Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Other than the amended and restated risk factors and the additional risk factors set forth below, as of the date of this Form 10-Q there are no other material changes to the risk factors as disclosed in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC and the CSA on February 19, 2025.
Debt-related Risks
The 2025 Credit Agreement and the indentures governing our senior notes, including those issued in April 2025 by our subsidiary, 1261229 B.C. Ltd., impose restrictive covenants on us. Our failure to comply with these covenants could trigger events, which could result in the acceleration of the related debt, a cross-default or cross-acceleration to other debt, foreclosure upon any collateral securing the debt and termination of any commitments to lend, each of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and would cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline and could lead to bankruptcy or liquidation.
The 2025 Credit Agreement and the various indentures governing our senior notes, including those issued in April 2025 by our subsidiary 1261229 B.C. Ltd., contain covenants that restrict the way we conduct business and require us to satisfy certain financial tests in order to incur debt or take other actions. For example, the 2030 Revolving Credit Facility, which is part of the 2025 Credit Agreement, contains financial maintenance covenants that requires us to maintain a certain financial ratio at each fiscal quarter end and to maintain minimum amount of liquidity at each fiscal quarter end following the occurrence of a specified triggering event.
The 2025 Credit Agreement contains a specified quarterly financial maintenance covenant (consisting of a blended first lien leverage ratio with a step-up to occur on or after a specified date as defined therein). We can make no assurance that we will be able to comply with the restrictive covenants contained in the 2025 Credit Agreement and indentures in the future. Based on our current forecast for the next twelve months from the date of issuance of this Form 10-Q, we expect to remain in compliance with this financial maintenance covenant and meet our debt obligations over that same period. In the event that we perform below our forecasted levels, we may implement certain additional cost-efficiency initiatives, such as rationalization of SG&A expenses and R&D spend, in order to allow us to continue to comply with the financial maintenance covenant. The Company may consider taking other actions, including divesting other businesses, refinancing debt, issuing equity or equity-linked securities, and the monetization of a portion of its holdings of common shares of Bausch + Lomb, as deemed appropriate, to provide additional coverage in complying with the financial maintenance covenant and meeting its debt service obligations, or may negotiate with the applicable lenders for an amendment or modification to such covenant, as deemed appropriate. However, we cannot guarantee that any of the above-noted actions would be effective in enabling us to maintain compliance with our financial maintenance covenant. If we perform below our forecasted levels and the actions referenced above are not effective, we would fail to comply with our financial maintenance covenant. In that instance, we would be in default, and our lenders would be permitted to accelerate our debt unless we could obtain an amendment. If our debt was accelerated, we would not have sufficient funds to repay our debt absent a refinancing, and we cannot provide assurance that we would be able to obtain such a refinancing.
In addition, the AR Facility Agreement contains affirmative and negative covenants applicable primarily to the borrower subsidiaries thereunder, including, among other things, restrictions on indebtedness, liens, investments, mergers, dispositions, dividends and other distributions, and engaging in any business other than as set forth in the AR Facility Agreement. Other debt instruments we may enter into in the future may contain additional restrictions and covenants.
Our inability to comply with the covenants in our debt instruments could lead to a default or an event of default under the terms thereof, for which we may need to seek relief from our lenders and noteholders in order to waive the associated default or event of default and avoid a potential acceleration of the related indebtedness or cross-default or cross-acceleration to other debt. There can be no assurance that we would be able to obtain such relief on commercially reasonable terms or otherwise and we may be required to incur significant additional costs. In addition, the lenders under the 2025 Credit Agreement and holders of our senior notes may impose additional operating and financial restrictions on us as a condition to granting any such waiver. If an event of default is not cured or is not otherwise waived, a majority of lenders in principal amount under the 2025 Credit Agreement or the trustee or holders of at least 25% in principal amount of a series of our senior notes may accelerate the maturity of the related debt under these agreements, foreclose upon any collateral securing the debt and terminate any commitments to lend, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and would cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities
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to decline. Furthermore, under these circumstances, we may not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations and we may be unable to obtain alternative financing on terms acceptable to us or at all. In such circumstances, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation and, as a result, investors could lose all or a portion of their investment in our securities.
To service our debt, we will be required to generate a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate cash depends on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, and any failure to meet our debt obligations would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and could cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline.
We have a significant amount of indebtedness. For details regarding our debt and the maturity dates thereof, see Note 10, “FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS” to our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Following the April 2025 Refinancing Transactions, the maturities of our principal balances of debt obligations were as follows:
(in millions) Remainder of 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 and 2032 Total
Total debt obligations $ 45 $ 672 $ 3,675 $ 6,199 $ 1,640 $ 3,995 $ 4,863 $ 21,089
Our ability to satisfy our debt obligations will depend principally upon our future operating performance, as well as our continuing efforts to improve our balance sheet. As a result, prevailing economic conditions and financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, may affect our ability to make payments on our debt. If we do not generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, we may undertake alternative financing plans, such as refinancing or restructuring our consolidated indebtedness, issuing new debt instruments, divesting of assets or businesses, issuing equity or equity-linked securities, and the monetization of a portion of our holdings of common shares of Bausch + Lomb, reducing or delaying capital investments or seeking to raise additional capital. Alternatively, as we have done in the past, we may also elect to refinance certain of our debt, for example, to extend maturities. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. If we are unable to access the capital markets, whether because of the condition of those capital markets or our own financial condition or reputation within such capital markets, we may be unable to refinance our debt. In addition, any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. Further, given our capital structure, any refinancing of our senior unsecured debt may be with secured debt, thereby increasing our first lien and/or secured leverage ratios. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and could cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline.
Repayment of our indebtedness is dependent on the generation of cash flow by our subsidiaries and their ability to make such cash available to us, by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Our subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make distributions to enable us to make payments in respect of our indebtedness. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, legal and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. Certain subsidiaries include non-U.S. subsidiaries that may be prohibited by law or other regulations from distributing funds to us and/or we may be subject to payment of taxes and withholdings on such distributions. In the event that we do not receive distributions from our subsidiaries or receive cash via services rendered, loans and intellectual property licensed, we may be unable to make required principal and interest payments on our indebtedness.
Our ability to continue to reduce our indebtedness will depend upon factors including our future operating performance, our ability to access the capital markets to refinance existing debt and prevailing economic conditions and financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. We can provide no assurance of the amount by which we will reduce our debt, if at all. In addition, servicing our debt will result in a reduction in the amount of our cash flow available for other purposes, including operating costs and capital expenditures that could improve our competitive position and results of operations.
We are exposed to risks related to interest rates, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and could cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline.
Our senior secured credit facilities bear interest based on a term Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) or U.S. Prime Rate, or Federal Funds Effective Rate (for U.S. dollar loans) and Canadian Prime Rate or Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average (“Term CORRA”) (for Canadian dollar loans). Thus, a change in the short-term interest rate environment (especially a material change) could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations (which adverse effect could be material) and could cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline. As of March 31, 2025, we did not have any outstanding interest rate swap contracts.
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Risks Relating to the B+L Separation
The B+L Separation is subject to uncertainties, which could delay or prevent the completion of the B+L Separation, cause the B+L Separation to occur on terms or conditions that are different or less favorable than originally anticipated or affect our ability to realize some or all of the anticipated benefits of the B+L Separation.
Unanticipated developments and other challenges could delay or prevent the completion of the B+L Separation (including the Distribution, as defined above), result in changes to the anticipated structure of the B+L Separation (whether by way of “butterfly reorganization” rules in Section 55 of the Canadian Tax Act, return of capital or another form of sale or transfer of the Company’s ownership interest in Bausch +Lomb), cause the B+L Separation to occur on terms or conditions that are different or less favorable than originally anticipated or affect our ability to realize some or all of the anticipated benefits of the B+L Separation. Such developments and other challenges may include possible delays in obtaining any necessary shareholder, stock exchange, regulatory or other approval or the failure to obtain any such approvals, possible delays in obtaining any required tax opinions or rulings or the failure to obtain any such tax opinions or rulings, failure to satisfy conditions, complications arising from the portion of Bausch Health’s ownership of Bausch + Lomb that is pledged as collateral under certain of the Company’s indebtedness (as of April 8, 2025, the 2025 Credit Agreement and the 2032 Senior Secured Notes), negotiating challenges, the uncertainty of the financial markets, disruptions to business and commerce induced by changes in global markets, financial and economic conditions (such as international conflicts) and changes in the law.
The Company continues to evaluate the structure of the B+L Separation and other related details, and, subject to the terms of the Company’s agreements with Bausch + Lomb, the Company may consider undertaking the B+L Separation through one or more distributions effected as a dividend or a tax-free reduction of capital, one or more distributions in exchange for Bausch Health shares or other securities, any combination thereof or another form of sale or transfer of the Company’s ownership interest in Bausch +Lomb. Prior to the completion of any B+L Separation, the Company may also sell a portion of its remaining direct or indirect equity interest in Bausch + Lomb through an offering to third parties.
Further, our Board of Directors could decide, either because of a failure to satisfy conditions or because of market or other factors, to delay, abandon or alter the structure or manner and terms of the B+L Separation. Additionally, Bausch + Lomb may terminate the existing arrangement agreement between the Company and Bausch + Lomb in accordance with its terms. No assurance can be given as to whether and when the full B+L Separation will occur, on what terms or structure the B+L Separation will occur or whether the B+L Separation will achieve the benefits originally anticipated. As a result, there can be no assurance as to the timing of the completion of the B+L Separation or its structure or terms.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
There were no sales of equity securities by the Company during the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
None.
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