Bank Loan Report articles from November 2003

Bank Loan Report archives from November 2003

BofA/Fleet Merger Will Set Stage For Showdown With Citi, JPM.(Bank of American, FleetBoston Financial)
November 3, 2003... While the colossal $43 billion merger of Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial has been called BofA's high-stakes bet that its future lies in consumer banking, the deal will also enable BofA to win a larger share of the syndicated loan...

Banks Play Pro Rata In Skimpy Mart.
November 3, 2003... According to loan market players, there's somewhat of a renaissance of pro rata interest in the leveraged loan universe, which has been dominated over the past years by institutional investors and term loan Bs. But while some bankers say...

CSFB Launches SAMI Shorting Index.
November 3, 2003... A tool to short secured term loans arrived last week, courtesy of Credit Suisse First Boston, which - if successful - will for the first time provide lenders a way to hedge their holdings in the leveraged loan market. Goldman Sachs was...

Nalco Could Be Last Jumbo Deal Of Year, Sources Say; Meter Deals Measure Market; LSTA Panel Mulls Trading Issues.
November 3, 2003... Intense investor demand for Ondeo Nalco's $1.1 billion institutional loan caused the lead arranger group to enlarge the mammoth tranche even more last week. The seven-year loan was pumped up to $1.3 billion, while the $1.8 billion bond package...

Market Gets Meter Deals; Itron Credit Oversubscribes.
November 3, 2003... Bear Stearns' $240 million credit facility for Itron - a technology provider to the energy and water industries - was oversubscribed ahead of the bank meeting last Wednesday, according to a market source. Bear Stearns is reserving the right to...

LSTA Panel Digs Into Distressed Trading Issues.
November 3, 2003... Panelists and attendees of last week's Loan Syndications and Trading Association's conference panel discussion on loan trading in the secondary market stirred up a heated dialogue on the risks and concerns behind closing distressed trades. The...

Near Default, Bond/Loan Prices Correlate Closely.
November 3, 2003... It's no secret that bond prices tend to be more volatile than loan prices. But the results of a study to be released in a few weeks show that, in fact, the correlation between secondary bond and loan prices significantly increases immediately...

Merrill Hires Lehman's Gates.(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Bill Gates, former head of European leveraged finance at Lehman Brothers, has joined Merrill Lynch as managing director in its loan capital markets group. Merrill has recently been hiring leveraged finance bankers again (the firm made some...

Lenders' Ability To Sell Assets to CDOs is in Jeopardy.(collateralized debt obligations)
November 10, 2003... Commercial lenders may suddenly find it more difficult to sell loans into collaterlized debt obligation (CDO) vehicles if an accounting decision-making body decides Nov. 13 that such sales do not meet the requirements of an existing accounting...

Investors Use Individual Models for CDOs.(collateralized debt obligations)
November 10, 2003... Investors in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are moving in larger numbers toward a newer method of analyzing collateral for high yield debt and leveraged loan structures. Until now, investors had been clinging to ratings-based...

Teva Deal to Spark Pharma Activity.
November 10, 2003... In a move that signals the rising prominence of generic drug-making in today's marketplace, major generic pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries recently announced its plans to acquire another generic drug-making conglomerate,...

Credit Cycle Has Bottomed Out But Risks Remain.(includes multiple records)
November 10, 2003... Over the course of the year, investors have been encouraged to believe that the economy has turned and a rebound is underway. Numerous reports from all three rating agencies have fueled this belief, revealing statistical evidence to the effect...

360networks' Turnaround Story: The Wilbur Ross Solution.
November 10, 2003... When Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. LLC, picked 360networks from the 80 or so telecom companies that defaulted between 1996 and 2002, its was by no means a random selection. The turnaround financier knew exactly what he was...

Emerging Issues Task Force: Don't Mess With Citigroup.(Financial Accounting Standards Board's task force to address conflict between existing standard and current market practice)
November 17, 2003... An accounting rule maker unexpectedly postponed addressing an issue affecting loan sales last Thursday, following a comment letter sent by Citigroup earlier in the week expressing the bank's concerns. The Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF)...

Dole: More Good Days For Borrowers.
November 17, 2003... The ongoing saga of too much liquidity confronting too little supply continues, with the latest development allowing borrowers to consolidate tranches to streamline their deals and slash pricing dramatically. A deal in the market last week...

There's Still Business Out There For Traxi.
November 17, 2003... There has been no dearth of work for restructuring firms over the past few years, and Traxi LLC, a New York-based boutique restructuring and advisory firm, has taken full advantage of this. Now, as the US economy continues to improve and...

Moore Wallace Deal Angers Investors: After The Loan Was Repriced, It Will Get Taken Out By Merger With Donnelly.
November 17, 2003... After such a long drought on the mergers and acquisitions front, it's unusual that a buyout announcement should elicit complaints from the debt markets. But R.R. Donnelley Sons' $2.8 billion takeover of Canadian commercial printer Moore Wallace...

HSBC Hires O'Malley to Head Syndicated Finance.(Mary-Ellen O'Malley; WL Ross & Co. buys Burlington Industries)
November 17, 2003... HSBC Securities has hired Mary-Ellen O'Malley to head its syndicated finance group. She will report to Jim Brucia, managing director and head of North American debt finance, and will have functional reporting to Richard Cartledge, HSBC's...

Mission Energy Blow Out Dampens Rescue Package Flare.
November 24, 2003... The steady flow of rescue financings this year tested lenders' mettle once again last week, and found them exuberantly committing to a $700 million term loan for Mission Energy Holdings International, despite only a week-long commitment period...

Van Kampen Cautions On Credit Revival.
November 24, 2003... History doesn't exactly repeat itself, but new eras do closely imitate periods past. This is true even of credit market history, says Howard Tiffen, managing director of Van Kampen Investments and director of senior loans, and he ought to...

New Bank Deal for Moore Wallace.
November 24, 2003... Following the deluge of market chatter earlier this month regarding the second repricing of Moore Wallace's institutional loan just weeks before it announced it was being acquired by RR Donnelley, it appears imminent that the company's bank...

Simmons and KRATON Buyout Deals Poised For Launch Before Year End.
November 24, 2003... In a push to get the transaction settled before the year's end, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and UBS have scheduled to launch syndication Dec. 2 of the credit backing the $1.1 billion leveraged buyout of the Simmons Company, said a banker...

N.A. Construction's Deal Gets Warm Reception.(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... The $120 million, Canadian dollar-denominated credit for North American Construction Group had blown out in syndication by the time the company's $175 million in US dollar-denominated notes were set to price late last week, said a banker...

Acquisitions Loans Hit The Market.(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... After the long draught, acquisition financing is picking up. Roper Industries' $625 million financing, supporting the purchase of Neptune Technology Group, was scheduled to hit the market Nov. 20. The BB+ rated borrower's credit is split into a...