Valeant's board approves $1.5 billion securities repurchase program

Nov 4 2010

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX) (TSX: VRX) today announced that it may make purchases of its convertible notes, senior notes and/or common shares under a $1.5 billion securities repurchase program (collectively, the "Securities Repurchase Program") approved by Valeant's Board of Directors.

Valeant's Board of Directors also approved a sub-limit of up to 16 million Valeant common shares purchased for cancellation under the Securities Repurchase Program pursuant to a normal course issuer bid, representing approximately 10% of the Company's public float as of the date hereof. The Company intends to initially make purchases of up to 15 million common shares under the Securities Repurchase Program through the facilities of the NYSE, in accordance with applicable rules and guidelines. This represents approximately 5% of Valeant's issued and outstanding common shares as of the date hereof. If Valeant determines to purchase up to the remaining one million common shares under the Securities Repurchase Program through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and/or the NYSE, such purchases will be subject to completion of appropriate filings with and approval by the TSX and securities regulatory authorities, as applicable. The price that Valeant will pay for any common shares will be the prevailing market price of such shares on the NYSE or the TSX, as the case may be, at the time of the acquisition.

The amount of securities to be purchased and the timing of purchases under the Securities Repurchase Program may be subject to various factors, which may include the price of the securities, general market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, alternate investment opportunities and restrictions under the Company's financing agreements. The securities to be repurchased will be funded using Valeant's existing cash resources. The Securities Repurchase Program will terminate on November 7, 2011 or at such time as Valeant completes its purchases.

The program does not require Valeant to repurchase a minimum number of securities, and the Securities Repurchase Program may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time without prior notice. Valeant's Board of Directors believes that the proposed purchases are in the best interests of the Company and are a desirable use of corporate funds.

On August 12, 2009, Valeant (at the time known as Biovail Corporation) commenced a share repurchase program to purchase up to 15.8 million common shares, pursuant to which it had intended to initially purchase up to 7.9 million common shares through the facilities of the NYSE, after which it had intended to make additional filings to permit the purchase of the remaining 7.9 million common shares over the facilities of the TSX and/or the NYSE. Under that share repurchase program, which expired on August 11, 2010, Valeant did not make any purchases of common shares. As of the close of business on November 2, 2010, Valeant had 299,988,251 common shares outstanding.