April 07, 2016 - 5:18 AM
LAVAL, Que. - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (TSX:VRX) says its lenders have agreed to give the company more time to file its 2015 audited annual report with U.S. regulators.
Failure to get approval for the deadline extension would have put Valeant in default of lending agreements affecting billions of dollars borrowed by the company to fund its rapid growth through acquisitions.
The Quebec-based company says a majority of its lenders have agreed to give Valeant until May 31 to file its 10-K report for 2015 but the company still intends to have it done by April 29, as previously announced.
The possibility of default has been one of the factors weighing on Valeant's stock price this year.
Valeant wasn't able to file the 10-K report by the normal March 15 deadline because of a need to restate how it reported about US$58 million of revenue from Philidor Rx Services — an affiliated company that has now been shut down.
Once one of Canada's most valuable companies following years of growth through multiple acquisitions, Valeant's stock has dropped dramatically since last summer amid controversy on several fronts — including its relationship with Philidor.
Valeant's shares have surged this week, closing at C$44.77 on Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after its board announced Monday that no additional information needs to be restated before the audited financial report is completed.
That's still down from Valeant's peak closing stock price of $346.32 per share set in August.
Valeant has also received lender approval to file its 2016 first quarter report as late as July 31, about six weeks after the normal deadline of June 14 under U.S. regulations.
"While the company is working diligently to file its Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, these extensions provide relief under the credit facility in the event the Form 10-K is not filed by April 29, 2016, and the Form 10-Q is not filed by June 14, 2016," the company said Thursday.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016