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ABN AMRO is in the market with a $250 million acquisition credit for Milpitas, Calif-based LSI Logic. The spread on the new revolver is LIBOR plus 13/4 % and the company is BB-/Ba2 rated. A spokesman declined to provide a date for when syndication will close. Calls to officials at ABN AMRO were not returned by press time.

Vanguard Health Systems has scored a Ba3 rating for its $150 million senior secured credit facility, which is currently in syndication, and a B3 rating for an upcoming $200 million note offering. Russell Pomerantz, v.p., senior analyst for Moody's Investors Service, said good asset coverage supports the credit-facility rating, explaining the disparity between the notes and loan ratings for the owner and operator of acute health-care hospitals. Calls to the company, located in Nashville, Tenn., were not returned.

Pricing on a planned $175 million term loan "B" for Apria Healthcare Group jolted up from 2 3/8 % to 3% last week after Apria disclosed that a government investigation into the company's Medicare billing practices could put it on the hook for claims ranging from $4.8 billion to more than $9 billion. The Bank of America-led deal was over-subscribed and allocations close to completion before the disclosure last Monday, noted one banker.

Bob Barmore has been promoted to managing director and head of loan sales for Société Générale replacing Kevin Meenan, who left July 13 to become head of distribution at ABN Amro. Meenan and an official from ABN AMRO did not return calls. Barmore, who's been with the firm for three years, was a director of loan sales. There are no hires planned in conjunction with the promotion. Barmore did not return calls for comment.

BNP Paribas in New York has hired Brian Leach as an associate. He will work in the firm's asset-backed commercial paper conduit program. Leach, who is scheduled to start in August, will report to Sean Reddington, director and group head asset securitization. He moves over from State Street Capital in Boston where he was a senior associate in the conduit department. Leach was not available for comment. Reddington says he may hire more ABS experts in the coming months. A banker at BNP says David Brunner, ceo of the fixed-income department, is looking at hiring CDO experts for the firm's U.S. based CDO operations. Brunner was travelling and unavailable for comment.

Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase are holding one-to-one meetings with banks for a $1.3 billion credit forAmeriSource-Bergen , the distributors of pharmaceuticals and related healthcare products and services. A banker said the credit is set to go into retail syndication next week. Pricing on the pro rata is LIBOR plus 13/4 %, and consists of a $1 billion revolver and $300 million "A" term loan. Calls to officials at AmeriSource were not returned by press time.

Primedia closed a $1 billion credit facility in late June, replacing a seven-year facility. Jim Magrone, senior v.p. of investor relations, said the company pursued the new deal now because of favorable market conditions. "Among the considerations for the new bank facility was the company's desire to extend the amortization schedule out in time, the fact that interest rates are very favorable and bank debt is available, and to provide additional liquidity," he said. He declined to explain any changes to the covenants or pricing on the new deal.

Sinclair Broadcasting's "B" paper traded at 1005/8 last week, which is up slightly from previous levels. In a slowing economy, broadcasting companies have been hit by lower ad revenue, but dealers say the credit levels are strong. "Sinclair is still challenged by weak advertising, but they just came out with reasonably good numbers," a dealer said. Pointing to other strong paper in the sector, he noted Paxson Communications' deal is trading at 101 and Emmis Communications' credit is trading at 101 1/4. Calls to Sinclair in Hunt Valley, Md., were not returned.

The St. Paul Companies may seek to term out its commercial paper program via a senior public debt offering, according to BW sister publication Insurance Investment & Finance. Tom Bergmann, v.p., treasurer, said the trigger for a potential deal would be if the company's outstanding commercial paper, currently $300 million, were increased to $600 million. Given the staggered nature of commercial paper issuance and maturity, Bergmann was unable to estimate when the company may rack up the $600 million balance. The potential senior offering would draw off a previously filed $1 billion shelf registration, but the company has not yet determined the structure or considered any underwriters for the potential financing, saidThomas Bradley, cfo. "Right now we're modestly leveraged with a 19% debt-to-total capital ratio and have the ability to lever that up a little bit," Bradley said, adding the company would be comfortable taking its debt level into the mid-20s.

Investment-grade strategists say corporate bonds will not perform nearly as well in the second half of the year as they did in the first. Louise Purdell, corporate strategist at Deutsche Bank Securities, recently changed her corporate recommendation from overweight to neutral, citing problems in Argentina, a continued dim outlook for the U.S. economy and the low likelihood of further significant rate cutting by the Federal Reserve. Deutsche has conducted surveys indicating that most investors are overweight the sector, and Purdell believes there is minimal room for further spread tightening, given the significant risks involved. She cites Lehman Brothers indices to show that from January to June U.S. investment-grade credits had a 5.38% nominal return and 282 basis points of excess return versus Treasuries. For the second half of the year, she expects the excess return to Treasuries to be in the range of 65 to 75 basis points.

Lehman Brothers has been selected to fully underwrite a debt package backing Tesoro Petroleum's acquisition of two U.S. refineries from BP for $677 million. A spokeswoman for the San Antonio-based refining and marketing company, said the package will refinance existing corporate working capital, working capital for the refineries, as well as the total acquisition amount. At this stage, all financing options revolve around debt, however, it is too early to say what form it will take, she added. Lehman acted as the financial adviser to Tesoro.