Bank Loan Report articles from March 2003

Bank Loan Report archives from March 2003

Allegheny Scores with Restructuring, But Hurdles Remain.(Allegheny Energy)
March 3, 2003... Allegheny Energy was one of three energy companies to avoid financial disaster last week with a little help from its creditors, but analysts say the company could still face further hurdles in the future if it isn't careful. El Paso,...

Sprint May Lose Investment Grade Rating; Should it Aid a Bankrupt Affiliate, or Watch the Revenue Evaporate?
March 3, 2003... All the determination in the world may not enable Sprint Corp. to hang on to its cherished investment grade ratings. Desperate to appease the rating agencies and keep the money rolling in, the telecom operator declined to bail out one of...

Standish: HY Will Buck Down Trend in 03.(Standish Mellon Asset Management, high yield market)(Interview)
March 3, 2003... It has been a great year so far for the US high yield market. Healthy investor appetite has been assuaged by a constant supply of decent new issues, and this has helped the market to recover from last year's record lows. As a result of the...

New Deals are Coming, but Forward Pipeline Might Not Be as Robust as Market Players Wish It To Be.(syndicated loan market)
March 3, 2003... The syndicated loan market was busy last week, with several bank meetings and deals ready to launch to retail investors. Investor appetite for new paper from "good name" companies continues to remain strong, a source said, and pricing,...

2002 Defaults: Rating Agencies Report Worst Year in Ages.(defaulted debt)
March 3, 2003... The credit rating agencies have published their final default studies for 2002, and as they had warned repeatedly over the course of the year, corporate conditions could not have been any worse. Moody's Investors Service reports in its...

Oh No!! More Bad Loans, and this Time it's Not in the US: A European Enron-esque Scandal Could Burn Already Seared Banks.(Royal Ahold N.V. may be Europe's first accounting scandal)
March 3, 2003... Dutch supermarket retailer Royal Ahold NV, likely to be Europe's first accounting scandal casualty, could tar several US and European banks if it continues its descent into speculative-grade status. Ahold's plight is similar to notable US...

DirecTV Lights Up Screens, While Ahold Falls.
March 3, 2003... US DirecTV Scores a Hit Last week's most popular deal was the highly anticipated $1.4 billion 144A bond from DirecTV, part of a total $3 billion financing package that also includes an $800 million term loan B, and $250 million...

Lending May Weather Possible War But Drag May Linger: Loan Pros Compare 1991 and Now.
March 10, 2003... A war with Iraq inevitably will slow down syndicated loan issuance as well as secondary market and other loan-related activity, according to longtime lending veterans, but improved commercial loan liquidity and better informed market...

Refining Sector Set For Strong Summer.
March 10, 2003... The severe weather this winter in the Northeast is not bad news for everyone. The extra chill has called for more heating oil, and extremely tight inventories have set the stage for high yield refineries to enjoy strong margins during the...

Merchant Power Struggles for Survival: FERC Reforms are Necessary for Industry Fundamentals.
March 10, 2003... The merchant energy industry is hanging on by a thread. Billions of dollars of investment into unregulated generation and energy trading have fared poorly, while depressed power prices, a weak economy, trading losses, surplus generation and...

Demand Continues, but Loan Market is Closer to an Equilibrium Between Issue Supply and Investor Demand, Pros Say.
March 10, 2003... The syndicated loan market continued busily on last week, with deals coming to market and investors ready to buy them. But activity is less frenetic than it was a few weeks ago, a market source said. "There is still demand in the B...

Modernizing Loan Trading: CSFB Says it has a Better Idea, but Old School Rivals are Digging in their Heels.
March 10, 2003... Adding another twist to the assignment fees debate currently raging in the syndicated loan arena, Credit Suisse First Boston said last week it will stop charging fees to anyone trading its loans in the secondary market if they settle the...

Structural Subordination Gains Ground in Europe.(meshed briefs)
March 10, 2003... US With plenty of cash still pouring into high yield mutual funds, US issuers continued to take advantage of a hot market and expected to price eight deals last week. Fairpoint Communications Has No Trouble Fairpoint...

Fitch Report Illuminates Credit Protection Market and Its Risks.
March 17, 2003... The heretofore opaque credit derivatives market took on crisper form last week when Fitch Ratings released a survey illuminating details about the buyers and sellers of credit protection. But the challenges the rating agency faced in collecting...

BNP Paribas Targets Underbanked Areas.
March 17, 2003... BNP Paribas' leveraged finance team is keen to continue climbing up the league tables this year, and as such, is setting itself apart from its competitors by zeroing in on areas of the corporate landscape that the giants in the lending business...

Europe: Grohe's in Uncharted Waters.(Plans to launch leveraged recapitalization )
March 17, 2003... Subordination reared its ugly head again in Europe last week, but this time the issue came with a twist, as Grohe, the German bathroom and kitchen fittings manufacturer, announced its plans to launch a leveraged recapitalization through...

Loan Market has Become More Rational, Players Say, and Asset-Based Deals are Gaining More Popularity.
March 17, 2003... Although new issuance continues at a rapid pace, and demand for deals remains healthy, the loan market is far more "rational" than it was just a couple of weeks ago, one institutional investor said last week. "People are not crazy, they...

Trump Catches the Eye, Barry Offers a Better Deal in Europe.(Trump Hotel Casino is discussed, as are other deals)
March 17, 2003... US Trump Deal Will Sail...but Only Because of Current Market The one deal on all radar screens last week was Trump Hotel Casino's B3/B- rated, $425 million offering of seven-year, non-call four first mortgage notes. Gross proceeds are...

Evergreen Raises Largest High Yield Closed End Fund.(Evergreen Investments)
March 17, 2003... Investors have been badly scarred by corporate accounting scandals and a war is about to break out, but even retail players are hungry for yield, and are prepared to grab it wherever they can find it. With the equity market in shambles and...

New Reputation Concern May Not Cover Banks' Past Deeds.
March 24, 2003... March has been turbulent in terms of weather, geopolitics, the advent of war and war itself, and the reputations of two of the biggest loan agents in the syndications market. While the latter issue may be more obscure to the public, it's bound...

Asset-Based Loans Go Mainstream.(Fleming Companies, wholesale food distributor, will tap the asset-backed loans market)
March 24, 2003... Floundering wholesale food distributor Fleming Companies Inc. will follow the likes of bankrupt Kmart Corp. and Spiegel Inc. into the asset-based loans (ABL) market, a sector that is becoming the last, best hope for troubled companies. ...

Jefferies Gets Positive Nod from Moody's.(Jefferies & Co. )
March 24, 2003... It's not easy competing with bulge-bracket investment firms, especially for smaller companies like Jefferies & Co. But despite the obvious disadvantages of being a smaller player in an environment where many firms have seen sharp contractions...

As Bombs Fall Over Baghdad, Loan Market Becomes Quiet; Some Players Say Primary May Get Going Again First.
March 24, 2003... Suddenly, the mood has changed. The syndicated loan market, which had been so active in previous weeks, fell silent last week as the US and the UK began the war on Iraq. The primary market, which had been bustling with new issues from the...

Boutiques Pick Up Out-of-Work High Yield Talent.(boutique investment firms)(Industry Overview)
March 24, 2003... Who says high yield's only for the big guys? Over the past few months, a growing number of boutique firms have been vying to get a piece of the high yield market, thereby challenging the bulge bracket's oft-repeated claim that junk is only...

Despite War, Both Markets Continue to Keep Busy.(discussion of US, European capital markets)(Industry Overview)
March 24, 2003... US The start of the war on Iraq didn't get the US primary market down last week. Deals, deals and yet more deals were expected to price, with seven pricing by press time. Dole Foods is Lip Smackin' Good Fresh producer and...

As Market Enthusiasm Fades, Lenders Demand More Collateral.
March 31, 2003... Loan pricing has jumped in the last month and lenders are demanding stronger collateral - a marked difference from earlier in the year when lender demand abounded in a borrower's market. War-related jitters are likely prompting some of those...

HealthSouth: Rocky Horror Picture Show?
March 31, 2003... At the stroke of midnight on Mar. 20, a new version of the cult flick "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" unfolded. But instead of the usual colorful crowd who typically attend screenings, the audience this time was made up of high yield bond...

High Yield Bonds are Asset of Choice.
March 31, 2003... You know that junk is the flavor of the month when a highly leveraged fruit-packaging firm can price a cartload of bonds to yield less than 9% and have them fly off the shelves. Such was the case when B2/B+ rated Dole Food Co. issued $475...

In Quiet Market, Deals Have Tough Time Making it to the Finish.
March 31, 2003... The syndicated loan market remained quiet last week, although some smaller deals were still being brought. Market participants expect both the primary and secondary markets to be quiet for the coming weeks, as the international crisis...

CDO Bankers Rally Around Their Asset Class.(collateralized debt obligations)
March 31, 2003... After a 12-hour day spent funneling through pricing data, monitoring underlying collateral and butting heads with harried investors, a collection of CDO underwriters recently gathered in a conference room overlooking New York's Madison Avenue....