UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Bear Stearns cuts MGIC to peer perform

(Reuters) - Analyst David Hochstim, in a note to investors, estimated
the write-off of Credit-Based Asset Servicing and
Securitization LLC , MGIC's joint venture with Radian
Group Inc. , to generate a third-quarter loss of $3.30
per share for MGIC.




He said the write-down could limit MGIC's ability to
repurchase shares following the completion of its planned
merger with Radian, expected in a few months.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Credit Suisse Fees Are Likely to Fall Most as LBO Market Slows, S&P Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investment banking fees are likely to
fall or stop growing as buyout firms purchase fewer companies,
and Credit Suisse Group would probably be the most affected
Standard & Poor's said in a report published today.

Group revenue at Switzerland's second-largest bank could
fall by 3.8 percent were leveraged buyout fees to fall by half,
S&P said. Earnings at Credit Suisse and UBS AG could plunge up to
19 percent as buyouts slow, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Matt Spick
said on July 26.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Credit Suisse Fees to Fall the Most as LBOs Slow, Standard & Poor's Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investment banking fees are likely to
fall or stop growing as buyout firms purchase fewer companies,
and Credit Suisse Group would probably be the most affected
Standard & Poor's said in a report published today.

Group revenue at Switzerland's second-largest bank could
fall by 3.8 percent were leveraged buyout fees to fall by half,
S&P said. Earnings at Credit Suisse and UBS AG could plunge up to
19 percent as buyouts slow, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Matt Spick
said on July 26.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

New Zealand Dollar Advances Above 80 U.S. Cents on Rate Rise Speculation

(Bloomberg) -- The New Zealand dollar rose
above 80 U.S. cents to a 22-year high as the prospect of another
increase in interest rates this week lures investors to the
nation's higher-yielding assets.

The currency has gained 14 percent this year as the central
bank raised the benchmark rate three times in a bid to subdue
consumer demand, which it says is boosting inflation. There is a
67 percent chance bank Governor Alan Bollard will raise the
official cash rate by a quarter-percentage point for a fourth
time at his monetary policy review on July 26, according to a
Credit Suisse Group index based on interest-rate swaps trading.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Alliance Boots changing terms on LBO loans: bank

(Reuters) - It is hoped that further details on the loan package will be released on Monday, the spokeswoman said.




Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UniCredit HVB are global coordinators for the debt backing the buyout, Europe's largest ever private equity deal and the first of a FTSE 100 company.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Vietnam Hires Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank for $1 Billion Bond Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam chose Barclays Capital,
Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG to manage its second
international bond sale, said Nguyen Thanh Do, director of the
finance ministry's external financing department.

The ministry said in May that the government plans a $1
billion bond sale by September. Vietnam sold $750 million worth
of dollar-denominated debt in 2005, in an offering where demand
exceeded supply by six times. Credit Suisse Group arranged the
sale.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

MBIA, Ambac Risk Trading at Junk Levels on Subprime Default Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- The perceived risk of holding the
bonds of MBIA Inc. and AMBAC Financial Group Inc., owners of the
two largest AAA rated bond insurance companies, has jumped to
speculative grade on worries about subprime-mortgage defaults.

Credit-default swaps based on $10 million of MBIA's bonds
more than doubled in the past month to $114,000, while Ambac
contracts tripled to $91,000, according to CMA Datavision in
London. Those levels imply a credit rating of Ba2 for MBIA and
Ba1 for Ambac, the two highest junk ratings, according to the
credit-strategy group at Moody's Investors Service.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Copa Holdings, Fleetwood, Playtex, Spectrum Brands: U.S. Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares are having unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges
today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Share prices are as of 11:40 a.m. New York time.

Alcoa Inc. (AA US) rose $1.91, or 4.2 percent, to $47.20.
The world's second-biggest aluminum maker said yesterday it
withdrew its unsolicited takeover bid for aluminum producer Alcan
Inc. (AL US) after Rio Tinto Group (RIO AU) made a higher offer
of $38.1 billion. Separately, Credit Suisse Group increased its
share-price estimate for Alcoa by 22 percent to $55, saying that
takeover speculation would support the stock. Alcan shares fell
45 cents to $98.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

REFILE-China's Perfect World sets IPO at 11.8 million ADS

(Reuters) - The company plans to sell 9 million ADSs, and stockholders
plan to sell an additional 2.8 million ADSs, according to an
amended filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.




Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, CIBC World Markets, and
Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP are underwriting the IPO, and
have the option to buy an additional 1.77 million ADSs to cover
over-allotments.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Bond bears turn tail in subprime scare

(Reuters) - Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's stunned markets on Tuesday by warning of possible downgrades to a slew of mortgage-backed debt, boosting Treasuries but sending shivers through the riskier sectors of the fixed-income market.




Even though the economy has bounced back from earlier scares in the subprime sector, which targets borrowers of lower credit quality, this latest bout of jitters should still tamp down yields until the scope of the damage is known.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Paulson hedge fund wins big in subprime fallout

(Reuters) - The Paulson Credit Opportunities Fund surged 39.95 percent last month, giving it gains of some 129 percent in the first half of 2007 on bets the subprime market would decline, the source said.




Paulson, which is headed by investor John Paulson, also posted gains of 6.15 percent in its merger arbitrage fund in June, giving the fund gains of 27.7 percent year-to-date through June. Paulson is best-known as an event-driven hedge fund group, sometimes employing activist strategies.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

South Korea's SK Telecom Co. to Sell Dollar Bonds as It Spends on Networks

(Bloomberg) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest
mobile-phone operator, plans to sell dollar-denominated bonds as
it boosts spending to grow its wireless business.

The Seoul-based carrier hired Credit Suisse Group, Merrill
Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley to arrange the sale, according to
an e-mail sent by one of the arrangers.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Ajaz Rahim, Pakistani Banker, Denies Charges in U.S. of Insider Trading

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistani investment banker Ajaz Rahim,
indicted on July 3 by a U.S. grand jury, denied that he traded
shares of TXU Corp. and other companies with inside information
and said his lawyers will contest the case.

Rahim, 44, dismissed allegations he conspired with former
Credit Suisse banker Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem to make illegal
trades, operated a brokerage account for his fellow Pakistani
national or exchanged e-mails with him about U.S. stocks.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Copper Falls From 7-Week High in New York on Concern Gains Were Overdone

(Bloomberg) -- Copper fell from a seven-week high in
New York on concern gains may have been exaggerated.

The metal rose 2 percent last week as strikes in Chile, the
world's biggest copper producer, threatened global supplies.
Labor unrest is a ``short-term'' threat to copper and prices will
fall as demand slows, Jochen Hitzfeld, a Munich-based analyst at
UniCredit SpA, wrote in a report yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

RLPC-UPDATE 1-ServiceMaster $1.15 bln issue postponed-sources

(Reuters) - The company had been forced to increase the interest rate
on its LBO loan twice last week. ServiceMaster is one of a
growing list of highly leveraged so-called covenant-light deals
which had been forced to improve terms as investors began to
reassess credit risk.




Creditors are also resisting payment-in-kind notes that
allow companies to defer interest payments in favor of issuing
more debt.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Biogen says completes $3 billion share buyback

(Reuters) - The company said it will borrow $1.5 billion through a loan
agreement with Merrill Lynch Capital Corp. as administrative
agent and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners LP as syndication agent
to partially finance the share repurchase.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Bear Stearns not planning to bail out second fund: source

(Reuters) - Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski said on Monday that he
thought Bear Stearns may have to bail out a second Bear-managed
fund, the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced
Leverage Fund, which was down around 23 percent through the
first four months of the year.




But Bear does not plan a bail-out for that second fund at
this juncture, a source said. Bear Stearns declined to comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Softbank, Aeon Credit Service, Kubota, Tsuruha: Japanese Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may move in
Japanese markets on June 25. Prices are as of the close of
trading. Statements were released after the close. Stock symbols
are in parentheses.

Aeon Credit Service Co. (8570 JT): The credit card company
said first-quarter net income rose 10 percent to 4.22 billion
yen, with an 11 percent rise in revenue. The stock rose 12 yen,
or 0.6 percent, to 1,968.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

U.S. Loan Credit-Default Swaps May Overtake Loan Trades, Citigroup Says

(Bloomberg) -- Credit-default swaps linked to loans
will be more actively traded in the U.S. than the loans
themselves within a year, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc.,
the largest U.S. bank.

Trading of loan credit-default swaps now accounts for 50
percent of the volume of loan trades handled by Citigroup, New
York-based Jonathan Calder, head of the U.S. bank's loan sales
and trading, told a conference yesterday in Tokyo.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Nickel Drops as Stainless-Steel Makers May Cut Usage; Copper, Zinc Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Nickel declined in London for a
second consecutive day on speculation stainless-steel makers will
continue to cut usage after an earlier price rally. Copper and
zinc also fell.

Nickel's 19 percent gain this year has made prices
``overheated,'' analysts including Tobias Merath at Credit Suisse
Group in Zurich said. Such increases have reduced usage among
stainless-steel producers, which account for two-thirds of
consumption worldwide, Merath said today in a phone interview.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News