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People phoning a bank helpline were greeted not by the staid tones of a financial adviser but by disco music and a claim that they had found "the best place for men to meet men." The snafu happened when The Halifax, one of Britain's largest lenders, said it had inadvertently issued the number of a gay chatline when it sent out 15,000 letters to members of its share-dealing service. According to Reuters, The Halifax has since written to customers to apologize and to let them know of the right number --for their share-dealings

Stone Ridge Investment Partners is looking to swap out of AOL Time Warner 6.125% notes of '06 (Baa1/BBB+) and into Tyco International as investors in the latter credit have become nervous over Enron-related accounting issues. David Killian, portfolio manager of $175 million in taxable fixed-income, believes the Tyco worries are overdone. Once the firm provides more clarity on its proposed reorganization, Stone Ridge will look to add 1-2% of its portfolio, or $1.75-3.5 million, in Tyco bonds, and possibly WorldCom. The AOL bonds have not widened materially over the last two months, while the Tyco 6.375% notes of '06 have widened some 165 basis points in the last two weeks. Last Tuesday, they were bid at 90.5.

Glasgow, Scotland-based Britannic Asset Management will buy corporate credits when values arise in the market. The firm, which invests primarily in sterling-denominated bonds, has been adding corporates opportunistically to its $8 billion fixed-income portfolio. It recently added Tyco International's euro-denominated '04 and '08 on the back of recent widening and WorldCom's '08 sterling issue when it hit the low 90s earlier in the month. "The bid/offer spreads were pretty poor--as they say: you could drive a horse and carriage through them," says David Roberts, head of credit, of the WorldCom bonds.

Greg Hosbein, portfolio manager with Chicago-based Segall, Bryant & Hamill, is going to swap 5%, or $50 million of the firm's $1 billion portfolio, out of corporates into agency pass-throughs, on the view that mortgage spreads will come in over the next few months. He reasons that pass-throughs will benefit directly from a decline in interest rate volatility as the Federal Reserve is likely to keep rates unchanged, until at least until September. He notes that 30-year Fannie Mae 6.50% bonds were yielding 190 basis points over the Treasury curve last Monday, a level he sees tightening by 10-20 basis points over the next few months.

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.

Banc of America Securities has landed a lead role on an upcoming bank deal for Lee Enterprises backing the $694 million acquisition of Howard Publications. "Prior relationship and competitive pricing," handed B of A the lead role, noted Carl Schmidt, v.p., cfo and treasurer of Lee Enterprises. He declined to comment on whether a bid was sent out. The acquisition will be paid for with $440 million in cash and the remainder from bank borrowings, with the spread likely to be 3% all-in, said Schmidt, though negotiations are still being completed. He declined to comment on the size of the bank deal and when syndication will be launched. B of A leads the current $50 million revolver according to Capital DATA Loanware.

Charter Communications dipped from 98 1/8 to the 96 1/2 range by the end of last week in response fourth quarter profit losses. Last Tuesday, $5 million changed hands at the 98 level before the announcement. No trades were reported at the end of the week, but dealers still believe the name has upside. Some market players think positive 2002 projections should keep the name strong. Rising operational cash flow was one of the positive indicators noted by dealers. Calls to officials at Charter were not returned by press time.

Doug Ostrover, head of high-yield sales, trading and distressed credits at Credit Suisse First Boston, has added junk reserach chief to his growing list of management responsibilities. "Doug has been the de-facto head for some time, so we decided to make it official," says Bennett Goodman, CSFB's global head of leveraged finance. As a result of the change, Sam DeRosa-Farag and Tom Klamka, co-heads of high-yield research will report to Ostrover instead of Goodman. Ostrover joined the high-yield sales desk at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette some 10 years ago, and was promoted to head of sales in 1997.

Dade Behring, a producer of diagnostic goods and services, traded up to 99-100 last week from the 98 1/2 level two weeks ago upon speculation by traders that a restructuring plan is in the works. Traders said a restructuring plan had been released but declined to comment on its contents. Dealers speculate that collateralized loan obligation managers and other institutional players are among the buyers. Sellers could not be determined. "The company is continuing positive and productive negotiations with its banks, bondholders, and existing equity holders regarding restructuring debt, but no decision has been reached," said a Dade Behring spokesman. He declined to comment on bank debt trading levels.

Deerfield Capital Management is planning a second collateralized loan obligation for this year in the roughly $300 million range. Jonathan Trutter, portfolio manager, said the fund is structuring a new CLO that will be launched into the market during the second quarter. The fund will be in the market buying up par names to fill out the leveraged loan collateral on the traditional, cash-flow arbitrage deal.

Deutsche Bank is scrambling to provide leadership and restore flagging morale in its corporate bond research group. Charlie von Arentschildt, Deutsche Bank's head of global markets for the Americas, says the impetus for this effort were remarks byDavid Folkerts-Landau, the firm's London-based global head of markets research, critical of recently dismissed investment-grade research co-heads Paul Tice and Mark Girolamo (BW, 2/4). Folkerts-Landau declined comment through an assistant.

The Allstate Corporation will move its roughly $1 billion in high-yield assets back in-house and away from Trust Company of the West, a Los Angeles based money manager. "Primarily what we're trying to do is recruit and retain [asset management] talent as well as position ourselves to attract new institutional business," says Mike Trevino, spokesman for Allstate. He says the ability to offer high-yield products has been "one of the missing ingredients," in the drive to attract such business. The Allstate Corporation manages $750 million in third-party money through the Allstate Investment Management Company, a subsidiary. Trevino also notes that in a volatile credit environment that has seen a number of "fallen angels"--bonds that drop from investment-grade to high-yield--it helps to have high-yield expertise. The firm has announced a $25 million write-off resulting from losses related to Enron.