Continuing its history of using debt to fund acquisitionsand pay down existing liabilities, Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals (BHC 1.27%) announced yesterday that it had increased its senior unsecured notes offering from $850 million to $900 million, and priced the notes due 2021 at 5.625%.
Proceeds from the new notes, according to Valeant, will be used to pay down the recently called 6.5% notes due 2016. The senior debt due 2016 will be paid in its entirety in two phases. The first entails paying off $450 million of the old debt immediately, Valeant said, with the final $465.5 million in notes due 2016 redeemed at the close of Valeant's latest debt issuance. Valeant will utilize either $50 million in cash or tap into its existing credit line to fund the remaining redemption balance.
As of its recently completed 2013 third quarter, Valeant had $17 billion in long-term debt on its balance sheet, up from $10.5 billion at the end of 2012. The increase in debt is due primarily to Valeant's acquisitions year to date, including securing approximately $7 billion in debt to complete its recent $8.7 billion deal for Bausch & Lomb.
The new senior debt offering due 2021 is expected to close on Dec. 2, according to Valeant.
