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Heller Financial Asset Management is looking to buy up assets for a new $400 million collateralized debt obligation with slated collateral for the deal comprising roughly 90% leveraged loans and 10% high-yield bonds, said bankers familiar with the deal. The vehicle--West Loop CLO 1--is reportedly structured as a cash flow, arbitrage deal whereby the manager profits from the arbitrage between the spread generated by the sale of notes funding the deal and the spread paid on the assets. Linda Wolf, portfolio manager at Heller, confirmed the manager was in early stages with the CDO, but declined to comment on when it would close or the projected time for issuance of the liabilities. The trustee for the transaction could not be determined by press time. CIBC World Markets will underwrite the notes supporting the deal. A spokesman for CIBC declined to comment.

Highland Capital Management is in the process of closing a $500 million collateralized debt obligation after underwriter Salomon Smith Barney issued $458 million in notes two weeks ago to fund the vehicle. Bankers close to the deal said Highland had been holding off closing the deal in hopes of ramping up additional collateral which would upsize the vehicle to roughly $600 million. "They changed their minds and decided to get it out the door," said one banker. Officials at Highland did not return phone calls by press time.

Irving, Texas-based FelCor Lodging Trust has inked a $500 million loan facility commitment from J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank in connection with the financing of its $2.7 billion acquisition of MeriStar Hospitality. The loan, which has not yet been priced, will be used to fund the purchase of MeriStar's senior notes that are due in 2008 and could be put back to the company once the merger is complete in the fall, explained Stephen Schafer, director of investor relations for FelCor. The $2.7 billion deal will be financed through $1.1 billion in stock and $1.6 billion in assumed and refinanced debt.

The Ackerley Group, a Seattle-based media and entertainment company, has switched lenders from First Union to Credit Suisse First Boston, due to over-restrictive covenants on the existing facility. Kevin Hylton, senior v.p. and cfo, said "it was difficult for Ackerley to meet the covenants of the loan arranged in 1999, specifically leverage ratios, and the move to a more asset-based facility from an operational revolver, will be more suitable."

National City Bank is launching a $225 million loan for Warren, Ohio-based Stoneridge, a designer and manufacturer of electronic components for the automotive industry. The loan will consist of a five-year, $125 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 3% and a $100 million, six-year term loan "B" priced at LIBOR plus 3 1/2 %. The revolver contains a possible $50 million increase through an accordion feature. Proceeds from the new credit facility will be used to pay down an existing $425 million credit agreement. National City Bank is the lead on the existing credit, DLJ Capital Funding is the syndication agent and PNC Bank the documentation agent.

There was heavy trading in Nextel Communications' bank debt early last week after the company released its quarterly numbers. Levels notched up to the 94 1/4 to 94 1/2 range from 93 1/4 and approximately $20 million had changed hands by Tuesday morning. The Reston, Va.-based company released numbers early last week, indicating subscriptions are up by $1 million.

Dealers were sharply divided last week on where Safety Kleen's bank debt has traded, or whether there had been any trades at all, with some dealers saying there were attempts to talk down the levels in order to buy the debt. While there were reports early in the week of a trade at 32, one dealer said there were no trades and that the bid was firm at 33. "People want to buy it. There are 33 bids all over," he said, adding that the market is 33-36. "It might come down. People want it to go in the 20s." The attraction, he predicts, is that the debt will move beyond a 33-36 level on better industry conditions. Safety Kleen, based in Columbia, S.C., picks up, disposes and treats industrial and commercial waste.

Spectrasite Holding's bank debt traded down to the 93 3/4 range from 94 1/2 last week, as tower credits appear to be losing ground in a market hit hard by telecom paper saturation. Dealers quoted levels at 92-94. "All the tower credits are a little softer after the Crown Castle conference call," one market watcher said, noting that the company reported a mixed bag in earnings results. Another dealer was surprised that Spectrasite's levels had slipped. "I thought it would stabilize with Nextel coming out with better numbers. It might lag, since telecoms use those towers. Maybe it will trade back up by fall," he said. The Cary, N.C.-based company is a leading provider of outsourced network services to the wireless communications and broadcast industries in the U.S. and Canada. Dave Tomick, cfo, agrees that tower credits tend to go in lockstep with telecom names. "When people see the business is doing well, we'll trade back to normalized levels," he said.

Swiss Re, the bond reinsurance giant, has hired Frank Ronan, the former global head of structured credit products at Chase Securities, for its Swiss Re Financial Products unit in New York. Additionally, it has also addedDavid Hough, who was a senior structured finance executive at ABN Amro, to its Swiss Re New Markets unit. Both positions are newly created, according to a spokeswoman at Swiss Re in New York.

Bear Stearns has hired Robert Canning, former managing director responsible for derivatives sales to U.S. based financial institutions at Bankers Trust, as a managing director in the derivatives marketing and sales group in New York. Canning will also take the new position of head of derivatives sales and marketing for U.S. agencies, according to Peter Croncota, global head of fixed income and credit derivatives sales and marketing in New York. The three person U.S. agencies sales team originally reported directly to Croncota but the firm decided to create the new position because the department has recently grown and wants room to grow further as volumes increase.

Premarketing of what should be this year's largest share issue in Australia began this week, as Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank start discreet talks with fund managers about the float of the Australian and South African steaming and coking coal assets of Zurich-based trading company Glencore International. The assets have been injected into an IPO vehicle named ENEX Resources. Glencore plans to sell up to 70% of the company in a global share placement that will begin formally in early August and end in mid-September.