UPDATE 3-Valeant gets extra month to file annual report

(Adds details on loan terms from sources)
April 7 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) International
Inc VRX.TO said on Thursday its lenders had agreed to give it
an extra month to file its annual report, providing breathing
room for the embattled drugmaker as it tries to win back
investor confidence.
The extension provides relief if Valeant is unable to file
its annual report by April 29 - a deadline the company
reiterated it intended to meet. The company missed an original
March 15 deadline, blaming an in-house review of its accounting
practices.
Valeant last week said it risked defaulting on its $30
billion debt if it missed the April 29 deadline, raising further
questions about the company after a string of controversies,
including U.S. government scrutiny of its drug price hikes and
former ties to a specialty pharmacy.
Valeant said its lenders had agreed to a May 31 deadline to
lodge the report.
"The company is comfortable with its current liquidity
position and cash flow generation for the rest of the year, and
remains well positioned to meet its obligations," Valeant said,
repeating a statement it made last week.
The amendment to the company's credit agreement also allows
it to extend the filing deadline for its first-quarter report to
July 31 from June 14.
The deal with its lenders requires Valeant to apply
substantially all net asset sale proceeds to prepay its term
loans. The agreement also waives the cross-default to indentures
that arose when the annual report was not filed in March.
Investors in Valeant's loans agreed to the changes after the
company on Tuesday boosted the interest rate on the debt,
agreeing to pay an extra one percentage point, according to
three sources familiar with the terms who are not authorized to
discuss them publicly. The rate is locked in for a year.
The rate will then be subject to the company's debt compared
with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization (Ebitda), or leverage.
Valeant was not immediately available for comment on the
terms.
Valeant said on Tuesday that the committee, which was
probing the company's ties to specialty drug distributor
Philidor, had completed its review and had not found anything
that would require additional restatements.
Up to Wednesday's U.S. close, Valeant's stock had risen
almost 30 percent in two days, helped by that news as well as a
comment by key shareholder and board member William Ackman that
a new chief executive could be appointed within weeks.
Shares of Valeant were up 4.06 percent at $35.56 in late
afternoon trading.