff declined to comment. Rogers did not return calls.

Gen Re Securities, a derivatives and securities dealer which announced Jan. 28 a plan to close down, laid off approximately 60% of its global staff on Thursday, according to a company official. The staff came from all areas of the firm, including interest rate, credit derivatives, equity options and foreign exchange options traders.

Lehman Brothers is relocating its entire Italian fixed income sales force to Milan, according to officials familiar with the plans. The firm plans to have moved between 12-18 staffers by the end of next month. The firm is making the moving because of the success of moving the French team to Paris and the German team to Frankfurt, according to one official.

Merrill Lynch's head of high-yield sales in London, Tim Davenport, has returned to New York to head the firm's corporate derivatives marketing effort.

* UBS Warburg this week launched Apollo Series 2002-1 Trust, a A$500m deal backed by Australian residential mortgages originated by Suncorp Metway Ltd. Two tranches of notes were sold rated AAA and AA, respectively, by both Fitch and Standard & Poor's. WestLB was co-manager.

The IPO market in Thailand is warming up. Following the large and successful PTT float late last year, several other privatisation deals are waiting in the wings and the private sector is once again ready to brave the market as sentiment towards the Thai bourse improves. The Thai stock market is up around 25% this year and investors and analysts are calling strong buys on leading stocks from the banking sector and cornerstone issues such as Siam Cement and Siam City Cement as the construction market turns upwards.

An unexpected sale of 117.1m non-voting News Corp preference shares hit the market yesterday (Thursday) through two lead arrangers, Citigroup/SSB and JP Morgan, which are also supported by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. The seller is WorldCom, and not Liberty Media, as was previously suggested. News of the issue surprised the market. However, confirmation came when News Corp yesterday announced it will issue to a subsidiary of WorldCom around 121.2m preferred limited voting ordinary shares worth $680m and will also pay WorldCom $250m. This satisfies obligations to WorldCom in connection with the unwinding of their former American Sky Broadcasting (AskyB) direct broadcast satellite joint venture.

The Korean government has awarded the mandate for the sale of state shares in listed Cho Hung Bank to Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan and UBS Warburg. The deal is expected to be just the first in a series of equity issues from Korea's financial sector this year. Many deals are nearing launch as the government aims to sell off state assets and the private sector seeks to raise new capital while sentiment towards Korea and the country's corporate and financial sector restructuring is positive.

CNOOC, the Hong Kong listed unit of China National Offshore Corp, is set to kick off the roadshow for its debut $500m 10 year global bond today (Friday). With the transaction being the first from a Chinese corporate for almost 2-1/2 years and as such offering rare exposure to the WTO entrant nation, bankers expect a strong regional bid.