High Yield Report articles from June 2005

High Yield Report archives from June 2005

Market View: HY Rally Could Signal Upturn.(high yield)
June 6, 2005... As May's late-blooming high yield rally continues into June, market players are forecasting a slow return to stability. Amidst the General Motors Corp. (GM) transition to the junk market, and a 3.06% gain in the Merrill Lynch High Yield Master...

Europe: Wind's Deal May Not Be A Breeze.(debt financing for Naguib Sawiris' and Weather Investments' acquisition of Wind Telecommuniczioni S.p.A.)
June 6, 2005... The European high yield market has been warned about the upcoming issuance of an approximately 1.75 billion megabond, which is part of a 9.1 billion jumbo debt financing led by ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank and Sanpaolo ImI S.p.A., backing Egyptian...

Funds: New Fund May Invest In HY Inflation-Linked Bonds.(high yield)
June 6, 2005... There doesn't appear to be any inflation-linked high yield bond issues in the pipeline right now, but when one emerges, at least one fund-the American Century Inflation Protection Bond Fund - will be ready to invest in such a deal. That's...

Private Equity: PE Shops Press For Better Junk Terms.
June 6, 2005... As if the high yield bond market hasn't treated private equity firms well enough already, some financial sponsors are now pushing for more flexibility in the covenants - or the restrictions around a company's capital structure - that govern...

US Company News: Once-Bankrupt Laidlaw Reaches I-Grade Status.
June 6, 2005... Last Wednesday, Citigroup and UBS hit the market with a $600 million credit facility for Laidlaw International, Inc., the once-bankrupt bus company that last week reached investment grade status. The bank deal, which is part of a larger...

Sector Analysis: Northwest's Credit Woes Signal Continued Trouble For Airlines.
June 6, 2005... As the dust settles after Fitch Ratings handed a two-notch credit downgrade to Northwest Airlines Corp.'s senior unsecured debt last week, sector analysts say that the problems plaguing the debt-ridden airline company are unfortunately...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
June 6, 2005... In reference to HYR's 5/30/05 article, "Moody's Reviews Methodology For Spec-Grade Liquidity Ratings," the downgrade of Tower Automotive, Inc. to SGL-4 took place in December 2003, rather than in May 2004, as cited in the article.

Gainers & Losers: Amkor/O'Sullivan.
June 6, 2005... Delta Air Lines, Inc. looked good last week, as its 8.54% bonds traded up 17.25 points to trade at 63, and while the company's 2005 bonds traded up into the 90s. Delta received a reprieve on its credit agreement with GE Capital Corp. last week,...

Market Buzz.
June 6, 2005... Formerly a high yield trader at APS Financial Corp. (APSF), Matthew Hamilton has been appointed to lead the firm's new venture to offer bank debt trading and trade claims. Hamilton's new title is director of syndicated loan trading. ...

US Company News: HY Market Opens For Strong Credits.(high yield bond market trends)
June 13, 2005... The US high yield bond market saw the likes of Chesapeake Energy Corp., Qwest Communications International and The DIRECTV Group, Inc. last week, and in a few months, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. could possibly tap the market. All of...

Distressed Debt: Harder Times Ahead For Distressed Debt.(new bankruptcy bill signed into law)
June 13, 2005... High yield bond and distressed debt investors will enter a strange new world when recently-passed amendments to the federal bankruptcy code take hold in October, as analysts said the new laws could overturn general industry assumptions about...

Market View: Pension Obligations Compete For Dollars.
June 13, 2005... As two key airlines veer toward the possibility of bankruptcy, company officials claim considerable pension funding obligations as the decisive issue. Gerald Grinstein, Delta Air Lines, Inc. chief executive, told the Senate Finance Committee...

CDOs: Market May See More Re-Issued Market Value CDOs.(Collateralized debt obligations)
June 13, 2005... The market may begin to see increasingly more re-issued market value collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). That's because a significant amount of market value CDOs, which have performed relatively well, were launched in the late 1990s, so the...

Credit: Few HY Cos Selectively Default.(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Default rates among nonfinancial corporate affiliates are strongly correlated, according to a recent study by Moody's Investors Service. The study, which evaluated corporate default rate data collected by Moody's between 1999 and 2004,...

Distressed Debt: Foreign Creditors Upset Over Parmalat Outcome.
June 13, 2005... A trail of asset-related fire sales and criminal prosecutions is all that's left of several global companies felled by recent accounting scandals. Such is not the case with Italy's Parmalat Finanziaria SpA - much to the chagrin of some of its...

AMG Data Services.(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... High yield bond funds reported $109.8 million of inflows as of last Wednesday, according to AMG Data Services. This marks the second week in a row that money flowed into the funds, ending the previous 15-week outflow trend. Inflows were...

Gainers & Losers: Dura/Ford.(Dura Operating Corp.)(Ford Motor Co.)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Top gainers last week included Calpine Canada Energy, who saw its bonds trade up for the second week in a row, ending at 62.625 points last Wednesday. Calpine is in the process of buying back much of their debt, as well as selling off assets to...

Market Buzz.
June 13, 2005... Legal issues abound for firms looking to finance acquisitions, and this is particularly the case when traversing through international territory. Given the European leveraged buyout market's strengthening over the last 18 months, and an upsurge...

Portfolio Strategy: CREMAC Sells Bulk Of HY Portfolio Meant To Back Inaugural CDO.(Collateralized debt obligations)
June 13, 2005... CREMAC, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based asset management firm, recently sold $180 million in high yield bond debt and equity, which was part of a $215.5 million portfolio the firm had previously purchased less than a year ago. The bulk of the debt sold...

US Company News: Get Set For Toys R' Us Debt Explosion.(bond markets)
June 20, 2005... Just as the high yield bond market has begun to digest billions of dollars in outstanding issues from fallen angel credit General Motors Corp. (GM), another massive amount of new debt could hit the market if current plans for a takeover of...

Restructuring: Look Out For A Bankruptcy Rush.(bankruptcy law)
June 20, 2005... Be prepared to see an increase in bankruptcies this September, as many companies opt to unfurl the protective Chapter 11 umbrella while it can still keep them dry. Starting October 17, US bankruptcy law will become decidedly more...

Europe: Is TIM's All Junk LBO The Wave Of The Future?(TIM Hellas Telecommunications, leveraged buyout)
June 20, 2005... High yield bankers hoping to get a bigger piece of Europe's growing debt market could get a boost if the buyout financing for TIM Hellas Telecommunications gets sold in its present structure. That's because the 900 million deal, which will...

Market View: HY May Be Back On Pace For A Solid 2005.(high yield market)
June 20, 2005... The high yield market will likely head back to basics for the remainder of this year, say high yield players preparing to ride out a much calmer second half of 2005. Slow and steady economic growth, low default rates, improving credit...

Credit: Credit Remains Upbeat.(borrowing market)
June 20, 2005... Credit fundamentals remain positive globally, according to a report issued by Standard and Poor's earlier this month. That's because more entities have jumped on the bandwagon of those poised for potential upgrades than last reported in...

Profile: APSF Expands From HY To Loan Trading.(APS Financial Corp.)(Company Profile)
June 20, 2005... After spending nearly a quarter of a century in the junk bond trading business, APS Financial Corp. (APSF) has decided to broaden its investment scope into the world of bank loans by starting up a new syndicated loan trading desk. The...

AMG Data Services.(high yield bond funds outflows)(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... After reporting two consecutive weeks of inflows, high yield bond funds posted $383.6 million of outflows for the week ended Wednesday, June 16, according to AMG Data Services. According to AMG, 242 funds reported outflows compared with 124...

S&P: S&P Launches Ratings IQuery To Enable More Advanced Searches.(Standard & Poor's Corp.)
June 20, 2005... Last Wednesday, June 15, Standard & Poor's launched a new Web-based credit ratings product called Ratings IQuery, which provides a more sophisticated tool to analyze S&P's data and research. Ratings IQuery "takes the work away from you," while...

Gainers & Losers: Ford/Northwest.
June 20, 2005... Key gainers last week were those in the automotive maker and automotive parts supplier industries. General Motors Corp. (GM) plans to cut benefits, and the United Auto Workers union seems receptive toward concessions, said a source. Meanwhile,...

Market Buzz.(nationally recognized statistical rating organization)
June 20, 2005... The Bond Market Association (BMA) announced last week that it, along with the Securities Industry Association (SIA), has filed a comment letter responding to the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposed Rule 3b-10, which would define...

Sector Analysis: Should Investors Leave Auto Bonds In The Dust?(markets)
June 20, 2005... For weeks, they were the bete noire of a sinking high yield market. Then suddenly, auto sector bonds appeared to be on the upswing again with their prices rising as market technicals improved. But has the fundamental outlook for these credits...

Ratings: Moody's Gives Ford, GM Six Months Notice To Shape Up.
June 20, 2005... Analysts with Moody's Investors Service said they are giving Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corp. (GM) six months to prove themselves worthy of their current ratings. Speaking at Moody's' Auto Securitization Briefing earlier this month,...

Distressed Debt: Distressed Liquidity Flourishes.
June 27, 2005... At the midway point in 2005, the distressed debt market seems remarkably undistressed, but some players, while acknowledging the market's current good fortune, believe that distressed players need to pay closer attention to potential pitfalls...

US Company News: Cablevision, Qwest Strike While The Iron Is Hot.(Cablevision Systems Corp., Qwest Communications International Inc.)
June 27, 2005... Qwest Communications International Inc. upped the ante last week with a $200 million add-on to its earlier $1.75 billion high yield mega deal issued earlier this month. And Cablevision Systems Corp. surprised the market with its announcement of...

Fallen Angel Spotlight: Fallen Angels Adapt To New Surroundings.
June 27, 2005... For communications products supplier Anixter International Inc., February's credit downgrade from investment grade to speculative grade status came rather unexpectedly. According to Dennis Letham, Anixter's senior vice president of finance and...

Rising Star Spotlight: Laidlaw Drives Into I-Grade, Gets Cheaper Deal.
June 27, 2005... When Laidlaw International, Inc. finally emerged from bankruptcy two years ago, it was laden with $3.9 billion in debt and was paying some hefty rates on its new credit facility. After shedding its health-care businesses earlier this year - a...

Credit: Fallen Angels Perform.
June 27, 2005... The term "fallen angel" may have a negative connotation, but there is a positive side to being downgraded from investment status to speculative grade status. Partly because of their prior investment grade credit quality, fallen angels often...

Profile: Phoenix Ready For Economic Foundations To Crack.(Phoenix Management Services)(Company Profile)
June 27, 2005... E. Talbot ("Tal") Briddell, president, founder and managing partner of turnaround firm Phoenix Management Services, is not afraid to voice his doubts about the health of the US economy. While it might seem as though everything has been just...

AMG Data Services.(securities)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... AMG Data Services reported $56 million of inflows to high yield funds for the week ended June 22. This follows a week of outflows, as AMG Data documented $383.6 million in outflows for the week ended June 16. (c) 2005 High Yield Report and...

Market buzz.(Piper Jaffray Companies' reorganisation planning)
June 27, 2005... Piper Jaffray Companies announced last week that it has realigned its fixed income resources around two businesses within its capital markets segment. Corporate high yield and structured products sales, trading and research will be integrated...

Gainers & Losers: D.R. Horton/Delphi.(Delphi Automotive Systems Corp., Delta Air Lines Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... D.R. Horton, Inc. was a gainer last week, following the news that it would join the S&P 500 Index. Horton's 9.375% bonds due 2011 traded almost five points higher to end at 111. Delta Air Lines, Inc. was also a gainer once again last week,...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 27, 2005... In High Yield Report's 6/20/05 article, "APSF Expands From HY To Loan Trading," it was incorrectly stated that APS Financial Corp.'s trade claims business includes leveraged loans. The business does not include leveraged loans. It involves the...

Distressed Debt Spotlight: How A Lender Can Boost Collection Of Ch. 11 Postpetition Charges.
June 27, 2005... by Keith Aurzada, a partner in the financial restructuring practice group at law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Business bankruptcies have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly 25 years, according to the American Bankruptcy...