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At least $50 million of Finova Group's '01 paper traded last week at 72-73, dealers said. They noted the company's bank debt is still riding on the momentum of investor Warren Buffett's interest in the bonds. Dealers declined to comment on whether that interest extends to the bank debt. Still, they weren't surprised at the size of the piece, speculated to be anywhere between $50-100 million. "It's a large credit that trades in big pieces," one remarked. Another remarked that Finova is "a very topical" name right now and that only part of it stems from Buffett's investment. "There's a lot of everything surrounding the name right now," he said, declining to elaborate. The identity of the parties could not be determined. The Scottsdale, Ariz., company offers commercial financing to small and mid-sized businesses. Calls to Bruno Marszowski, cfo, were referred to a spokesman, who did not return them.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has started cutting in its asset management group, seeking to create a single unit out of the former J.P. Morgan Investment Management and Chase Asset Management, according to BondWeek, an LMW sister publication. A fixed-income buysider at Chase who is awaiting word on his own fate says the bulk of the cuts thus far are coming on the Chase side, which has lost 30-40% of its staff, believed to total some 200, across a range of investment groups and sectors. He adds that he has heard reports of only one or two cuts on the J.P. Morgan Investment Management side, and he speculates that this is because J.P. Morgan officials are largely in charge of the finances of the newly merged entity. A J.P. Morgan Chase spokeswoman was unaware of any asset-management personnel changes.

ABN AMRO has reportedly made an offer to buy the entire U.S. banking operations of ING Barings. The ING board met last week to weigh the ABN offer as well as another offer by Bank of Montreal for parts of the firm, a source familiar with the matter told Corporate Financing Week, an LMW sister publication. In addition, the source added that Warburg Pincus has expressed interest in parts of the bank as well but he did not know if it has made a formal offer. Rumors have swirled that ABN AMRO was interested in purchasing portions of ING but until now no formal offer had been made.

Moody's Investors Service assigned a Ba1 rating to Alliance Atlantis Communications' proposed C$500 million of senior secured credit facilities because the company is expected to have additional expenses associated with the launch of specialty television networks as well as the acquisition of additional business units. Alliance is a major Canadian production company and movie distributor, with operations in television, film, broadcasting and the Internet. W. Judson Martin, cfo, did not return calls for comment by press time.

Allied Waste reached a high this week of 981Ž 2 as a rumored bond deal and the company's strong performance continue to propel the paper. Dealers reported that $5 million of the "B/C" tranche changed hands. But traders are beginning to question the levels and the premise on which they're based. "The level is steep. It's extremely expensive to pay for it now," one trader said. "Regardless of whether there's a bond deal, it doesn't make sense to pay that much for it." One dealer noted that an unconfirmed rumor is a flimsy basis for higher trading levels. "What's to say the company isn't going to turn around and announce it won't do a bond deal? Anyone can start a rumor," he said. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company hauls garbage for over nine million residential and commercial customers.

After a thin year squeezed by a lack of high-yield issuance, a wave of junk collateralized bond obligations is poised to hit the market on the tails of strong new issuance. "The pipeline is ready to explode," according to buyside sources, says Brian McManus, CBO analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York, who is predicting about 25 new junk-backed structured products in the next one to three months. But that very flood of deals may drive up the price of junk and snuff out the fat arbitrage between the underlying assets and what the structures pay out to investors, argue other analysts.

Six banks are currently underwriting tickets for BNP Paribas and LaSalle Bank's $105 million deal backing the construction of Classic Residence by Hyatt at the Glen, according to an official familiar with the credit. "They are all traditional continuing care retirement community lenders and Pritzker family lenders," the banker said. He added that the co-arrangers have yet to decide if they will award another title role to any of the interested banks. He declined to discuss ticket sizes and up-front fees. BNP and LaSalle are also co-syndication agents. Bank officials did not return calls seeking comment. Frank Borg, senior v.p. finance of Hyatt in Chicago, declined to comment.

Boston Partners Asset Management has begun bulking up on corporate bonds, a move that may result in upping its allocation from roughly 22% to as much as 34%, or $192 million.Mike Mullaney, the director of the firms $1.6 billion taxable fixed income portfolio, says the strategy has been financed by selling shorter-maturity Treasuries, declining to specify how much has been added so far. The rational for the trades is his team's view that corporates will outperform other spread sectors as the Federal Reserve eases rates, as they have over recent weeks.

The bank debt of Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison last week dropped about 10 points in the secondary market as blackouts hit California. The drop brought unsecured debt down to the 50s, while secured debt was quoted in the mid-70s, dealers said.

Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial have signed on to Bank of Montreal's $500 million credit backing Pogo Producing's acquisition of NORIC Corp.'s North Central Oil, according to an official familiar with the deal. Société Généralé is reportedly considering joining at the same level, the official said. He declined further comment. James Ulm, cfo in Houston, would only say that several banks are going through due diligence and standard credit procedures to make commitments. "The deal just launched last Thursday, and Monday was a holiday. They need time to get back home and do the work," he said. Ulm declined further comment. Bank officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Credit Suisse First Boston shifted $10 million from its $60 million term loan "A" to the $146 million term loan "B" after banks heavily oversubscribed to the credit backing the leveraged buyout of Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings (CAF). Pricing on the "B" subsequently ticked down 1/4% to 31Ž 2% over LIBOR. "It was a massive blow-out, more than three times," said one lender on the deal. He cited the credit's "strong fundamentals," but declined to elaborate. Oaktree Capital Management and Bank of America Investment Partners are the sponsors. Firm officials and a CSFB official declined to comment.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded Charles Rivers Laboratories' $190 million credit facility to Ba3 from B1 because the company has improved its credit profile. Charles River completed its $236 million initial public offering last June and repaid $205 million of debt. The company also cut leverage down to 2.4 times from 5.2 times between last year's first quarter and third quarter. Interest coverage has also risen to 3.3 times from 1.3 times during the same period. The agency believes, however, that debt reduction may halt significantly due to the company's acquisitive strategy. Charles River, based in Wilmington, Mass., is a commercial supplier of laboratory animals used in pharmaceutical testing. Union Bank of California leads the facility.