* Law firm Latham & Watkins has hired three partners from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Marc Hanrahan, Ronan Wicks and Marcus Dougherty have joined Latham's New York office as partners. Their expertise includes advising lenders on syndicated loans and leveraged buyout financings.
* Brian Rutledge, formerly a v.p. in distressed sales and sourcing at Bank of America, appeared this week on the sales and trading desk of CRT Capital Group, an institutional securities research and brokerage firm based in Stanford, Conn. Rutledge did not return calls.
* Jason Beckman, a v.p. and salesman on Goldman Sachs' loan desk, left last month. Beckman's future plans could not be determined and he could not be reached by press time. Goldman officials did not return calls and a spokeswoman declined comment.
* Six classes of notes of Golden Tree High Yield Opportunities I have been upgraded by Fitch Ratings. The fund is a market value collateralized debt obligation managed by Golden Tree Asset Management that closed in October 2000. The fund initially targeted 50-70% high-yield bonds, 15-25% bank loans and the balance in mezzanine and special situations, according to Fitch. But Golden Tree defensively positioned the portfolio and last month the fund was 53% bank loans, 37% high-yield bonds, 3% mezzanine and special situations and the remainder in cash. According to bank loan manager Frederick Haddad, the cumulative loan returns have been over 46% since inception in the CDO (LMW, 12/2).