High Yield Report articles from December 2006

High Yield Report archives from December 2006

DEAL: Momentive Adds Splash To Deal.(chemical firm Momentive Performance Materials sells stake )
December 4, 2006... Momentive Performance Materials priced an issue last week that was slightly smaller and friendlier to bond buyers than initially intended. Momentive came to the market in the wake of other chemical deals and investors wanted more attractive...

DEAL: Ford May Jump Start With New Convertible Bond.(Ford Motor Co. plans to raise $18 billion)
December 4, 2006... Ford Motor Co.'s announcement of its plans to raise $18 billion in financing may open the floodgates for other large, troubled companies to enter the high yield market in search of cash. But the high yield market is not an ATM machine, and Ford...

INVESTOR PROFILE: Dreman's Andersen Scopes Out Physics Of HY.(physicist Peter Andersen in investment business)
December 4, 2006... Peter Andersen began his professional life wanting to be a physicist, but he has found the ups and downs of high yield investing to be as compelling as physics theory, and now Andersen has a new venue to navigate the waters of the market....

FIRM NEWS: Friedberg Milstein Sees Value In Diversity.(market share of merchant bank Friedberg Milstein)
December 4, 2006... With many portfolio managers primarily focused on one type of capital, CDO manager Friedberg Milstein maintains that not every debt package calls for the same type of investment. The firm maximizes this integrated capital strategy by using...

MARKET BUZZ: November 2006 Tops Them All For High Yield.(high technology industry performance)
December 4, 2006... November 2006 ranks as the biggest month this year for U.S. deals across high yield and investment grade bonds, mergers and IPOs, according to Thomson Financial. At $26.5 billion, November deal volume for U.S. high yield reached its highest...

News: Rumors Fly About The Winter Group.(increasing employee resignations )(Company overview)
December 4, 2006... A number of employees have recently left residential mortgage financing and asset management firm The Winter Group, including two partners. Sources close to the company adamantly deny the departures are related to any financial trouble...

Clarification:.(Correction notice)
December 4, 2006... In a Market Buzz item in the Nov. 20, 2006 issue of High Yield Report, information relating to the global corporate high yield bond default rate should have been attributed to the Global Fixed Income Research division of Standard & Poor's. We...

Gainers & Losers: Winn Dixie/Dura.(Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. files bankruptcy and Dura Automotive Systems Inc. increases share value )(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Winn Dixie Stores made gains last week following its emergence from bankruptcy. The grocery chain filed for Chapter 11 protection almost two years ago due to large financial loses caused by competitive pressures, but the company has since been...

Firm News: Deutsche Launches CLO Push From New York.(Deutsche Asset Management Inc.'s new collateralized loan obligations office in New York )
December 4, 2006... Betting that investors from New York to Hong Kong are hungry for collateralized loan obligations, Deutsche Asset Management, one of the largest CLO investors in Europe, has opened an office in the Big Apple, to tout its tailor-made investment...

TECH BEAT: Technology To Surf 2007 Debt Superhighway.
December 11, 2006... Total debt in the technology sector is expected to hit a record high in 2007, according to a recent report from Fitch Ratings, a new phenomenon in a sector that has previously seen very little issuance because founders of these companies have...

Market News: Auto Bonds Make The Bank, But In 2007, They May Tank.
December 11, 2006... Revved up returns from automobile and auto parts industry bonds have been keeping high yield investors in the green this year, but the outlook on the horizon has some portfolio managers putting on the brakes. Automobile and auto parts...

BUYOUT: Station Deal May Roll Snake Eyes For High Yield.
December 11, 2006... Another large gaming buyout has put its chips on the neon glamour of Las Vegas, but the debt market may feel like it was dealt a lousy hand. Station Casinos announced last week that it received a buyout offer for all its shares from a...

PROFILE - Eric Takaha: Dodging Bullets, Doing Homework.(Franklin Templeton)
December 11, 2006... When Eric Takaha started his career with Franklin Templeton, the U.S. was heading into a recession and most people's familiarity with the high yield market came thanks to the recently indicted Michael Milken. The first LBO cycle had just ended...

CDO NEWS: New Managers, Go Away, Return Another Day.(collateralized debt obligations)
December 11, 2006... LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. - New CLO managers continue to be a thorn in the side of more seasoned players, who equate managing a deal in the currently benign credit environment to riding a bike with training wheels that investors can't see. What's...

CDO NEWS: Investors Question CDO Manager Equity Investment.(collateralized debt obligations)
December 11, 2006... LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. - Amid a rash of CDO structural innovation designed to lure equity investors, a familiar debate is again rearing its head - whether CDO managers should invest in the equity of the deals they manage. While some investors...

Gainers & Losers: Adelphia/MSX.(Adelphia Communications Corp.)(Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.)(MSX International Inc.)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Adelphia Communications Corp. made gains last week after the results of voting on its Fifth Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization were filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The voting results showed strong...

MARKET BUZZ: Heads Will Roll At Dresdner Kleinwort.(Peter Houghton appointed at Dresdner Kleinwort)(GE Commercial Finance appoints Michael E. Chen)(AlixPartners L.L.C. appoints Curtis Solsvig)
December 11, 2006... Dresdner Kleinwort is ready to make several hundred people redundant. Bankers at the firm told Financial News that it plans to make between 15% to 25% of its front office staff redundant, although it remains unclear whether that target has been...

CDO NEWS: Wall Street Looks To Finance Independent Films.(Collateralized debt obligations)
December 11, 2006... LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.- While production companies are increasingly tapping Wall Street for funds to help counter the cost of making movies, one consultancy is looking to extend commercial paper and term financing for the first time to...

MARKET WRAP: High Yield Buyers Like Petrol, Underwear.(OPTI Canada and Hanesbrands issue notes)
December 18, 2006... The confidence of high yield bond investors was in evidence as the year began wrapping up last week. Investors bought into natural resources as well as well-known brands. "Anything that looks like it won't go bust is in play," one New...

YEAR END: We Call 2006 Megadealicious,' But Will 2007 Be So Tasty?
December 18, 2006... It was the best of times, it was the best of times. It was the age of tightening spreads, it was the age of low default rates. It was the epoch of the mega-LBO, it was the epoch of fallen angels. In all aspects of the leveraged finance...

FEATURE: Fallen Angels Could Bring Heavenly 2007 For High Yield.(Angel investors)
December 18, 2006... According to religious doctrine, fallen angels are those whom God cast out of heaven. Satan himself is a fallen angel, part of a group that symbolizes lust, pride and rebellion against God and all things virtuous. In the debt world, however,...

EDITOR'S NOTE.
December 18, 2006... Dear Readers, We hope you enjoy our last issue of 2006. High Yield Report will now take a two-week publishing break. Our next issue will be Jan. 8, 2007. Please take a few minutes to fill out the reader's survey, inserted in this week's...

The Market Looks Ahead.
December 18, 2006... We asked participants in the bank loan and high yield bond markets what they see in store for 2007. Here is what they had to say: "Barring something unforeseeable, 2007 should get off to a flying start. It's becoming more and more apparent...

Correction:.(Correction notice)
December 18, 2006... The Dec. 11, 2006 version of High Yield Report contained an inaccuracy regarding Trust Company of the West's CDO business. The article should have read that the company has a general policy against investing in the equity of deals it manages as...

Gainers & Losers: Continental/GM.(bond prices)(Brief article)
December 18, 2006... The airline sector dominated the gainers list last week following preliminary talks between Continental Airlines and United Airlines about a possible merger. This comes on the heels of an $8.7 billion takeover bid by U.S. Airways Group for...

MARKET BUZZ: Jeffries Snags Jernigan For European High Yield.(Jefferies and Company appoints Kenton Jernigan)(RBC Capital Markets cuts staff)(BNP Paribas Asset Management transfers credit managers)
December 18, 2006... Jefferies announced last week the addition of Kenton Jernigan as head of European high yield. Jernigan was most recently with Calyon in the same position, running the sales side of the business with the bank's head of trading, Andrei Koroley....