Alliance Capital News

Bonds issued by British shipbuilder Cammell Laird held steady at deeply-discounted levels on Tuesday after the company unveiled a strategic review which could include a debt restructuring. Investors quoted Cammell's 125 million euro high-yield bond due October 2010 at 11 to 13 percent of face value at around 1245 GMT, down by around half a percentage point from Tuesday's opening. The bonds have been trading at levels that clearly imply default for some time, dealers said. Investors said they expected Cammell to miss the first coupon payment on the bond, due on April 15. "The market was clearly expecting this and the news looked as though it had already been priced in," said Martin Reeves, vice-president of fixed income at Alliance Capital.

The Mexican state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico is planning to build a massive air, rail and sea cargo terminal for international trade, according to state officials. Veracruz officials are in talks with U.S. asset manager Alliance Capital and an international consortium that includes Mexican construction company Grupo Tribasa for the project, the first phase of which would cost $500 million. Working in conjunction with local authorities, the private companies would fund the investment in the major infrastructure project linking Veracruz's current air and sea ports with a new rail terminal.