NxStage Medical Inc. inked a supply deal with Asahi Kasei Kuraray Medical that will let it pay off its entire debt load with $40 million in debt financing.
The Lawrence-based dialysis products maker will private-label its dialyzer under the Asahi name from its facility in Germany. In return, the Japanese company will provide $40 million in debt financing and supply NxStage with its line of high-performance polysulfone hollow-fiber membranes.
The financing will be used to pay off the entire, $28 million nut it owes under a GE credit facility; the rest will be used to fund operations.
Asahi will sell the dialyzers exclusively in Asia and non-exclusively in rest of world, under a royalty-free license, with NxStage retaining its North American marketing rights. And if the Japanese firm’s needs outstrip NxStage’s German facility’s capacity, Asahi will pay for a new plant to supply dialyzers to both companies.
The terms of the deal also provide for an 8 percent interest rate (NxStage’s current rate under the GE facility is 11 percent), with 50 percent deferred to maturity of the four-year loan term. If the loan does mature, Asahi can take payment in shares of NxStage stock.