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J.P. Morgan and 17 other lenders are facing off in the New York Supreme court on Nov. 19, over claims the banks were fraudulently induced by Motorola and Iridium to enter into a credit agreement. Questions to Motorola officials were referred to Scott Wyman, spokesman for Motorola, who explained that after Iridium went bankrupt, the J.P. Morgan workout team went after Motorola, which "wholly disagrees on the case." Calls to the J.P. Morgan press office were not returned.

NationsRent's bank debt traded down to 45 early last week from the mid-60s following an announcement by the company that it was not in compliance with certain loan covenants. Dealers say the credit has been quoted down consistently over the last six months, in line with a slowing economy, and that this was the first trade. The last trade reportedly was at 70 about six months ago. "It's slowly crept down with the economy really stinking. It's a very cyclical business," said a market player. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company rents out construction equipment. Calls to Ezra Shashoua, cfo, were not returned. Further calls were referred to a spokeswoman, Jaquelyn Cortez-Walker, who also did not comment by press time.

UBS Warburg's $190 million bank deal backing Investcorp's acquisition of Netpune Technology Group from Schlumberger has received a positive reception from investors, with UBS aiming to wrap up the "B" tranche before Thanksgiving. Launched at the Waldorf Astoria two weeks ago, the meeting was well attended, said a banker, adding better bids in the secondary market are a good sign the market is turning. As Loan Market Week went to press, ratings were to be assigned. The banker said, "Four-B ratings are expected and once the ratings are out, the term loan will be wrapped and packed."

Nextel Communications' "B/C" paper is trending upward again, last hitting 90 in a total of $20 million in trades. Dealers cite new product offerings as helping to push the credit back up. On Nov. 14 the company announced the official launch of an all-digital wireless network and services combining digital cellular, digital two-way radio, wireless Internet access and text/numeric messaging in one compact phone.

New York-based Patriarch Partners has reportedly closed a roughly $560 million collateralized loan obligation. Market sources said the CLO is backed by collateral comprised of leveraged loans. CIBC World Markets was the underwriter on the notes backing the deal. David Power, CDO syndications banker at CIBC, confirmed the deal closed, but would not elaborate further on the transaction's structure. Officials at Patriarch Partners did not return repeated phone calls.

Buysiders say the $385 million "B" tranche of the $685 million deal for Premdor has been pulled from the market and lead arranger Bank of Montreal and co-syndication agents SunTrust and Scotia Capital are stuck holding the bag on the fully funded acquisition credit. Robert Tubbesing, v.p. of finance and cfo at Premdor, was not available for comment. Arnold Rubin, manager of cash management, referred questions to Paul Bernards, v.p. and controller, who did not return calls. The credit backs the door maker's purchase of International Paper from Masonite.

BNP Paribas is shopping a $2 billion, one-year commercial paper backstop for Zurich Capital Markets, an increase on the current $1.25 billion facility. A banker noted pricing on the investment-grade credit is similar to the last deal at LIBOR plus 22.5 basis points, though there are slightly better up-front fees and enhanced support from the parent company Zurich Capital. Last year the BNP-led facility blew out to $2 billion despite the light up-front fees of less than 3 basis points for commitments up to $200 million, with bankers citing ZCM as a key relationship account for lenders and the double-A rating.