Valeant Pharmaceuticals gets default notice from debt holder

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. fell in after-hours trading on Tuesday as the company said it has received a default notice from a debtholder.

The default notice was filed by Centerbridge Partners LP, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Shares of Valeant, which finished the regular trading session at $31.99 US, dipped as much as eight per cent in the after-hours session before recovering to trade off about three per cent.

Valeant said the default notice stems from its delay in filing its annual report.

Under the terms of the debt, the company has until June 11 to file the report. The Laval, Que., company said it is on schedule to file it by April 29 with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

"The notice of default does not result in the acceleration of any of the company's indebtedness," Valeant said.

The Wall Street Journal said filing adefault notice is often a tactic used by bondholders to get concessions from the borrower, instead of driving them into repayment.