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Entergy's chief development officer for Italy hit out at the country's tough and snail-paced power plant permitting process, complaining it's weighted against new entrants and foreign IPPs.

IntesaBci, Italy's largest bank, has axed its three-man New York structured finance syndication team as part of a wider reorganization at the bank. The reshuffle involved combining its New York structured finance effort into a general corporate finance unit, say market watchers. Officials at IntesaBci declined comment and the names of the individual handed pink slips could not be determined. The structured finance team handled the syndication of power project finance loans, notes one observer, who adds the recent lack of deal flow in the U.S. and the increasing amount of small, club-type deals, has left many smaller banks questioning the necessity of maintaining dedicated syndication desks.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. has launched syndication of a troika of revolvers, split into $1 billion for the parent, $400 million for Alabama Power and $700 million for Georgia Power. The deals replace maturing facilities and are priced against a rating grid. For the A3-rated parent company drawn pricing is LIBOR plus 50 basis points, says one syndicate official. The deals are plain vanilla corporate revolvers for a solid issuer, so syndication should be smooth, he adds. Southern Co. spokesman Mike Tyndall was unable to provide comment by press time.

Calpine is planning to securitize an in-the-money 1,000 MW baseload power-purchase agreement (PPA) that likely will form the bulk of an effort to raise $700-900 million through contract monetization. The San Jose, Calif., power producer has chosen Morgan Stanley to arrange and underwrite the deal. Bob Kelly, cfo, told analysts on a conference call last week the deal should be in the market imminently. The underlying contract being securitized, known as DWR-1, is an eight-year PPA with the California Department of Water Resources. Calls to Kelly and officials at Morgan Stanley were not returned.

FPL Energy launched a $400 million, non-recourse loan at a packed bank meeting at The Palace hotel in New York City last week. Many attendees think the importance of a strong syndication extends well beyond the deal itself. "We'll see who is actually in the market," says one financier, who explains the lack of deal flow has made it difficult to gauge which lenders are still active given the turmoil of the last 12 months.

Zimmer Lucas, a New York hedge fund that focuses on the energy and utilities sector, has hired Samir Nangia, an electric utility equity analyst formerly with Credit Lyonnais Securities in New York. Nangia, who left CL earlier this year (PFR, 2/17), could not be reached for comment. Craig Lucas, an official at the firm, did not return a call by press time. Prior to CL, Nangia was an analyst at Salomon Smith Barney.

Lenders involved in Mirant's $5.3 billion universal debt restructuring are expecting the Atlanta-based IPP to present its first detailed plan at a bank meeting tomorrow, but they think it'll be difficult for the company to wrap an agreement by its initial target of month-end. "The timetable is too short," says one banker. Mirant landed banker approval for default waivers on its loan facilities through the end of May (PFR, 4/23). Spokesman James Peters declined comment on specific meetings and also the restructuring timetable, but notes the company has said it may seek an extension of its default waivers.

Idaho Power recently dipped into the first-mortgage bond market to the tune of $140 million to fund the redemption and calling of two outstanding bond series earlier this month and land tighter pricing. "I continue to be amazed about how low rates are going," says Dennis Gribble, assistant treasurer at the utility's parent IDACORP in Boise, Idaho. The new issue was split equally into a tranche of 4.25% 10-year notes and 5.5% 30-year paper, he says, noting that the redeemed notes had a 6.4% coupon and the called notes paid 7.5%.

MidAmerican Energy upsized its recent issue of five-year notes from a planned $400 million to $450 million on the back of investor demand for the paper. Karen Anderson, associate director at Fitch Ratings in Chicago, says the utility and pipeline holding company also had originally planned to use loan funding to pay down upcoming maturities, but flipped to the bond market because of the current favorable pricing on offer.

Chris Kinney, managing director and second in command of Barclays Capital's power and utilities group in New York, has left the firm. Kinney joined the U.K. debt-focused investment bank three years ago after a 15-year career with Chase Securities (PFR, 4/23/01) and was most recently closely identified with helping to drive through Reliant Resources' $5.9 billion refinancing. The reason for his departure and whether he will be replaced could not be immediately ascertained. Calls to Mike Brennan, head of Barclays' power and utilities group, were not returned. Kinney has already left Barclays and could not be reached.