Valeant To Sell Provenge Owner Dendreon To Sanpower For $819.9 Mln Cash

(RTTNews) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX, VRX.TO) announced late Monday that its affiliate has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to the Sanpower Group Co., Ltd., a privately owned conglomerate in China.

Under the terms of the transaction, Valeant will receive cash consideration of $819.9 million at completion.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

Dendreon's first and only commercialized product is Provenge, an autologous cellular immunotherapy (vaccine) for prostate cancer treatment approved by the FDA in April 2010.

Valeant said it will use proceeds from the sale of Dendreon to permanently repay term loan debt under its Senior Secured Credit Facility.

Centerview Partners served as financial advisor to Valeant.

Valeant CEO Joseph Papa said, "With this sale, we are better aligning our product portfolio with Valeant's new operating strategy by exiting the urological oncology business, which is one of our non-core assets. We are pleased to take this step forward in our divestiture program and are continuing to evaluate transactions to simplify our business and strengthen our balance sheet."