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European high-yield investors are saying the popularity of Europe's largest-ever junk bond says far more about the paucity of European non-telecom junk paper, than about the quality of the E550 million ($440 million) issue by Messer Griesheim (B2/B+). The first quarter saw European junk issuance round out at around $2 billion, against the $30 billion chalked up in the U.S. The investors express concern over the structural debt subordination, which, they say, puts them in a very precarious position in the event of default. There are also questions about information on the explanation of cost-cutting plans, the ability to raise funds via asset sales, and the quality of communication between top executives. Nonetheless, the bond was reportedly oversubscribed by E1.45 billion ($1.28 billion) and trading at E104.5 last week. A high yield syndicate official at Goldman Sachs, which underwrote the deal, declined comment.

Moody's Investors Service assigned a B1 rating to Hialeah, Fla.-based Telemundo Group Inc.'s new $500 million of senior secured bank facilities, citing the strength of its security interests and guarantees and improved programming performance. Christine Padgett, v.p., senior credit officer at Moody's, said the debt is secured against a valuable asset base, consisting of 10 full-power stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. These are a piece of the spectrum which Telemundo has the license to operate, she explained.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded IMC Global Inc.'s senior unsecured debt ratings to Ba2 from Ba1 and Moody's also withdrew the Ba3 rating on the company's existing $800 million credit facility.

Bank of America, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase have invested in a trading platform put forth by LoanX, Inc. The platform is expected to launch before year-end and will give buyers and sellers of syndicated loans electronic access to information about credits and the ability to execute trades electronically. "Loans are one of the most opaque products in the capital markets, so any development to shed additional light on it is appreciated," said Michael Zupon, managing director at Carlyle Group, in support of the new platform. Clay Desjardine, head of sales and trading at Deutsche Bank, said the main objective is to provide more liquidity and transparancy to the market. Michael Rushmore, ceo, also co-founded Creditex, Inc., an electronic platform for trading credit derivatives.

Lafayette, Louisiana-based PetroQuest Energy, Inc., an oil and gas exploration company, has amended and increased its $50 million credit facility to $100 million and has increased its bank group. Robert Brooksher, v.p., said that following a pre-determined borrowing-base exercise, PetroQuest decided to increase the bank group to enhance flexibility and meet exploration purposes as they arise. The amended facility, originally closed with Hibernia National Bank in September, now includes Royal Bank of Canada and Union Bank of California, added Brooksher. The banks were selected based on pricing, relationship and lending amount, he stated.

The 13-strong loan group at N.J.-based Summit Bancorp has been let go following the merger with FleetBoston Financial. One of the bankers who was let go said that the last day of April signaled the end of employment for the six primary, two par loan traders and back office support staff that comprised the team. "There was a degree of duplication in work, but primarily volumes in the loan market are down dramatically," said the source, declining to be named. Fleet, which closed its deal with Summit in March, has also reportedly let go about 20 people in the 80-strong loan department, he added, reflecting the state of the market. A Fleet spokesman could not provide comment by press time.

The "B" and "C" tranches of Goldman Sachs' jumbo credit for German industrial chemicals giant Messer Griesheim blew out last week in the U.S. with commitments of $800 million coming in, igniting expectation that pricing will change. The loan, split between the U.S. and Europe, could also see the "B" upsized due to the strong institutional fervor and to reduce the size of the European credit, said a banker familiar with the situation.

Goldman Sachs is starting to take a "bond-like" approach to pricing and syndicating its deals by gauging the market clearing level for the credits. Where loans typically hit the market and then flex up or down based on investor response, Goldman is looking to be "proactive rather than reactive" in its pricing, said Steve Hickey, co-head of Goldman's bank loan business. As first reported on LMW's Web site last week, the aim of getting pricing input from investors early on is to ensure momentum and interest in the primary market, helping the deal trade better in the secondary market, Hickey said.

Goldman Sachs priced a deal last Thursday for Target Stores (A2/A) on its Dutch auction Web-based Open Book system that almost got pulled because of a technical snafu, according to a deal participant. It was the second such snafu in the past several weeks (BW, 5/1). The deal, a $550 million five-year note, was eventually priced at 101 basis points off the five-year Treasury curve and placed via traditional syndicate method, although not before the bond market rallied nearly 13 basis points, shutting investors out of a potentially profitable trading opportunity. A Goldman spokesperson confirmed the problem, but would not comment on the nature of the glitch. A phone call to the treasurer's office at Target was not returned by press-time.

Janet Showers, an Institutional Investor-ranked treasury bond strategist in 1999 and 2000, has left Salomon Smith Barney for "personal reasons," according to executives in the firm's quantitative fixed-income research group. Showers, who was co-head of the quantitative research group, the firm's main non-corporates research effort, along with Lakhbir Hayre, did not inform colleagues of her future plans, according to insiders. Hayre, who also runs SSB's mortgage research group, would not comment on the departure, other than to confirm that he is now sole head of the quant group. Showers' duties as chief treasury analyst will be picked up by government bond analyst Bulent Baygun, who also will continue his analysis of derivatives, Hayre adds. Repeated calls to Showers' office and home were not returned as of press time.

London-based ING Capital Advisors is ramping up a EURO350 million collateralized loan obligation in an effort to tap a burgeoning European CDO market. Michael Campbell, senior portfolio manager at ING, said the company is trying to position itself as an "early pusher" in the market. "On the institutional side, Europe is in the embryonic stages," he said. At the Standard & Poor's CBO/CDO Conference in New York last Tuesday, Campbell said the company is in the process of finding assets for the vehicle. ING will be launching a debt road show in the next couple of weeks with London-based Goldman Sachs acting as lead underwriter and equity investor. The majority of the CDO will comprise loans with smaller bond and mezzanine debt components.