Warner Chilcott likely to keep prepaying debt, primed for opportunities

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Savannah, Ga., March 2 - Warner Chilcott plc is likely to continue to prepay debt in order to increase its unused debt capacity in the absence of a near-term opportunity to deploy its cash, Paul Herendeen, Warner Chilcott's chief financial officer, said during a Wednesday presentation at the Citi Global Healthcare Conference in New York.

"That debt capacity sits there and is there for us to activate opportunities," Herendeen said.

Such opportunities could include the acquisition of assets or companies, he said.

"If there are opportunities out there, we would be well positioned to capitalize on them," Herendeen said.

The CFO also said that the company also believes it could access the debt capital markets in the future if necessary.

"We feel like we are now an experienced issuer in the leveraged finance markets, and if we have the right deal on the table and we need to try to go out and fund that deal in the debt capital markets, we feel like the debt capital will be there for us in the future," he said.

"We work hard to try to maintain those relationships in the debt capital markets because it's important to us to be able to take advantage of those opportunities as they present themselves," Herendeen later added.

Warner Chilcott is an Ireland-based specialty pharmaceutical company.

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