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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.

Warnaco Group's levels dropped more than a dozen points after the company announced it was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and there is expected to be a rush to unload the paper. Bids on the company's bank debt fell from 40 to the high 20s as dealers holding the paper started looking for a way out. "All of the big dealers are trying to push their own paper because they have such large exposure," one market player noted. "They are trying to sell their paper at any price just to get out, so they are undercutting other banks' offers." Calls to the company were not returned.

There was barely a rumble in the market after Winstar Communications' announcement that it would default on its bank covenant. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Wednesday. Traders pegged levels at 32-37. "No one's surprised, that deal has been a dog for a while," one said of the announcement. Winstar is a competitive local exchange carrier based in New York City. Calls to the company were not returned.

Lucent Technologies and TeleCorp PCS are planning to re-offer $425 million in vendor financing paper and are considering putting together a second roadshow to market the deal, according to BW sister publication Telecom Financing Week. In March, TeleCorp, the largest AT&T affiliate, planned to raise some $425 million via a private sale of the vendor paper in the form of zero-coupon, 10-year notes to Lucent, which then planned to sell the paper to institutional investors, afterwards. But adverse market conditions drove yields up and the deal was shelved. A Lucent spokesperson declined to specify the yield Lucent and TeleCorp were seeking.

The $150 million institutional piece of Flowers Foods blew out last week and the same is expected for similar deals hitting the market now that food has become the sector du jour. Buysiders continue to balance out their telecom exposure and the food sector is making a turnaround as investors define it as a defensive credit and reconsider the strength of the industry as a whole.

The market seems to be in a wait-and-see mode on Owens-Illinois Inc.'s restructured deal, signed last week after the last of the 81-member bank group got on board. The term loan is being offered in the Street at 98.5, but there were no trades. "The question is, where's the bid?" observed a dealer.

Reich & Tang Capital Management has hired Hamilton Hadden to the new position of head of credit research for the firm's New York-based fixed income group, Global Investment Advisors, to accommodate an increase in assets under management. Formed in 1998 by a group of investment advisors who, like Hadden, come from J.P. Morgan Investment Management, GIA now manages some $700 million in assets, up from $150 million a year ago. Eduardo Cortez, a GIA co-founder, says the expanding asset size allows the firm to create a more formal division between analysis and portfolio management, though each of the investment advisors at the firm does a bit of both. Cortez says he may hire a slightly more junior credit analyst in a year or so, if the size of assets doubles or triples over that time.

Charles Wyman, a high-yield telecom analyst and principal, has left Morgan Stanley Dean Witter for Pacific Investment Management Company in Newport Beach, Ca., according to BW sister publication Telecom Financing Week. A PIMCO official confirms the hire, but did not have his starting date or title. He did note that Wyman will be reporting to Craig Dawson, the head of the high-yield group. Wyman had been based in New York.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the senior secured debt rating for Nextel Partners to B1 from B2 because of solid operating performance over two years. Nextel has consistently exceeded Moody's expectations for network deployment and subscriber additions. The company, based in Kirkland, Wash., has $1.3 billion in debt and credit facilities.