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Casey Walsh, the co-head portfolio manager responsible for Prudential Financial's more than $8 billion in high-yield assets, has resigned effective Dec. 31. Paul Appleby, who had been co-head of high-yield with Walsh, will now be the sole head. Mike Collins, a high-yield credit analyst and strategist at Prudential, will assume Walsh's portfolio management responsibilities. Walsh did not return calls placed with his secretary as of press time last Wednesday of the holiday-shortened week.

The high-yield trading, sales and research arm of RBC Capital Markets will to move from its current location in Greenwich, Conn. to company offices in Purchase, N.Y., according to Dan Elkaim, head of high-yield sales. He says the high-yield group is making the move to unite high-yield sales and trading with a newly hired leveraged finance group from Indosuez Capital led by Kenneth Kencel that is operating out of Purchase. Another change precipitated by the addition of Kencel's group is that Max Holmes, who had been head of high-yield origination, will now work with the leveraged finance group.

Houston-based Reliant Resources tapped relationship banks for a $2.2 billion, 364-day bridge loan to finance the planned purchase of Orion Power and will be replacing the loan with a bond deal and bank debt next year. Bill Waller, assistant treasurer for Reliant Resources, said Bank of America, Barclays Bank and Deutsche Bank lead a club of 10 banks providing the loan and the banks will get a piece of the bonds. "It was very much relationship driven. Reliant Resources conducted a competitive process among the relationship lenders," he added. Pricing and terms were the primary factors, he added. Reliant Resources provides electricity and energy services.

J.P. Morgan's $325 million credit for Revlon Consumer Products has been described as challenging by bankers, who cite the company's poor performance and decline in revenue amid a market making a flight to quality. A banker said the company is facing problems and many banks are reluctant to invest in single-B credits right now. The deal, however, is likely to be completed with existing lenders recommitting, albeit reluctantly, he added.

Street bids for Xerox Corporation's bank debt notched up to 84 3/4 on an announcement by the company that it will return to full-year profitability in 2002. One dealer reported heavy volumes of trading in the 85-86 range last Monday, but he did not indicate a figure. Bid-offer range was quoted as 85-88 on Tuesday. "The spread is wide because people are not sure where it's going to pan out. They toss up a two or three point gap and see if anybody bites," a dealer said, adding that Xerox's projection estimates are being received either way. "The market's just very cautious right now," he said. Calls to Barry Romeril, cfo, were referred to spokeswoman Christa Carone, who declined to comment.

A $5 million chunk of Burlington Industries' bank debt was swapped in the 65 range just ahead of the Holiday week following news that the company has filed for Chapter 11. Dealers report that the credit had been in the 70 range prior to the last trade. Since Burlington filed for bankruptcy, the bid offer spread has dipped to 63-67. The company makes fabrics for both the apparel and home-furnishing sectors and is based in Greensboro, N.C. Calls to Charles Peters, cfo, were not returned. Karyl McClusky, spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Citigroup two weeks ago launched syndication of a $2.75 billion refinancing for International Lease Finance Corp. that included a $1.5 billion, 364-day revolver and a $1.25 billion facility with a three-year maturity. Market sources said banks are committing to the deal that has raised eyebrows due to its association with the airline industry as a provider of aircraft operating leases. Citi is reportedly pitching allocations in the amounts of $300 million, $250 million, and $150 million. Reportedly, some firms have taken top slots. Calls to Citigroup syndication officials and Alan Lund, ILFC cfo, were not returned by press time.

Jeff Maillet and his four-person team have joined FrontPoint Partners after departing Nuveen Investments last month, and are preparing to launch a distressed debt fund. Eileen Rives, Gregory Bunk, Lisa Mincheski and Steven Hill, have joined the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm, which has plans down the road for collateralized debt obligations and a slew of loan investment strategies. Philip Duff, the former ceo of Van Kampen Investments and now partner and chairman at FrontPoint, said the new fund will be a "classic distressed debt product" with three parts: distressed workout situations, value investing, and an intra-capital structure using arbitrage. Calls to Maillet were referred to a public relations agency for FrontPoint and were not returned.

Cone Mills Corporation, a denim fabric producer based in Greensboro, N.C., was able to extend its credit facility by downsizing the deal and accepting a new structure pitched by lead bank Bank of America.Scott Wenhold, v.p. and treasurer, said the company's new $68 million facility will replace its existing $73 million facility. "The structuring of the facility is quite different and it benefits both of us. Banks want to reduce credit exposure to the company and from our standpoint things won't get better until we pay down debt and restructure our balance sheet," said Wenhold.

Global Crossing's bank debt reportedly traded up three points to 45 last week following an announcement that the company is selling a business unit for $160 million. The company is selling its IPC unit to an investment group led by Goldman Sachs. "It's considered a slight positive to flat," commented a dealer. "It depends on the cash flow you're taking away. Even if you bring in a certain amount of cash, you must allocate it to pay down debt. At the end of the day your net equation is how much cash flow you're taking away vs. how much you're reducing your debt." Calls to Dan Cohrs, cfo, were referred to the company's media relations office. A spokesman did not return calls by press time.

Despite a flurry of good news that has lifted European telco credits, analysts are still warning investors to proceed with caution. In the past weeks, Colt received an equity injection from Fidelity, Jazztel has begun to restructure its balance sheet and KPN, as well as Sonera, have begun to focus on debt reduction. Last week, Sonera's 5.625% notes of '05 tightened roughly 70 basis points to 250 basis points over five-year swaps and KPN's 7.25% notes of '06 have come in almost 300 basis points in the past month to about 500 basis points over five-year swaps. "The recent rally is far from being a long-term uptick," warns a London-based industry analyst.

ABN Amro is working on a Euro12.5 billion ($10.98 billion) balance sheet collateralized loan obligation to remove its exposure to large corporate leveraged loans from a variety of sectors, including those it has made to U.S.-based companies and other companies worldwide. "We're in the embryonic stages of the deal," said a portfolio manager with the firm. He declined to comment more specifically on the deal's collateral, investor profiles, or the price talk expected to surface on the notes backing the structure.