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Bank One is looking for lenders to round out the syndicate on a $120 million credit facility for CenterPoint Venture, a partnership between CenterPoint Properties Trust, CalPERS and Jones Lang LaSalle. The facility will be used to refinance an existing credit line. The venture targets industrial projects that do not fit in with CenterPoint's value-added strategy. A bank meeting will be held on Thursday. Bank One officials and CenterPoint officials did not return calls.

Bank of America is seeking commitments for a $100 million add-on to an existing $200 million revolving credit for San Francisco, based-Hearthstone MSII Homebuilding Investors, a private finance real estate company that invests and manages institutional capital in residential developments. The fund is seeking to invest in home-building projects and is adding the $100 million of new money to the existing credit taken out in January of last year, noted a banker familiar with the situation.

Bank of America will lead a $150 million credit for apparel retailer Ann Taylor, Inc., refinancing the company's $150 million revolving credit set to mature this June. First Union and FleetBoston Financial will act as syndication and documentation agents, respectively. An official at Ann Taylor declined to comment.

Tricon Global Restaurant's bank notched up to 983/4 last week, from the 98 range. Dealers attributed the slight improvement to the company's $750 million bond deal. Early this month the company announced it would use the bond deal to pay down the bank debt (LMW, 4/8). Tricon, based in Louiseville, Ky., owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.

Bankers said Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston sold roughly $400 million of a $550 million offer of 10-year, senior subordinated notes on behalf of U.S. Industries, pushing the company's $700 million bank deal forward as it is contingent on the bond sale. Calls to U.S. Industries were not returned by press time. Bank of America is also in a lead position for the loan. The pro rata part of the bank deal has reportedly received $55 million in commitments now that the deal is in play.

A rally in the wireline telecom sector? Few players think it will happen in the short term. Last week's Chapter 11 filing by Winstar Communications was the latest blow to the sector and is seen by junk market players as the reason behind the sharp sell-off in wireline telecom bonds. Moreover, Winstar's burgeoning legal battle with Lucent Technologies is being seen as an indication of a deepening credit crunch in the beleaguered sector. Several sell-side analysts argue that Winstar and other wireline companies have grim operating prospects going forward given the intense cash needs of building continent wide or even global networks. They also note that investors are disenchanted with the sector as a whole as evidenced by the inability of Lucent and TeleCorp PCS to move $425 million in vendor financing debt (in spite of what many saw as an attractive 17% yield). A Lucent spokesperson says the company plans to re-offer the notes in the future, depending on market conditions (see story, page 4).

Some packaging credits are trading up on the belief that they are wrapped in a recession-proof box. A piece of Graham Packaging's bank debt traded at 95 last week, up two points for the name. Gaylord Container Corp. traded at 95, up 1/4 of a point. "There's some attention on deals that are non-telecom. There's real asset valuation backing these companies," a dealer explained. "In a bad economy, you're still going to buy cereal or orange juice, but you may not buy a car." Buyers and sellers could not be ascertained. A tense market is said to be working in these credits' favor.

Columbia, Md.-based Corporate Office Properties Trust renewed its existing credit facility, adding $25 million to the facility for a total credit of $125 million. Roger Waesche, cfo, said the company increased the loan by $25 million because it plans to pay down $29 million of outstanding debt it has on its other $50 million facility provided by Prudential Securities. "We want to consolidate all of our bank debt into one loan," he said, explaining the company has decided to go with the larger line provided by Deutsche Bank and retire the Prudential credit.

Citigroup, acting as sole arranger, syndication and administration agent, is seeking commitments of at least $35 million for a $175 million refinancing for K*TECH Electronics, a contract electronics manufacturing company based in Sugar Land, Texas. A banker close to the deal noted that a conference call two weeks ago kicked off the syndication process, but it could not be determined whether commitments have been raised.

Telemundo Communications Group, the Hialeah, Fla.- based operator of Hispanic television stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, has tapped Credit Suisse First Boston for a $500 million credit to finance the acquisition of a Spanish-language television station in Los Angeles for approximately $239 million. The new credit, expected to be completed by July, will also refinance an existing $350 million credit launched in November 1997, explained Vincent Sadusky, cfo and treasurer for Telemundo. CSFB was bookrunner for the previous loan, added Sadusky, declining to name the other banks considered or involved in the deal.

Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and Citibank have been tapped to lead a $1.77 billion short-term commercial paper backstop for Nokia Oyj, the Espoo, Finland-based mobile phone giant. Market participants said the facility is mostly a 364-day revolver, though a three-year tranche will be included in the deal. Officials at Nokia and the banks did not return calls before press time.