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Usually loan traders are more than hesitant to disclose the strategies and tactics they use to close a deal. Last week, however, one starry-eyed loan trader could not boast enough about how a trip to Italy and a moonlit walk helped him win out the competition for one lucky lady. Who is this Don Juan of the syndicated loan world? He may be sitting next to you.

QCI Asset Management will swap 10% of its portfolio, or $35 million, out of corporates into Treasuries when corporate spreads tighten by 50 basis points, which should happen toward the third quarter, says Paul Roland, portfolio manager. Roland notes that corporate single-A industrials, as of last Monday, yielded 100 to 135 basis points over the curve. Roland wants to see those spreads decrease to 50 to 85 basis points over Treasuries in order to trigger the move. He declined to specify any credits that would be sold.

Edinburgh Fund Managers is reducing the duration of its $450 million fixed-income portfolio from roughly eight years to about six. Edinburgh, Scotland-based Michael Turner, head of fixed interest, says the move was prompted by the firm turning negative on the bond market, because an economic recovery, no matter how strong or weak, will push yields higher once central banks begin to raise rates. The firm uses a variety of benchmarks.

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.

UBS Warburg and Credit Suisse First Boston have landed lead roles on an upcoming bank deal for Harvest/ AMI Holdings, a newly formed company from New York-based leveraged buyout shop Harvest Partners, for the acquisition of Associated Materials. The total purchase price is $436 million, which includes $75 million of outstanding subordinated notes that will be refinanced, said a banker familiar with the transaction. The bank deal should be in the region of $165 million and bonds will accompany shortly afterwards, he added. A date for launching the bank portion is likely to be in the next few weeks. The two banks in addition to CIBC World Markets will play a role in the bonds, he said. The equity component and size of the bond offering could not be determined.

Wachovia Securities is shopping a credit for Ability One, a manufacturer of medical devices for rehabilitation, and is wrapping up a credit forMedSource Technologies. The Ability One deal is a $135 million facility, split between a $20 million revolver and a $115 million term loan. Pricing on the revolver is LIBOR plus 31/ 2% and LIBOR plus 4% on the term loan, according to a banker. Up-front fees are 1% and 3/8%, respectively. The credit backs the acquisition of a company, he said, declining to name the target.

GECC remained the focus in the primary market as the company filed a $50 billion shelf just a week after its $11 billion deal. GECC said that it was looking to decrease its reliance on the commercial paper market and that it would be tapping the public markets again to term out CP. GECC spreads have suffered as a result with the new deal underwater by about 15-20 bp across the various tranches; this is significant underperformance and volatility for a AAA asset. More importantly, however, the GECC move raises the question of whether other financial companies will take measures to reduce their commercial paper funding and whether this will affect the technicals in the corporate bond market. A big part of the corporate bond supply story in 2001 was the big reduction in non-financial commercial paper; should the financial sector follow in 2002, supply may meet or exceed last year's record levels.

Harry Resis, head of high-yield at Zurich Scudder Investments in Chicago and a longtime and high-profile portfolio manager, is giving serious consideration to leaving the firm, according to three senior sell-side officials who say they have spoken to him directly about the matter. They say he is unhappy over the planned reorganization of the high-yield business following Deutsche Asset Management's acquisition of Scudder, which is expected to be finalized within the next few months. While details are still being worked out, the plan would be to move the bulk of Scudder's roughly $5 billion in high-yield assets to Philadelphia, where it would be managed by Andrew Cestone, who currently manages some $650 million for Deutsche Asset Management. Resis, reached at Scudder's offices in Chicago, declined comment.

Bank of America and Credit Suisse First Boston's credit for dialysis provider, DaVita, was shown last week to a buyside eager to jump in on the huge $800 million "B" piece. "They're bumping up the leverage, but they generate so much cash flow and they plan to continue to pay down debt," said one buysider who is looking to invest in the seven-year term loan "B" at pricing of LIBOR plus 3 1/4 %. Rich Whitney, cfo at DaVita, is optimistic that interest in the name will generate enough orders to potentially result in a reverse flex on the deal. "There's a good chance they'll be a flex down," he said, regarding positive buzz on the credit.

A bid from Deutsche Bank is said to be standing out in an expected pack of ultra-competitive bids to provide financing to back the carve-out of Tyco's plastic business, with the bank pitching an aggressive staple-on financing play, bankers said. J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston are among the group of banks looking to provide highly competitive deals to the private-equity firms circling the Tyco business. Deutsche Bank, which is shopping the business for Tyco with Goldman Sachs, is rumored to be putting a deal together offering 5-5.5 times total leverage, or 70% of the total purchase price to interested parties. "If Deutsche Bank is really on the table with this, it would be the most leveraged deal since 1998," said one banker. No timeframe could be determined for when mandates will be awarded.

Robert Drutman has resigned from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development where he was asset-backed securities portfolio manager. Drutman, who managed $2.5 billion in ABS for the EBRD in London, told BondWeek he decided to pursue a new challenge.

Last week saw a mostly flat secondary market through Thursday, with most new issues performing well, as had been the case the previous week. Better-performing sectors such as gaming and homebuilding were weaker, as cyclical names were better bid. Here was other action.