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Tower companies, such as American Tower, SpectraSite Holdings, and Crown Castle Communications traded off two to four points this week following news of weak cell phone subscriber growth, dealers said. Traders quoted American Tower at 90-92, SpectraSite in the mid-80s, and Crown Castle at 98 1/2, and said a combined $10-20 million had been trading on all of the names by last Thursday.

Investors and analysts are divided over whether bondholders ofTyco International should take profits after last week's dramatic tightening, or hold on for what they estimate could be between 30 and 60 basis points of additional value. Last Tuesday, the 6.375% notes of '11 tightened from 245 basis points to 130 basis points over Treasuries after the company announced plans to split into four separate companies and pay down $11 billion in debt.

UBS Warburg held a bank meeting for the $175 million for Hollywood Entertainment loan last week in New York. The deal, consisting of a $25 million revolver, and a $150 million term loan, has spreads of LIBOR plus 3 1/2 % and LIBOR plus 4%, respectively, and the tenor on both tranches is roughly four years. A banker commented the amortization schedule is good, with 40% in the first two years and with 0.9 x senior leverage, the deal is structured fairly conservatively. Response is said to have been positive, with a number of accounts attending the bank meeting and closing is expected in Mid-February, concurrent with the raising of $100 million of equity.

Total investment grade issuance has now topped $45 billion month-to-date. With a week to go, the month may end up topping the previous estimate of $40-50 billion. The primary market was slow coming off the holiday weekend as increased volatility in spreads and rising Treasury yields dissuaded issuers from accessing the market. That said, investor appetite still appears healthy and the strong demand for the Ford convertible-upsized to $4.5 billion, the largest deal ever in that market-generated positive momentum. Important deals of the week included a Household's $2.5 billion 5-year, Italy's $5 billion global and a two-tranche $2 billion deal for GMAC. The high yield new issue market also remains active, carrying over from above average months in November and December. A total of $7.6 billion of high yield debt has been issued thus far this month as flows into high yield funds and the prospect of a drop in default rates augers well for the sector.

WestAM, the asset management arm of the WestLB Group, will begin to employ credit derivatives in its €2.7 billion fixed-income portfolio, which is run out of its London office. Nigel Jenkins, head of global fixed-income and currency, says the firm will use credit derivatives as a hedging tool as part of its wider strategy to increase its allocation to spread products and reduce its exposure to government bonds. "This is the way the whole fixed-income [investment community] is going to generate excess returns," says Jenkins, noting that governments are issuing fewer bonds and the absolute yield on govvies is relatively modest.

Goldman Sachs outbid other banks, including incumbent Bank of America, for Solectron Corp.'s new $500 million bank deal by proposing a three-part financing package that re-works the company's capital structure. In addition to refinancing an outstanding $100 million Bank of America-led credit facility, the company was looking to raise capital to pay down $615 million in puttable Liquid Yield Option Notes (LYONs) underwritten by Merrill Lynch and coming due at the end of this month. In a reverse twist of what has been the rallying cry of commercial banks using their lending capabilities to win investment banking business Goldman leveraged its investment banking prowess into a mandate for the bank credit.

InterGen quickly secured $430 million for a 10-year mini-perm loan using a new structuring strategy whereby it rotated lead lenders on three deals. The Magnolia Energy Project deal, led by ABN AMRO andCredit Lyonnais, closed last month, and is the third deal in a group of three energy loans whereby InterGen rotated different members of its bank group into the lead roles to satisfy lenders and speed up syndication on the deals. "In this manner, we were able to keep the bank group relatively secure by rewarding them with underwriting titles," said Andrew Rovito, director of finance for InterGen.

A $25 million chunk of Crown Cork & Seal traded at 86 last week, according to dealers. Goldman Sachs is believed to be one of the players in the name. A fallen angel once shunned, the company seems to have moved beyond the stigma of its costly asbestos litigation. "It's a good piece of paper," said one dealer, "It trades all the time."

Deutsche Bank has set pricing and a bank meeting for the $70 million add-on credit for Merisant, the tabletop sweetener company, whose consumer products include Equal and Canderel. The "B" term loan will have an out-of-the-box spread of LIBOR plus 31/ 4% and the fees will be revealed at the bank meeting tomorrow. The financing is aimed at paying down subordinated debt incurred in the leveraged buyout of Merisant by Pegasus Capital Advisors in March 2000. The business was purchased from Monsanto, which had decided to concentrate on its pharmaceutical and agricultural products businesses.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein-Grantchester, long a key player in the high-yield secondary market, plans to hire several bankers to its origination team in a bid to become a major underwriter. After leading only one junk deal last year, it has brought two deals to market this year that have raised a combined $500 million, and it plans to bring two more in the next six weeks totaling an additional $475 million, according to Ashish Bhutani, ceo of DrKW North America.

Asset-backed bankers are cultivating Spanish private equity clients to generate leveraged buyout deals that will eventually yield whole business securitizations. Nomura Securities, known in the U.K. for doing private equity LBOs, Credit Suisse First Boston and the Royal Bank of Scotland are all looking to get these types of deals off the ground as a way to offer more acquisition financing options as well establish a foothold in Spain's fledgling ABS market. The first deals still may be a ways off, because while whole business securitizations are relatively common in the U.K., none have been done in Spain. "The legal structures [for whole business deals] in Spain haven't been tested yet. You need to get a client willing to pay for the process," says Oscar Sanz-Paris, an ABS banker at CSFB in London responsible for the Iberian Peninsula. "Originators are definitely interested," he adds.

Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are set to syndicate an $8 billion loan to finance Weyerhaeuser Co.'s planned $6.11 billion all-cash acquisition of Willamette Industries. Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Deutsche Bank are co-underwriters on the loan, which is split equally between a bridge to a bond offering and a commercial paper backstop, said bankers. The bonds are likely to be underwritten by the lead lenders, said one banker, who was unable to provide the date of a bank meeting or likely issuance of the bonds. The deal is awaiting final approval from Willamette's board, which is scheduled to meet in two weeks. Analysts and bankers following the company also envision equity offerings and asset sales.