High Yield Report articles from May 2004

High Yield Report archives from May 2004

Market View.(bond funds)
May 3, 2004... The well-documented outperformance of lower-rated, high yield credits has caused a dramatic shift over the past year among the top rated high yield bond funds ranked by Lipper. Indeed, Lipper's current top 10 high yield bond funds (from last...

Sector Analysis.(native american gaming)
May 3, 2004... Years ago, the Seneca Nation of Indians might have had difficulty generating investor interest in a $225 million high yield bond deal to raise cash for an expansion project to its casino in upstate New York. But a concerted effort by Native...

US COMPANY NEWS.(high grade investors look to high yield market)
May 3, 2004... High grade investors are crossing the line into high yield in growing numbers - and not just for bonds on the cusp of investment-grade status. While high yield mutual funds have been hit with outflows this year - AMG Data Services reports...

The Word Is.(high yield bonds)
May 3, 2004... The US high yield market has suffered from a bout of lethargy this year - nothing, not even last week's worst outflow from mutual funds in 10 weeks, has been able to budge it. In fact, despite increasing volatility in the equity markets, and...

Ratings.(default rate drops for Canadian high yield issuers)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... The default rate for Canadian high yield issuers declined dramatically during 2003, a statistic that closely mirrors the performance of junk-rated issues not just across the border in the US, but globally. According to Moody's Investors...

US.(Nortel Networks Corp. debt )
May 3, 2004... Nortel Networks Corp. inched closer towards defaulting on some $3.9 billion of outstanding debt as the embattled telecommunications equipment maker sacked its CEO amid worries an accounting probe might turn into a full-fledged financial...

Profile.(DebtX )(Company Profile)
May 3, 2004... Creating liquidity in the financial marketplace is the name of the game for DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor and online marketplace for commercial debt that prices, markets and sells loans. Since its inception in 1999, the firm has made...

Market Buzz.(CIBC World Markets expands finance gruop, appoints executives, Imperial Capital Group L.L.C. hires, Preem Petroleum AB mandates Deutsche Bank for managing note issue)
May 3, 2004... CIBC World Markets has expanded its UK leverage finance group, according to market sources. The firm has made three hires to its financial sponsor coverage and acquisition finance group. Aurelien Loszycer joins as a senior director from ING's...

AMG Data.(high yield funds market)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... The amount of money moving out of high yield funds hit $245 million for the week ending April 28, according to AMG Data Services. This marks the sixth week out of seven that AMG has reported outflows from high yield funds. The latest...

Gainers & Losers: Adelphia/Level 3.
May 3, 2004... Adelphia Communications saw its bonds spike as speculation heated up it might be a takeover candidate for a number of the nation's cable companies, including both Comcast and Cox. The nation's fifth-largest US cable operator said late last...

US COMPANY NEWS.(Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts considers prepackaged bankruptcy)
May 10, 2004... Donald Trump might be weighing a prepackaged bankruptcy for his Atlantic City-based gaming company as a way to get bondholders to discount their holdings in a $1.8 billion debt restructuring plan, sources said. Speculation about a possible...

SPOTLIGHT.(treasury market)
May 10, 2004... W hile many fixed income players believe interest rate hikes expected later this year could chill the bond markets, there is increasing evidence that one unlikely sector - high yield corporate bonds - could turn out to be immune from the...

DEAL.(Polypore note sale part of Warburg Pincus buyout)
May 10, 2004... Polypore Inc., which makes filters for electronics such as batteries and medical devices, completed a $400 million note sale as part of its $1.15 billion leveraged buyout by Warburg Pincus. The Charlotte-based company saw strong demand last...

Bankruptcies.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(net operating loss order for tax credits of bankrupt companies)
May 10, 2004... Order For Bankrupt Companies In a move that could alleviate the amount of time, effort and uncertainty investors might experience while dealing with tax credit issues surrounding bankrupt companies, The Bond Market Association (BMA) and...

SYNDICATED LOANS.(Morgan Stanley in leveraged loan market)
May 10, 2004... Morgan Stanley, which has been beefing up its loan syndication desk, is beginning to make some headway in the leveraged loan markets. The firm is in the market this week as a lead agent or bookrunner on at least five leveraged credit deals. ...

Issuer Profile.(Interview)
May 10, 2004... Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun is universally hailed as being the catalyst for the explosion in tribal gaming across the nation. But the casino also paved the way for other tribal gaming ventures to access the high yield bond market: Its first...

Market Buzz.(high yield bonds rates tumble)
May 10, 2004... Billionaire investor Warren Buffett won't be putting any more cash into the high yield market. The "Oracle of Omaha" said at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting last week that he's now looking to sell some of the more than $7 billion of high...

Ratings.(rating agencies evaluate corporate governance)
May 10, 2004... Once upon a time in corporate America, the notion of governance had little bearing on credit ratings. Company management went largely unchecked, until a number of high-profile bankruptcies - Enron, Adelphia Communications, Tyco International...

AMG Data.(high yield outflows)(Brief Article)
May 10, 2004... The amount of money moving out of high yield funds hit $201 million for the week ending May 6, according to AMG Data Services. This marks the seventh week out of eight that AMG has reported outflows from high yield funds. The latest numbers...

Gainers & Losers: Tropical/MCI.(Tropical Sportswear International Corp., MCI Inc.)
May 10, 2004... Tropical Sportswear International made the list of top high yield gainers this week after the struggling apparel company posted its first improved quarterly earnings in more than a year, according to statistics provided by Advantage Data. ...

Europe.
May 17, 2004... Like its US counterpart, the European high yield market has come under pressure recently, causing secondary market prices to sell off, and pushing the recent new issues below par. But while the sheer volume of new supply certainly proved...

Market View.(US equity markets )
May 17, 2004... Despite being singled out as one of the more resilient asset classes in the wake of a Federal Reserve rate hike, high yield has proved less immune to the selloff in US equity markets in recent weeks. Volatile trading on the New York Stock...

US/Europe.
May 17, 2004... The market was struggling to digest the staggering $2.15 billion of mutual fund outflows which AMG Data Services reported left the high yield asset class last Thursday. While explaining recent weakness in the high yield market, it also has...

The Word Is.(trends prevailing in equity and seondary markets )
May 17, 2004... In a recent editorial I addressed the issue of whether equities could succeed where others had failed and drag the US high yield market out of its apparent year long lethargy. Since then, as it turned out, the equity market has exerted a strong...

Sector Analysis.
May 17, 2004... It could come to be known as the Twinkie defense. Top executives from the nation's well-known food and restaurant brands are beginning to warn investors the low-carb craze sweeping America might impact their companies' fiscal health with...

Ratings.(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... Technology and entertainment companies are among the sectors considered to be the most vulnerable for fallen angels, at a time when rating agencies are seeing an acceleration in the number of issuers knocked out of investment grade. So far...

Feature.
May 17, 2004... Will the mega-mergers in the US banking sector - JP Morgan Chase/Bank One and Bank of America/Fleet Boston Financial - spur consolidation in the European banking sector as well? No, say bank analysts who know Europe well: There's little...

Market Buzz.
May 17, 2004... Michael Mauer of Citigroup was promoted to global head of loans last week, according to a source. The position was available after Chad Leat, the former head of loans and co-head of leveraged finance, moved into the position of co-head of fixed...

Advantage Data.
May 17, 2004... Delta Airlines's many outstanding issues traded lower after the troubled company announced it might have to file for bankruptcy in continued efforts to reach a deal with its pilots union. The airline, which is seeking deep cuts in pilots...

Syndicated Loans.
May 17, 2004... In hopes of setting a market precedent, Deutsche Bank announced last week that effective June 1, it will implement a T+10 funding timeline for primary credits where the bank is an administrative agent. If a deal is not fully funded by the tenth...

AMG Data Services HY Fund Flows.(AMG Data Services)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... Investors pulled $2.15 billion out of high yield funds for the week ending May 13, marking eight out of nine weeks where money has moved out of the sector, according to AMG Data Services. AMG, the California-based fund tracking service,...

CDO.(collateralized debt obligations)
May 24, 2004... Equity holders in a fund often seek out replacement managers for ailing collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) based on the strength of the replacement portfolio manager's track record. But rarely, if ever, has a firm established a distinct...

US/Europe.(mutual funds and the borrowing cost)
May 24, 2004... Widening spreads, the prospect of mounting borrowing costs and the record exodus of $2.15 billion from high yield mutual funds may have forced a number of high profile issuers to yank deals, but dedicated market players appear relatively...

Syndicated Loans.
May 24, 2004... Even the diehard high yielders - those who stand staunchly by their asset class through thick and thin - acquiesce that the whopping $3 billion that left high yield mutual funds over the past two weeks is a sign that high yield debt could be...

The Word Is.(problems and recovery of high yield market )
May 24, 2004... The global debt markets might have taken a beating recently, but that didn't deter attendees at Bear Stearns' 13th Annual Global Credit Conference, which took place at the Waldorf Astoria in New York last week. Over 2,000 investors from all...

Conference analysis.(ganimg industry)
May 24, 2004... Some of the top US gaming companies might be taking another roll of the dice in the high yield markets as the continuing economic recovery has given a green light for construction of new casinos and the expansion of existing ones. These plans...

Conference Analysis.(telecommunications industry finance)
May 24, 2004... Wireless telecom companies spent the majority of the high yield boom years between 1997 and 2000 tapping the market for financing to boost their signals around the nation. Now top telecom executives say they'll be taking a less aggressive...

Feature.(gaming sector performance)
May 24, 2004... The gaming sector may still be considered little more than a lowlife in fancy clothes by the more stiff-necked among us, but it has nonetheless evolved into quite a sophisticate in the securities issuance game - courted by bankers and investors...

Market Buzz.(high yield markets performance)
May 24, 2004... The furor over conflict of interests on Wall Street might have become a little easier for the fixed income market as The Bond Market Association last week released its final version of guidelines designed to help member firms balance business...

Gainers & Losers: Delta/Calpine.
May 24, 2004... Delta Airlines saw two classes of its high yield bonds trade in opposite directions last week as investors began placing their bets on whether the company will head into bankruptcy protection. Most significantly, ten of the nation's...

AMG Data Services HY Fund Flows.(high yield)(Brief Article)
May 24, 2004... Investors made another large retreat from high yield funds for the week ending May 20, yanking $989 million from the market after an astonishing $2.15 billion flowed out of the market the week before, according to AMG Data. This marks the ninth...

US Company News.(Samsonite Corp. prices notes)
May 31, 2004... Once-bitten Samsonite Corp. wasn't at all shy about plunging back into the capital markets with a revised high yield deal last week, and its boldness paid off. Having scrapped a $321 million refinancing transaction on March 14 as the junk...

Market View.(mutual fund market)
May 31, 2004... Many high yield investors are still reeling from the punch delivered by the double whammy of massive $3 billion in outflows from high yield mutual funds, and interest rate-driven volatility, both of which have caused spreads to widen recently....

Europe.(floating-rate notes )
May 31, 2004... Floating-rate notes have been a prominent part of the US high yield market this year, as investors look for ways to protect themselves against rising interest rates. Twenty floating-rate notes have priced in the US to date this year, including...

The Word Is.(high yield market )
May 31, 2004... As the Memorial Day holiday weekend approached, high yield market participants breathed a sigh of relief that this tumultuous month is over. It will go down as the month the market finally soured after its 18-month rally, the month that...

CDO.(Collateralized Debt Obligations)
May 31, 2004... A slew of loan-backed deals are circulating the CDO market, with about $3.7 billion of visible cash transactions in the pipeline from both European and US issuers. This represents more than 27% of the new issue calendar as tracked by Thomson...

US/Europe.(Celanese AG to price its high yield bond transactions)
May 31, 2004... German global chemicals company Celanese AG is due to price its re-worked $1.3 billion high yield bond transaction this week, having postponed and downsized the bonds last week, in favor of, second lien loan. The company, which needs the...

Feature.(interview with Timothy Evans energy analyst at IFR Markets)(Interview)
May 31, 2004... Concerns about high oil prices, and their potential impact on global economic growth, continued to influence the world's financial markets last week, with all the major currencies and bourses succumbing to oil-driven volatility. For bond...

The World According To...
May 31, 2004... John Fenn, a corporate bond analyst with Citigroup, views current market condition as a cleansing period that will shake out those companies whose issues have been overpriced during the past six months. He's also touting the light at the end of...

Gainers & Losers: Calpine/ONO.
May 31, 2004... Calpine was among last week's biggest gainers after the energy provider raised $180 million through the sale of a power contract. The troubled company plans to use proceeds to pay down some of its ballooning debt. The company, among one of...

AMG Fund Flows.(high yield outflows slow down)(Brief Article)
May 31, 2004... The hemorrhaging from high yield funds tailed off for the week ending May 27 as investors pulled $162 million from the market after the three previous weeks witnessed a whopping $3.3 billion worth of outflows, according to AMG Data Services....