Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTC:ANPI) reached extension agreements with the holders of its 7.75 percent senior subordinated notes and senior floating rate notes due 2013 for the debt’s recapitalization, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
The Vancouver-based maker of paclitaxel, the drug used in Boston Scientific Corp.’s (NYSE:BSX) Taxus coronary stents, filed for bankruptcy in January and has since been seeking relief for its outstanding debt.
The new agreement with the holders of a majority of the principal amount outstanding of Angiotech’s 7.75 percent senior subordinated notes extend to May 12 the date of the debt’s recapitalization.
The company also announced another extension agreement that provides for the holders of a majority of the principal amount outstanding of its senior floating rate notes due 2013 to extend, to May 12, the date by which the company must close its offer to exchange new senior secured floating rate notes due 2013 for all of its exiting floating rate notes under a previous repayment plan, the company said in a press release.
The extension of the exchange offer has been made to allow holders of outstanding existing floating rate notes who have not yet tendered their existing floating rate notes for exchange to do so. As of the close of business on April 21, approximately $322.1 million in aggregate principal amount of the existing floating rate notes had been validly tendered for exchange and not withdrawn, the company said.
Earlier this month Angiotech said it would give creditors with claims of $5,000 to $31,250 10 days to decide whether to accept a $5,000 cash settlement. Creditors owed more than $31,250 could elect to receive a cash settlement of 16 cents on the dollar, up to $24,000. The countdown was slated to begin today, coincident with Angiotech’s annual shareholders meeting.
The meeting must have gone well, at least from the standpoint of getting the bankruptcy over with. Angiotech said 100 percent of the creditors agreed to the restructured pay deal and that it would submit the deal to the Canadian courts for approval.
Angiotech officials said recently that its net losses widened during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2010, rising to $11.8 million.
The company attributed the losses to a continued, downward slide of royalty revenues from Taxus sales, which declined by 59 percent during the quarter to just more than $6 million (compared to $13.5 million during Q4 2009). Angiotech reaps around 6 percent of the net sales of Taxus stents worldwide from royalties for BSX’s use of its product.
Since hitting a high-water mark in 2005, Angiotech’s royalty revenues from paclitaxel-eluting coronary devices have plummeted in subsequent years.
Boston Scientific is still the worldwide leader in drug-eluting stents, but a steady increase in competition from other DES makers like Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Cordis Corp. and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) has cut into those sales significantly.
Angiotech was de-listed from the NASDAQ in January and the Toronto Stock Exchanges earlier this month.
