High Yield Report articles from June 2006

High Yield Report archives from June 2006

Europe: Mid-Sized Companies Deserting Euro HY.(high yield market)
June 5, 2006... European high yield investors are mourning the loss of business from middle market corporate issuers, as these issuers increasingly opt for second lien loans and mezzanine financings instead of high yield bonds, sources say. This increasing...

US Company News: Seminole Tribe Files Landmark Lawsuit.(against Power Plant Entertainment)
June 5, 2006... The Seminole Tribe of Florida has decided to test the legal limits of the Native American gaming sector's unique relationship with the US financial markets. In a precedent-setting move earlier this month, the tribe filed a lawsuit against...

Market View: Kinder MBO May Spawn Other Buyouts.(management buyout of Kinder Morgan Inc.)
June 5, 2006... Kinder Morgan's bombshell disclosure last week that its top managers and a group of investors plan to take the pipeline giant private in a $13.5 billion management buyout (MBO), the largest in history, had debt market players licking their...

Sector Analysis: Newfound Stability For Department Stores.
June 5, 2006... After a tumultuous year for credit quality in the department store segment in 2005, featuring tons of consolidation, the sector is now in a more stable position than it's been in a while. "In general within department stores, most of the...

Sector Analysis: Global Packaging Still Faces Challenges.
June 5, 2006... The global packaging sector is still struggling, as the increase in inflationary cost pressures resulting from high and unstable raw material prices and elevated energy costs continue to plague numerous companies in the industry, according to...

Profile: GSC's Relationships Support Growing Euro CDO Business.(GSC Partners)(collateralized debt obligation)
June 5, 2006... Even though leveraged finance participants in Europe have welcomed the expansion of the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market there, many are also quick to note that it has brought with it increased challenges, notably tight spreads, high...

AMG Data Services.
June 5, 2006... High yield mutual funds reported net outflows of $244 million for the week ended last Wednesday, according to AMG Data Services. It is the eighth consecutive week of outflows. (c) 2006 High Yield Report and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights...

Gainers & Losers: PanAmSat/Cooper.(PanAmSat Corp. was given approval to acquire Intelsat Ltd.)(Dick Stephens retiring from Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.)(Delphi Corp.'s losses)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... PanAmSat Corp. was a gainer last week, after the US Department of Justice approved its merger with Intelsat with no conditions. PanAmSat's 8.5% notes of 2012 gained 2.625 points to trade at 104.125 last Wednesday. Albertson's' shareholders...

Market Buzz/data: Imperial Names Gilbert Director Of FI Research.(Dominion Bond Rating Service Ltd. appointed Jireh Wong)(Imperial Capital Bank appointed Mary Gilbert)(Harris Nesbitt Gerard appointed Andrew J. Buchholtz )
June 5, 2006... Boutique investment bank Imperial Capital announced last week that it has appointed Mary Gilbert as the new director of fixed income research. Gilbert, who has 21 years of experience in the high yield and distressed arena, including six years...

US Company News: Level 3 Proves To Be A Survivor.(Level 3 Communications)
June 12, 2006... If one had spoken to an analyst covering Level 3 Communications bonds last year at this time, the response that the company elicited would likely have been quite different from the current one. After a string of accretive acquisitions intended...

Marketview: Is This The Return Of A Buyer's Market?
June 12, 2006... High yield investors began to reclaim the market last week as the primary calendar filled, and as market players anticipated investor-friendly pricing for the near term. "With spreads backing up, the market's becoming a little bit more...

Bankruptcy: Parmalat May Face Investors In US Civil Case.
June 12, 2006... As lawyers, investors and a newly reorganized Parmalat Finanziaria prepare for the next round of legal punches regarding the company's fraudulent collapse in December 2003, the reorganized company may be forced to take yet another defensive...

US Company News: Revlon's Moves Cause Market Mystery.
June 12, 2006... Revlon Consumer Products Corp.'s sudden decision to bail out of the bank loan and equity markets, a move which took some bankers and investors by surprise, is casting some doubt on the prospects for the low-rated company's plans to pay down its...

Sector Analysis: Varying Strategies For Intrawest, Vail Resorts.
June 12, 2006... Although they may appear to be very similar companies, ski resort operators Intrawest Corp. and Vail Resorts have distinct differences in their financial profiles, according to Standard & Poor's in a recent report authored by analysts Andy Liu...

Europe: The Evolution Of European HY Issuers, Investors And Underwriters.
June 12, 2006... by Tim Hall, head of global high yield at Calyon in London The European high yield market continues to be the "baby sister" of the larger, more vibrant US high yield market, which thrives both in terms of robust primary market activity and...

AMG Data Services.
June 12, 2006... High yield mutual funds reported $346 million in net outflows in the week ended last Wednesday, according to AMG Data Services. It is the ninth consecutive week of outflows. (c) 2006 High Yield Report and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights...

Gainers & Losers: Calpine/Revlon.
June 12, 2006... Calpine Corp.'s bonds jumped as much as nine points last week on the announcement that it would seek consent solicitation for its debt and credit line indentures. Separately, its subsidiary Constellation Energy Group hinted that it might sell a...

Market Buzz: Three Peaks To Sub-Advise Aquila HY Fund.
June 12, 2006... The Aquila Group of Funds has partnered with Three Peaks Capital Management and its high yield fund manager Sandy Rufenacht to launch the Aquila Three Peaks High Income Fund. Three Peaks has been named a sub-advisor to the fund. "The...

Distressed debt : How to avoid death spiral' distressed debt investments.(Editorial)
June 12, 2006... by Daniel Bender, managing director at AEG Partners in Chicago Often I hear distressed debt investors say: "We look for good companies with a bad balance sheet." In essence, these investors are telling me they take positions in companies...

Profile: Direxion HY bear prepares to roar.(Direxion Funds)
June 19, 2006... The once-anomalous high yield bear fund appears to be gaining in feasibility these days. Though bear funds remain a rarity relative to their long-only mutual fund brethren, changes in the marketplace - wrought largely by the exploding credit...

Europe: Will Europe Soon See Its Own Version Of TRACE?
June 19, 2006... The issue of bond market transparency has been long-debated by stateside players in corporate bonds. But, with the full implementation of TRACE - which ensures 100% transparency of trading levels on US corporate bonds - most US market players...

European Company News: Can Euro HY Absorb A BAA Mega Deal?
June 19, 2006... The European high yield bond market has not been the chosen beneficiary of the bumper crop of supply that has deluged the leveraged finance space this year. But even though high yield investors say they would like to see more supply come their...

Events: Confab Roundup: High Yield Buy-Side Voices Concerns.
June 19, 2006... The buy-side panel at the New York Society of Security Analysts' 16th annual High Yield Bond Conference in New York last Tuesday featured many issues and a few differences of opinion. The panel was composed of Robert Levine, president and...

Rating Agency News: Moody's May Expand Into Seven WTC.
June 19, 2006... In a move that bodes well for the rebirth of the World Trade Center area in New York's financial district, Moody's Investors Service is rumored to be close to inking a deal to be the first major tenant in Larry Silverstein's newly opened Seven...

AMG Data Services.(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... High yield mutual funds reported net outflows of $383 million for the week ended last Wednesday, according to AMG Data Services. It is the largest outflow since the week ended March 15, when net outflows reached $404 million. (c) 2006 High...

Gainers & Losers: Hilton/Armstrong.(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... General Motors Acceptance Corp.'s (GMAC) bonds posted gains last week after the company announced that it had effectively renewed two syndicated bank facilities totaling more than $21 billion, creating a huge source of potential liquidity....

Market Buzz: IACPM Recruits Banks As Associate Director.
June 19, 2006... The International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM) announced last week the appointment of Marcia Banks as associate director. In her new role, Banks will work alongside Som-lok Leung, executive director of the IACPM, to help the...

Regulation: TRACE Woes Could Continue.
June 26, 2006... For many in the US debt capital markets, TRACE is a prime example of a cure worse than the disease. With price visibility on every corporate bond trade that's executed, many market players feel liquidity has suffered as a result. Nonetheless,...

US Company News: Let The Investor Pushback Begin.
June 26, 2006... By most standards, it is no small feat to issue $2.9 billion in high yield bonds into the market. But when that deal is $600 million short of its proposed $3.5 billion size despite price increases to two tranches - both of which almost...

Derivatives: CDS: Driving Or Mollifying The Next Downturn?(credit default swap )
June 26, 2006... Though the credit derivatives market helps disseminate risk, some market players are concerned that, simultaneously, it actually imposes a systemic risk on the credit markets, and on high yield bonds in particular. Indeed, market players...

Bankruptcy News: Rivals May Emulate Delta's Pension Move.
June 26, 2006... Delta Air Lines's recent move to eliminate pension plans covering 13,000 active and retired pilots (and living spouses) could finally breathe some life into the struggling airline company. Indeed, if approved, the pension cuts would free up...

Firms: Coming Soon To Libertas: Loan Trading.(Brief article)
June 26, 2006... Libertas Partners hasn't finished its growth spurt just yet. The Greenwich, Conn.-based high yield and distressed research and trading boutique, launched in 2002 by CEO Gary Katcher, has added several new staffers, a Manhattan satellite office,...

Convertibles: Share Buybacks Boost Convertibles Market.
June 26, 2006... Back from the dead is a cliche too trite to describe US convertible bonds lately. The market for this hybrid security, which has reinvented itself more times than Madonna, has seen volume double so far this year over last year's dismal record,...

AMG Data Services.(Brief article)
June 26, 2006... High yield mutual funds reported $418.5 million in net outflows for the week ended last Wednesday, according to AMG Data Services. It is the largest outflow since the week ended September 28, 2005, when net outflows totaled $1.3 billion. ...

Gainers & Losers: Delta/Hexion.(Brief article)
June 26, 2006... Delta Air Lines made the gainers list last week, as the company moved to terminate its pilot pension plan and attempts to shift the responsibility for future benefits onto the federal agency that guarantees such payments, the Pension Benefit...

Market buzz: Fortis recruits State Street duo.(Fortis Investments appoints buysiders from State Street Global Advisors Inc.)
June 26, 2006... Fortis Investments' Boston office has tapped two buy-siders from nearby State Street Global Advisors. Bruce Walbridge joined Fortis last month as portfolio manager in US high yield, and Christopher Decker joins the high yield research team on...