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Urban Shopping Centers is shopping for a $90 million construction loan and is talking to three banks about a deal. The Chicago-based retail real estate investment trust is looking to expand its upscale Houston Galleria mall by 700,000 square feet and is expected to hold a bank meeting at the end of the month, according to market players familiar with the deal. Gerald Egan, ceo of Urban Retail Properties, referred calls to a spokesperson who declined to comment.

Uncertainty surrounding the fate of PacifiCare Health System's $700 million credit last week created an eyebrow-raising 25-point quote range for the name as holders of the paper talked it up and potential buyers in distressed land did their best to knock it down. AgentBank of America last week was talking to the company's existing lenders to rework the $700 million credit, which was to be taken out by a $1.5 billion refinancing package. That plan was scrapped two weeks ago.

Aladdin Capital Management recently closed its first $400 million collateralized debt obligation--Landmark CLO I--after ramping up the vehicle for the last six months. Gilles Marchand, senior portfolio manager, said the fund decided to launch its first vehicle to diversify its investment grade portfolio and begin managing high yield assets. "We try to focus on borrowers that have assets with scarcity value," said Marchand, explaining that the fund primarily invested in cable, gaming, and broadcasting for the vehicle.

Several asbestos credits took a big jump last week, with dealers reporting more investor comfort with the liability issues surrounding these names. Crown Cork & Seal traded at 87 1/4 to 88, up from the mid-80s; Owens Illinois traded at 93 1/2 to 94 1/2, up from the 92 range; and U.S. Industries traded at 83, up from the high 70s. "The (liability) numbers have stabilized and investors are more comfortable with asbestos risk," a dealer noted. Another dealer said the strong fundamentals of Crown Cork gave the sector a boost, yet he cautioned that the names could trade back down in sympathy with the anticipated Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Federal-Mogul. Crown Cork secured a $400 million term loan in the wake of lowered ratings related to the company's asbestos exposure (LMW, 3/18). Calls to a spokesmen for Federal Mogul and Owens Illinois were not returned by press time. Calls to Timothy Donahue, senior v.p. finance at Crown Cork, also were not returned.

* KDDI Corp, Japan's second largest mobile phone company, is to launch what could become Japan's largest ever securitisation, secured on five office buildings owned by KDDI in different parts of Japan. The deal, which market participants expect to be launched by the end of the year, is being sized at around ¥200bn ($1.62bn), which is between 60% and 80% of the total value of the buildings it will be secured on.

Wine producer Southcorp spearheaded another busy week for Australian dollar bond issuance, launching its second transaction to a positive reception. Having gradually expanded in the wine sector to become one of the world's largest manufacturers, the BBB+ company arranged a A$125m five year domestic deal through Southcorp Finance, hoping that its recent restructuring efforts would be well received by the market.

Standard Chartered plans to list its shares in Hong Kong to complement its London listing and raise its profile in Asia. The bank, which earns over half its revenues in the region, plans a retail offering in Hong Kong and a placement to institutional investors with Goldman Sachs as lead manager. Bankers in Hong Kong expect the issue to take place in October.

France Télécom reaffirmed its popularity with yen investors by increasing the largest ever yen denominated bond issue from a corporate by a further ¥100bn this week. As a result of continued Japanese investor demand, the company was able to raise the ¥175bn two year FRN tranche of its recent Euroyen bond issue to ¥275bn, bringing the two tranche deal to a record ¥325bn.

Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corp (MTRC) launched two domestic bond issues this week. Barclays Capital was sole lead manager for a HK$200m four year bond, which was priced at par and pays a quarterly coupon of 5.3%.

Australia James Hardie Industries raised A$200m through a placement of 35m shares at A$5.75 on Tuesday. The issue, arranged by UBS Warburg, was 5.4% below the company's A$6.08 price at Tuesday's close. The sale was to fund expansion of its US fibre-cement business and also repay debt. More than 40 investors took up the shares.

Reckitt Benckiser has signed a $1 billion Euro-MTN programme. Westdeutsche Landesbank is the arranger. It is joined by ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney on the dealer panel.

* Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale Rating: Aaa/AAA