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First Union at a bank meeting last Thursday launched syndication of a $180 million senior secured credit on behalf of Quincy, Mass.-based Quincy Newspapers.Firstar Bank and Key Corporate Capital have committed to the facility as syndication and documentation agents, respectively. First Union officials said the facility comprises an $80 million revolver and a $100 million term loan. Pricing is expected at LIBOR plus 21Ž 2% and leverage is under 4.5x. Ralph Oakley, v.p. of Quincy, confirmed the structure of the deal and the arrangers, but would not elaborate further on any details surrounding the facility.

Mark Mahoney this week joins Wachovia Corp. as head of capital markets after leaving his post as president of First Union Institutional Debt Markets. He will report to John McLean, senior executive v.p. in charge of corporates services. He declined to discuss specifics regarding any expansion plans for the group. Currently, there are 450 people working in capital markets at the bank, but Mahoney would not say whether or not he would be looking to hire more. In his new position, Mahoney will be overseeing loan syndication and trading, in addition to debt and equity businesses. He will be replacing Doug Williams and J. Peter Peyton, who were co-heads of the group and are moving into risk management and merchant banking,

Some Japanese banks have been holding auctions to rid themselves of bad credits before the fourth quarter ends on March 31, according to market players. Regulatory pressure is one reason given for the sales, but the prime driver seems to be merger plans among banks. Specific names of banks involved could not be determined by press time, but some of the credits being auctioned off include Owens Corning and Finova Group. The merging banks include Industrial Bank of Japan, Fuji Bank, and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, which are forming Mizuho. Officials at IBJ and DKB declined to comment. Fuji officials did not return calls.

Moody's Investors Service has tagged a Ba3 rating on the $500 million credit facility for Caremark Rx. The rating agency also upgraded the company's existing credit ratings from B1 to Ba3, pointing to the company's improved cash flow position. In addition, Moody's placed the B2 senior unsecured debt rating and the B2 issuer rating under review for possible upgrade.

Moody's Investors Service lowered the rating to B3 from B2 on Aavid Thermal Technologies, Inc.'s $75 million guaranteed senior secured bank facility because of disappointing revenues over the last fiscal year. Net sales of $294 million from its business lines were modestly lower than the pro forma estimate for Aavid after adjusting its acquisition of the Thermalloy Group. The company's resulting debt to cash flow ratio of just over five times, based on $41 million adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization, is in violation of the respective bank covenant.

Merrill Lynch and First Union filled out other agents roles this week for the $800 million credit it launched last month for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. Harris Bank and FleetBoston have signed on as documentation agents and SunTrust and CoBank as managing agents.

Ferdie Masucci, a managing director and 16-year veteran of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's New York corporate bond trading efforts, has left the firm and joined HSBC in New York to head up capital markets aspects of its corporate bond effort. An HSBC spokeswoman says Masucci, who started Monday last week, helms the U.S. corporate bond trading, research, sales and syndicate operations, and will reports to fixed-income head John Burrus. Masucci did not return repeated calls for comment.

The bank debt of Owens-Illinois traded last week in the 92-93 range and some traders expect it to climb higher as a restructured bank deal is backed by assets, improving banks' positions. The company is wrestling off asbestos litigation worries, as is Crown Cork & Seal, which saw bids for its bank debt rise with a new add-on the company recently inked.

Though spreads on Abbey National Bank benchmark issues tightened towards Lloyds TSB after Lloyds bid for the U.K. mortgage bank, last week's revelation of why the deal was referred to competition authorities will force spreads wider again, according to City players. Larissa Knepper, research analyst at Barclays Capital in London, says, "We've seen Abbey spreads converging close to Lloyds up until the referral [to the Competition Commission]. Since then spreads have remained static, but I believe Abbey spreads will drift wider in the next few weeks." The Office of Fair Trading revealed its rationale on Thursday for referring the merger to the Commission for examination, citing heavy consolidation in the area of current accounts. The deal is on hold until the investigation is concluded.

FleetBoston is syndicating a $250 million deal for natural food producer Hain Celestial Group that the company will use to finance acquisitions and refinance some of its outstanding debt. Gary Jacobs, cfo, said the company is looking for the deal to close by the end of March. Jacobs said the company selected FleetBoston as lead arranger because the company has a longstanding relationship with the bank and Fleet provides the company with its cash management services.

Fleet Bank is looking for one to two additional commitments of at least $5 million but as high as $25 million to close a $150 million construction loan deal. The bank is close to completing syndication on the deal made to a joint venture between Congress Group Ventures, National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF) and Value Enhancement Fund IV, two funds advised by Lend Lease Real Estate Investments. Wells Fargo underwrote half the deal, one banker said. PNC Bank has committed to hold $20 million while Sovereign Bank will hold $25 million. The loan is priced at LIBOR plus 2?%.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. recently closed a $2 billion credit that it arranged itself, relying on banks for advise and help in rounding out the syndicate. Stephen Farber, senior v.p. of finance, explained that the company chose to skip an underwriter partly because it was cheaper. Also, Tenet had developed a relationship with several banks and believed it could get a deal on its own.