Securitization People and Markets

Greenwich Capital Markets has hired Karim Bhayani to head up the structuring of new issue collateralized mortgage obligations. Bhayani, who will be a v.p., fills a newly created role and reports to mortgage-backed securities structuring chief Neil Ahuja. He started at GCM in late December. His prior job was as a v.p. on the CMO origination desk at J.P. Morgan Securities, where he reported to CMO trading and origination chief Alan Galishoff. Bhayani left JPMS in late October, after the firm began a fixed-income division wide cost-cutting drive.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has hired a head of leveraged finance for Spain. Beltrán Paredes joins from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, where he was head of the acquisition finance team in Spain, according to a firm spokeswoman. Also joining RBS in Spain is Rocio Cuenca-Torres as a director. Cuenca-Torres, who is transferring from the Paris office, will be responsible for acquisition and mezzanine finance activities in Spain and Portugal. Both will report to Eric Mallaroni and Euan Hamilton, co-heads of leveraged finance in London. Calls to a DrKB spokeswoman were not returned by press time. Calls to RBS' Mallaroni seeking further comment on RBS' strategy also were not returned. Earlier this month, RBS said it was building its debt capital markets capabilities in France and would be leveraging its established leveraged finance practice as part of that initiative (BW, 1/7).

A Jan. 3 sell recommendation on Magellan Health Services issued by Elie Radinsky, a high-yield health care analyst at Jefferies & Co. and a 2001 Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income team runner-up, created a stir in the junk community. In response to his actions,Kathleen Lamb of Credit Suisse First Boston, an II second-teamer, sent a Bloomberg message criticizing Radinsky to her research colleagues and sales force. Meanwhile, Magellan, a psychiatric care provider and major junk issuer, has seen its bond prices fluctuate wildly.

Robin Menzel, a senior high-yield analyst covering industrials and utilities at Lehman Brothers in London, has left the firm. Menzel had been at Lehman for one and a half years. He could not be reached for comment. Stuart Prosser, a firm spokesman, declined to comment on his departure, other than noting that the firm is actively seeking a replacement.Luke Spajic, another high-yield analyst, has assumed Menzel's responsibilities for now, according to Lehman insiders. Spajic declined to comment.

London-based analyst Marc Watton of BNP Paribas is warning investors to avoid Spanish electric utilities' paper, because he fears the sector could suffer the same fate as happened in California. "In Spain there have already been blackouts and there are no plans to build any generation capacity," says Watton, adding that last month prices on the wholesale market peaked and supply failed to meet demand as suppliers scrambled to meet their obligations. In addition, Spain's electricity interconnectors with its neighbors Portgual and France are inadequate and already fully utilized with existing contracts, he says. Accordingly, Watton recommends avoiding all from Endesa, Ibedrola, Union Fenosa and Hidroelectrica del Cantabrico. To add to the problems, Spain is highly dependant on hydro-electric power, which could suffer in the event of a dry winter.

High-yield portfolio managers are increasingly optimistic about the prospects for the lodging sector. Bonds of lodging companies were hit hard as travel fell off in the wake of Sept. 11. However, Mark Durbiano, portfolio manager at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh, says several names can get through whatever remains of the downturn. Federated has added to its holdings of Hilton Hotels 8.25% notes of '11 (Ba1/BBB-), which were trading at 97 last week. It has also bought Starwood Hotels' 6.75% notes of '05 (Ba1/BBB-) and Vail Resorts' 8.75% notes of '09 (Ba3/B), which were trading at 98 and 97.5, respectively. Durbiano says he likes these companies because they have "a very strong asset base."

Merrill Lynch has reorganized its U.S. fixed-income credit research group, further combining high-grade and high-yield, and creating a flat reporting structure beneath Clare Schiedermayer, who was promoted from global head of high-yield credit research to manager, credit research-Americas. Bill Reed, managing director and co-head of investment-grade research, has been let go as a result of the changes. Schiedermayer would not discuss Reed, but says the changes were an extension of those made last year to address credit convergence between high-grade and high-yield (BW, 5/28).

Tyco International paper is being called a bargain after a Wall Street Journal article last week caused its bonds to widen. The article cited an obscure newsletter called SEC Insight, which discussed allegations of an impending Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Tyco's 5.5% of '08 euro-denominated bonds widened by 10 basis points to about 135-145 over German bunds. The bonds usually trade between 120 and 130 over. The company's 5.8% of '06 dollar bonds widened by 30 basis points to between 160 and 165 over Treasuries.

Barclays Capital has hiredHarris Cohen as a structured credit quantitative analyst in its New York-based global collateralized debt obligation department. He reports to Eileen Murphy who heads the department. Cohen's last position was president of Bio-Dynamics, a start-up which built wireless devices. His company ceased operations in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy, says Cohen. Prior to this high-tech interlude, he worked for Barclays from 1998 to 2000 as both an asset-backed securities analyst and an investment banker. In his last position at Barclays, Cohen worked as an associate investment banker within the Financial Institutions Group, a division headed by managing director Eric Jaeger.