EDC announces USD 67.5 M in financing for Valeant Pharmaceuticals

Export Development Canada (EDC) today announced a previously disbursed USD 67.5 M in financing for Montreal's Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (Valeant), Canada's largest multinational pharmaceutical company.

The loan is part of a larger USD 1 B term loan facility that Valeant is using to fund the repayment of certain outstanding indebtedness of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (Salix), a leading gastrointestinal pharmaceutical company based in the US. Salix was acquired by Valeant on April 1, 2015.

Valeant has used acquisitions like Salix to springboard itself into the upper echelon of Canada's pharmaceutical space. Valeant's strategy is to focus its business on core geographies and therapeutic classes that offer attractive growth opportunities while maintaining its lower selling, general and administrative cost model and decentralized operating structure.

EDC's relationship with Valeant dates back to 2009, when EDC first provided a USD 50 M loan to Valeant's predecessor, Biovail Corporation (Biovail). Biovail was a Canadian pharmaceutical company that merged with then US-based Valeant in 2010 to create the Canadian industry leader that exists today.

Since the merger, EDC has provided Valeant with approximately USD 400 M in total financing support.

"Valeant's acquisition model really serves as the golden standard from a trade perspective," said Antonio Lopes, Strategic Account Executive and Lead for Life Sciences and Healthcare, EDC. "More broadly, we really see the sector pushing forward as companies discover the benefits of investing in established intellectual property (IP) as a strong driver of earnings growth."

With companies of all sizes making foreign IP acquisitions, EDC has moved to facilitate this shift in business by offering cash-flow financing. With this kind of financing, EDC evaluates a company's ability to repay a loan not by its existing assets, but instead by projecting its expected cash-flow following the IP acquisition.

EDC has used this financing to help companies of all sizes grow their international presence in the healthcare and life sciences sector. In 2014 alone, EDC helped more than 140 companies in the sector conduct close to CAD 550 M in new foreign business.

SOURCE Export Development Canada