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American Tower's levels continue to hover in the low 90s range as $10 million of the bank debt traded this week at 91 1/2. Dealers said they expect the credit will soften further as tower companies begin to feel the effects of a weak telecommunications industry. Joseph Winn, cfo, said, the company has seen good strength in the paper and solid demand on its towers. "The tower companies have been reporting strong organic growth." Winn said. "Concerns around this paper have been due to leverage or debt. We've been supported for a long time in this marketplace, we're going to do just fine."

Credit Suisse First Boston and BNP Paribas are launching the underwriting phase of the $600 million Teco Tricon project loan this Thursday. A banker familiar with the deal said 12 banks have been approached for $75 million commitments. The spread on the deal is LIBOR plus 1 3/4%, but fees were not disclosed. Underwriting on the credit is expected to close by year-end, he added.

The defensive nature of the health care industry pushed up Dade Behring's levels to 89-90 this week in an auction. Deutsche Bank was rumored to be the buyer of the $5 million chunk, although officials there would not confirm the transaction. Another $5 million piece traded after the auction in the same range. Levels are up from the 85-86 context late last month (LMW, 10/30). "It's been getting bid up," said a market player. "In general, health care is a safer bet in a bad environment. Dade is in diagnostics, which is also good." Dade Behring, based in Deerfield, Ill., makes diagnostic equipment which tests how blood coagulates. Calls to John Duffey, cfo, were referred to Pattie Overstreet-Miller, v.p. corporate communications.

Enron subsidiary Eott Energy Partners, a lease crude purchaser and marketer of crude oil, is seeking a new $300 million revolving credit facility that includes letters of credit to replace a line provided by Enron. Susan Ralph, treasurer, explained the Enron line is $1 billion, but the company does not need a facility of that size. She declined comment on how the market is responding to Enron-related credits and would not name the banks leading the deal. One banker said ING Barings is the lead, though Ralph would only confirm it is one of the banks participating.

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.

Dedicated electronic platform Volbroker plans to start brokering emerging market foreign exchange derivatives after the merger with TFS-ICAP. Mike Leibowitz, managing director at TFS-ICAP, said the firm's long-term plan is to put all its foreign exchange derivatives on Volbroker. However he continued that Asian, eastern European and Latin America currencies would be a priority because of the large volumes ICAP brokers through the voice market. He declined to set a timeframe as the merger does not come into effect until Dec. 1.

Mark B Johnson continues his roundtable with some of the most prominent investment bankers working in Japan, asking them for their views on the sorry state of Japan's equity markets. The participants are:

DoCoMo's new share issue, the largest in the history of Japan's equity markets, was well timed in February. Shortly afterwards, the Nikkei 225 hit a 15 year low. Despite the dismal markets of 2001, investors have continued to buy into new issuance and even new products, such as real estate investment trusts. Mark B Johnson reviews how successful the new issues have been, and concludes that for retail investors wealth erosion is unlikely to stop soon.

Japanese investors are struggling to pick up yield in their own domestic bond markets, where spreads on government agency, utility, corporate and even the weak bank sector are razor thin. Emerging market sovereigns have taken full advantage of the situation, issuing directly to them through the Samurai format. And now that investors have recovered their confidence following the Xerox crisis a year ago, foreign corporate credits are joining the party too. Mark B Johnson reports.

Unless there is a window of opportunity to achieve pricing at least level with the low spreads available in domestic debt markets, Japan's top credits have proved reluctant to venture overseas. They have even less reason to do so, when they find themselves paying a Japan premium on account of their nation's weakened finances. Mark B Johnson reports on the few deals that have taken place in 2001.

More than ten years after the bubble burst in Japan's property and equity markets, the erosion of wealth and of confidence continues. Government finances are weakening as one fiscal stimulus after another fails to kickstart the economy. The banking system remains largely dysfunctional, seemingly unwilling to tackle bad loans. Yet, ironically, this creates a wealth of opportunity for investment banks as prime minister Koizumi's new administration tries to recapture Japan's economic miracle. Mark B Johnson reports.

The more government debt that Japan issues, the greater the weighting of the yen in the global bond and currency indices becomes. To counter the danger of exposure both to the currency and to the government directly, international investors continue to diversify out of JGBs and into non-Japanese credits including lower rated names. Mark B Johnson reports.