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UK mortgage bank Northern Rock this week launched a £1.5bn securitisation offered in dollars and sterling - the second it has launched this year from its master trust structure. Lead managed by Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, this was the deal the European market had been waiting for to test investor sentiment towards asset backed bonds.

* Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Banc of America has hired Dik Blewitt, chief strategic officer at creditex in New York, as a managing director in its structured credit products group. Blewitt said he is structuring credit products for pension fund and insurance clients in the U.S. The appointment was a strategic hire by the firm rather than part of an expansion of the department. "It is a homerun in terms of opportunities," he quipped, referring to the firm's large balance sheet and global client base.

Steven Goldstein, president of TradeWeather.com, an on-line weather derivatives company, is among the thousands still unaccounted for following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Goldstein, who launched Tradeweather.com in 1999, moved into the North Tower of the WTC about three weeks ago. The move was part of Cantor Fitzgerald's acquisition of the company and incorporating the weather derivatives company into to the brokerÕs emissions trading group, according to a market official. Cantor occupied floors 101-105 in the North Tower. Officials at Cantor did not return calls.

AWG plc, which owns one of the nine regional water companies in England, announced last Friday that it no longer intends to demerge its regulated water assets from its operations. Instead, it will "restructure the group within AWG's overall corporate structure".

Barclays Capital hit the market last Friday with an £825m securitisation of prime and non-conforming UK residential mortgages originated by UK mortgage lender RFC Mortgage Services Ltd, a subsidiary of GMAC's Residential Funding Corp. RMAC 2001-NSP2 plc was viewed by many investors as an attractive deal at a time of market uncertainty. "A lot of money market investors came into the deal as part of a flight to quality," said one of the co-leads.

* Morgan Stanley is planning to bring to market around Eu1.017bn of notes backed by commercial and residential non-performing mortgages originated by the Italian bank Credito Fondiario e Industriale (Fonspa). ICR-6, the fifth offering from Morgan Stanley's International Credit Recovery programme, is the second portfolio of loans to be securitised since Fonspa's acquisition in April last year by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund.

Nissan Canada Finance last week completed a C$493m securitisation backed by performing auto leases via CIBC World Markets. The deal, which is backed by 17,858 auto leases on Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, is Nissan Canada Finance's first securitisation outside the ABCP conduit markets.

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association's annual conference, set for Oct. 10, is to go ahead following a vote of confidence from a majority of members. A number of participants from as far afield as Los Angeles and London contacted the LSTA to say people want to talk and see each other, said Allison Taylor, executive director of the LSTA. Over 90% of the attendants are based in New York so will not need to travel, according to an e-mail being circulated to LSTA members.

Hotel credits continue to sag in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. Wyndham International's back debt is now offered in the high 80s, a 10 point drop from before Sept. 11. Starwood Hotels & Casinos' bank debt is now in the 97 range, trading down from a 100 level. Charter Communications' bank debt traded down to 96.50, which had softened about a point and a half, on the combination of a weakening broadcasting sector and news the company's ceo is resigning. An estimated $5 million traded.

Amtran, parent company of American Trans Air, is evaluating financing options, including another credit facility to back a planned going-private transaction. Citicorp and Salomon Smith Barney terminated their commitment letter relating to a proposed $175 million secured credit facility last Friday night, citing the material adverse change in the business clause as a get-out, explained Kim Wick, manager of investor relations. Wick said, however, the privatization is on hold for the moment and has not yet been scrapped. Financing and the shareholder vote are the only hurdles left, she added.

The Managed Funds Association, an alternative investment trade group with 700 members, has slammed the International Swaps and Derivatives Association for ignoring a series of letters and e-mails in which it outlined to the derivatives industry body concerns over proposed changes to the 1992 ISDA master agreement. The MFA is worried that changes to the documentation will heavily favor sellside firms.