High Yield Report articles from January 2005

High Yield Report archives from January 2005

League Tables.
January 10, 2005... The league tables are in for the fourth quarter of 2004, and Citigroup leads the pack as top underwriter for the year, according to data compiled by Thomson Financial. While the roughly $3 billion difference between Citigroup and second place...

Market View.
January 10, 2005... Investors are expecting another decent year in high yield for 2005, although no one is anticipating the kind of returns they saw in 2004. In fact, some say investors will be lucky to see 4% to 6% returns. This is modest compared with the 10%...

Industry.
January 10, 2005... The outlook for the US newspaper publishing industry this year is one of cautious optimism, Standard & Poor's analyst Donald Wong wrote in a recent report. That's because the industry is subject to continued pressure on advertising revenue that...

Credit.
January 10, 2005... A variety of macroeconomic, firm-specific and industry-specific factors impact the recovery rate of defaulted loans and bonds, according to a recent report by Moody's Investors Service, which reviews the determinants of defaulted loans and...

People News.(appointments at KDP Investment Advisors)
January 10, 2005... KDP Investment Advisors, a Montpelier, Vt.-based high yield research firm, has brought on some new staffers to its team who will help fill the staffing voids left late last year after previous employees had departed the firm. In addition, the...

Profile.
January 10, 2005... Three years ago, Morgan Joseph made the transformation from an M&A boutique to a full-service investment bank. Currently, the firm provides financial advisory and capital raising services for events such as M&A, restructurings, debt and equity...

Market Buzz.
January 10, 2005... Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, an international law firm that offers legal expertise for various financial segments including securitization, structured finance, M&A, corporate finance, banking, project finance, real estate, insolvency,...

Gainers & Losers: Phibro/Abitibi.(finance)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Several major US airlines - Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines, AMR Corp., Northwest Airlines Corp. and even UAL Corp. - were among last week's gainers, thanks to the steadily declining price of oil and the heavy air traffic over the...

European Company News.
January 17, 2005... The European high yield market was off to a solid start this month and firms are planning on a very active market for 2005. Demand has certainly been outstripping supply due to the broadened investor profile in the past couple of years, as US...

Firms.
January 17, 2005... Bonus season is here, and at a few bulge bracket firms in particular, the top performers are set to do quite well. This is while their weaker-performing colleagues won't be as lucky. Such disparity in bonuses is a change from last year, when...

Europe.
January 17, 2005... New regulations taking effect this year designed to spur the growth of a pan-European corporate bond market might instead hobble growth due to excessive and Byzantine accounting and transparency directives, researchers from a London business...

Industry.
January 17, 2005... The US steel industry is expected to maintain a stable credit rating outlook for 2005, said Moody's Investors Service in a recent report. This is positive news when compared with the industry's more volatile past. "The turbulence experienced in...

Regulation.
January 17, 2005... The European Working Group of the Joint Market Practices Forum, which is a collaborative effort of The Bond Market Association, The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), The Loan Market Association, and the London Investment...

Profile.
January 17, 2005... Today's loan market conditions - tight Libor spreads, inadequate loan supply to meet demand and an unusually high number of refinancings - are not exactly ideal for institutional loan investors. But GoldenTree Asset Management doesn't seem to...

Gainers & Losers: British Energy/ATA Holdings.
January 17, 2005... Gainers last week included British Energy, which saw its 6.202% notes of 2016 gain 10.625 points to trade at 273.125. The company's stock rose 20% as well on news that its debt restructuring is going well. Muzak Holdings also moved up, as its...

Syndicated Loans.
January 17, 2005... Barring a catastrophic event, it looks as though the robust level of US collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance seen in 2004 should continue well into 2005, several market constituents agree. That's because, for now, all the ingredients...

Market Buzz.
January 17, 2005... The 2005 post-bonus departure season has kicked off at Goldman Sachs, where sources say members of the firm's high yield and loan capital markets groups have given notice of their departures. Incidentally, bonuses were awarded last week as...

US Company News.(General Motors Corp., united states)
January 24, 2005... The troubles at General Motors Corp. (GM) have instigated widespread concern in the bond markets, and high yield investors are watching the name very closely. This is because the (at press time, rated BBB-/Baa2) company is edging closer and...

Market View.(financial services)
January 24, 2005... It was a dead market last week, as investors remained relatively dormant in both the primary and secondary high yield markets. This comes after the Federal Reserve Bank announced earlier in the month its concern for increased inflation. The Fed...

Firms.(underwriting business)
January 24, 2005... Last year may have been a bumper year for high yield, with total volume up 4.5% to $140.8 billion, but that doesn't mean the junk business was more profitable for Wall Street underwriters. In 2004, for the second consecutive year, the...

Banks.(forecasts)
January 24, 2005... The US banking sector navigated numerous challenges in 2004 and finished the year on a strong note. Experts predict that 2005 will be a year of stability and solid business, but banks are nevertheless going to have to contend with a few macro...

Industry.(Chemical industry)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Despite an upturn in 2004, the European chemical sector will only chug along this year, as it faces ongoing macro concerns, experts at Standard & Poor's in London wrote in a recent report. "Profitability continues to be burdened by...

Profile.(Kurron Shares of America)(Company Profile)
January 24, 2005... Some have called Corbett Price a businessman with angel's wings. That's because Price's line of work - health care restructuring - could be considered heaven-sent, especially in today's tough business world. Price, who sat down with HYR to...

Gainers & Losers: Cincinnati Bell/Delta.(Cincinnati Bell Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Gainers Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Gainers last week included Cincinnati Bell, with its 8.375% notes of 2014 rising 4.625 points to trade at 102.25. The company is in the process of refinancing its debt and getting a consent solicitation for its 7.25% notes. This is expected to...

Sector.(Native Americans)
January 24, 2005... A significant amount of Native American gaming financings and issuers have emerged in the debt markets during recent years and it looks like even more of these issuers are expected to tap the debt investment community in the future. That's in...

Derivatives.(financial services)
January 24, 2005... It looks like the extremely tight spread levels seen on leveraged debt these days are causing a rise in credit derivatives activity related to speculative grade issuers. That's because lenders of leveraged debt are no longer getting adequate...

Market Buzz.
January 24, 2005... For the second time since 1998, the number of rising stars exceeded the number of fallen angels in 2004, according to a recent report by Standard & Poor's. The rating agency reported that the number of rising stars more than doubled from 2003,...

Regulation.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
January 31, 2005... The junk market faces difficulties on several fronts this year - rising rates and investors balking at low premiums for relatively high risk, to name just two. But a sneakier obstacle may come into play, as well: Compliance headaches associated...

Distressed Debt.(more restructurings to come)
January 31, 2005... Europe might see more restructurings than usual across many industries in the coming years. That's because there are several dynamics taking shape on the continent that may spur more distressed situations than would typically occur in a...

Rating Agencies.(Lehman Brothers)
January 31, 2005... Lehman Brothers may have saved the day after its announcement last week that it will add the ratings of Fitch Ratings to its indices, in addition to those of Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service. The news gave many investors a...

US Company News.(Tower Automotive)
January 31, 2005... Auto suppliers continue to suffer due to high raw material prices, production cuts and ongoing pricing pressure, and Tower Automotive is no exception. The company has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks and recently announced that...

Regulation.
January 31, 2005... In response to the National Association of Securities Dealers's (NASD) proposed rule changes for shelf offerings under the corporate financing rule, The Bond Market Association (BMA) called for the elimination of "the review and approval of...

Loan Manager Profile.(Babson Capital Management)(Company Profile)
January 31, 2005... The loan team at Babson Capital Management has seen some major changes over the past year - changes that vice chairman, head of corporate securities, Roger Crandall, believes will further boost the firm's growing business in both the US and...

Gainers & Losers: Salton/Foster Wheeler.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... Gainers last week included Salton Inc. after its 10.75% notes of 2005 traded up 6.75 points to 89.25. After recently reporting weak earnings and showing a steady decline in bond prices, the maker of the George Foreman grill has been slowly...

Market Buzz.
January 31, 2005... Goldman Sachs has merged its financing group with its investment banking division, according to a January 20 internal memo obtained by HYR. The move "will combine the very best advice for our clients with world class execution and the broadest...