Invacare Corp. (NYSE:IVC) is offering to buy back $146 million worth of senior notes that come due in 2015 in a continuing effort to reduce its load of high-cost debt.
The Elyria, Ohio-based home healthcare products issued $175 million worth of the notes, which pay 9.75 percent interest each year, in early 2007 as part of a $710 million debt refinancing.
At the time, Invacare was in the midst of a second wave of job cuts and plant closures in an effort to regain its financial footing. The company had fought falling reimbursements from Medicare and rising competition from inexpensive foreign imports for nearly two years.
Invacare has since regained profitability. But until the company can pay down its high-yield debt, it is unlikely to do acquisitions, chairman Malachi Mixon told investors this spring.
So Invacare is offering to pay $1,045 per $1,000 note until Nov. 1. Sellers who tender their shares by Oct. 15 will get an additional $30 “consent payment,” or $1,075 per $1,000 note.
BofA Merrill Lynch is the exclusive dealer manager and solicitation agent for the offer.
