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Lisa Gaffney has resigned from Deutsche Bank where she was a managing director and high-yield consumer products analyst. She wants to spend more time with her children, according to a fixed-income analyst who spoke with her. Gaffney and Andy Van Houten, co-head of high-yield research at Deutsche Bank, did not return calls.

Tom Hopkins, a Goldman Sachs managing director working in technology investment banking, has joined Deutsche Bank's leveraged finance group. "Hopkins will be a managing director doing origination for non-investment grade companies," explained spokesman Ted Meyer. "We've been bringing on board good people selectively over the last few months, such as Chris Johnson, from Merrill Lynch," he added, explaining Deutsche Bank is ramping up in the leveraged finance area. Meyer said this year Deutsche Bank was second in high-yield bond underwriting globally and in the U.S., according to Thomson Financial Securities Data. Hopkins worked at Bear Stearns and Alex.Brown prior to Goldman, doing high-yield. He will report to Rich Byrne, global co-head of leveraged debt in his new role.

Deutsche Telekom will benefit from the scarcity of new telecom paper in the market when it prices its new E8 billion issue next month, say London-based analysts. Even though spreads on existing DT bonds widened five to 10 basis points when the roadshow was announced last week, the new issue is said to be in demand from investors and the company will not have to pay too much of a new issue premium. "DT will be one of the only big telecom issuers this year. I don't think they will have to offer a big premium to secondary spreads," says Jean-Yves Guibert, telecom analyst at BNP Paribas in London. "Deutsche Tel's ratings are around where they should have been 12 to18 months ago and I can't see supply coming from elsewhere. The premium will be small," says Tim Jagger, telecom analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Distressed debt players are buzzing about the possibility of large asset sales on collateralized loan obligations rated by Moody's Investors Service in 1997 and 1998, but many market players say it is a false alarm as the rating agency has worked with managers to incorporate more flexible outlines on indentures. In deals rated by Moody's in 1997 and 1998 there is a provision in most deals that calls for CLO managers to sell off defaulted securities after one year. That provision is designed to prevent a drag on the deal created by the lag between recoveries and note payments. New distressed debt funds are popping up with the expectation of scooping up defaulted credits cheap relative to credit quality, cashing in on good recovery levels. "Distressed shops can low ball them [CDO managers] when there's more inherent value," said one portfolio manager of the much talked about scenario.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is looking to hire three asset-backed securities bankers for its New York office. Saad Zein, a director of credit derivatives structuring with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, says he is a couple of weeks away from making offers for the three ABS bankers. "I am not getting much sleep lately," concedes Zein, who in addition to his credit derivative duties also fills the role of North American securitization chief, left vacant after the recent departure of Jon Bottorff to HSBC (BW, 4/22).

Roughly $10 million of Enron is believed to have traded in the 11 3/4 range last Monday with the 8K stating that the company estimates it will write-down $14 billion in assets. One market player explained that the levels took more of a hit than expected because $8-10 billion of the write-off is expected from Enron North America, where investors had previously thought that most of the value was to be found.

First Commercial Bank is believed to be the seller in a $23 million auction ofFederal-Mogul at 69 last Wednesday as market players anticipate resolutions to the company's asbestos liabilities. The name traded as high as 66 before slinking back into the 62-63 range three weeks ago following reports that Carl Icahn and other bondholders struck a deal with asbestos claimants. It is still unknown exactly how the bank debt will be restructured as negotiations continue, but investors are looking for value in near-term resolutions, explained one dealer.

Seneca Capital Management has made six new senior hires to its fixed-income team and will make further additions over the next few weeks, according to Gail Seneca, the firm's ceo and cio. The hires come as four more senior members of the team resigned, bringing to seven the total number of resignations the group has seen in recent weeks.

Buysiders last week faced either approving an amendment on Dean Foods' $1 billion "B" tranche that will leave them 50 basis points out of pocket, or standing by while a high-yield bond deal takes out at par all the bank paper-- which was trading above 101. As Loan Market Week went to press, the 100% approval from the funds was about to be clinched, said one investor, who said, "Nobody is happy to lose 50 basis points, but if we don't approve, they have been shown a bond deal they will take." Pricing is currently at LIBOR plus 3%, but the amendment will cut the pricing grid by 1/2% on the Wachovia Bank and BANK ONE-led loan.

Universal has increased the size of its new credit facility to further develop banking relationships and increase flexibility. The company decided to upsize the loan amount to $295 million after the credit was oversubscribed, said Karen Whelan, v.p. and treasurer for Universal. Whelan explained the company had the opportunity to expand its relationship bank group and have additional flexibility by accepting all of the commitments offered on the deal. Wachovia Bank led the deal, but Whelan would not disclose the names of the three new banks that joined on for the new credit.

Wachovia Bank's $240 million refinancing for Kwik Trip filled up quickly after a bank meeting held in Wisconsin early last week. An official following the syndication said the loan, comprising a $190 million revolver and a $50 million "A" term loan, is already oversubscribed. She could not provide the names of the other banks that have signed up for the deal. Pricing on the five-year bank facilities is LIBOR plus 13/ 4%, with grid pricing on the revolver. There is a 3/8% fee for the unused revolver, she added. Kwik Trip is a privately owned convenience store chain.

Just $5.9 billion in new supply hit the investment grade market (only $3.9 billion excluding AAA EETCs and Supranational borrowers) in one of the quietest weeks of the year. The pattern of issuance was similar to the previous week with many off-the-run borrowers accessing the market with smaller size deals. This was the second week in a row that the average deal size was less than $400 million. With the market fixated on the volatility in turbulent sectors like telecom (WorldCom dropped about 20 points on the week and Qwest was down 3 or 4) and other benchmark borrowers like Tyco, there is little appetite for adding to risk positions. Add in the fact that it was an active week for bid lists, with several hundred million bonds dumped onto dealer books, and the near-term technical position of the market remains poor.