NOTE 9. DEBT

Senior Notes

On April 2, 2015, the Company issued $575.0 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes (the Senior Notes) for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $562.0 million pursuant to a Note Purchase Agreement dated March 12, 2015, among the Company and Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P., Deerfield Partners, L.P., Deerfield International Master Fund, L.P., Deerfield Special Situations Fund, L.P., Deerfield Private Design Fund II, L.P., Deerfield Private Design International II, L.P., BioPharma Secured Investments III Holdings Cayman LP, Inteligo Bank Ltd. and Phemus Corporation (collectively, the Purchasers) and Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P., as collateral agent. The Company used $550.0 million of the net proceeds received upon the sale of the Senior Notes to fund a portion of the Purchase Price paid to Janssen Pharma in connection with the NUCYNTA acquisition. The Company incurred debt issuance costs of $0.5 million for 2015.

The Senior Notes will mature on April 14, 2021 (unless earlier prepaid or repurchased), are secured by substantially all of the assets of the Company and any subsidiary guarantors, and bear interest at the rate equal to the lesser of (i) 9.75% over the three month London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR), subject to a floor of 1.0% and (ii) 11.95% (through the third anniversary of the purchase date) and 12.95% (thereafter). The interest rate is determined at the first business day of each fiscal quarter, commencing with the first such date following April 2, 2015. The interest rate as of June 30, 2018 and 2017 was 12.07% and 10.90%, respectively.

In April 2017, the Company prepaid and retired $100.0 million of the Senior Notes and paid a $4.0 million prepayment fee; and in November 2017, the Company prepaid and retired an additional $10 million of the Senior Notes and paid a $0.4 million prepayment fee. The Company recorded a net loss on prepayment of the Senior Notes of $5.9 million which represented the prepayment fees of $4.4 million and the immediate recognition of unamortized balances of debt discount and debt issuance costs of $1.5 million in 2017. This loss is recorded as a loss on prepayment of Senior Notes in the consolidated statements of operations for 2017.

During the three months ended June 30, 2018, the Company made a $57.5 million principal payment on the Senior Notes. The remaining $307.5 million of Senior Notes can be prepaid, at the Company’s option. The Company is required to repay the outstanding Senior Notes in full if the principal amount outstanding on its existing 2.50% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 as of March 31, 2021, is greater than $100.0 million. In addition, if the successor entity in a Major Transaction, as defined in the Note Purchase Agreement, does not satisfy specified qualification criteria, the Purchasers may require the Company to prepay the Senior Notes upon consummation of the Major Transaction in an amount equal to the principal amount of outstanding Senior Notes, accrued and unpaid interest and a prepayment premium in an amount equal to what the Company would have otherwise paid in an optional prepayment described in the following paragraph. The Company is required to make mandatory prepayments on the Senior Notes in an amount equal to the proceeds it receives in connection with asset dispositions in excess of $10.0 million, together with accrued and unpaid interest on the principal amount prepaid.

Pursuant to the Note Purchase Agreement, upon the consummation of the sale of the Senior Notes on April 2, 2015, the Company and Depo NF Sub, LLC entered into a Pledge and Security Agreement with the Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P. (the Collateral Agent), pursuant to which the Company and Depo NF Sub each granted the Collateral Agent (on behalf of the Purchasers) a security interest in substantially all of their assets, other than specifically excluded assets.

On December 4, 2017, the Company and the Purchasers entered into an Amendment to the existing Note Purchase Agreement. The Amendment facilitated the Company’s entry into a Commercialization Agreement, by and between the Company and Collegium and Collegium NF, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Collegium, on December 4, 2017, pursuant to which the Company, or one of its subsidiaries, granted the right to Collegium and its sub licensees to commercialize NUCYNTA® in the United States of America, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In connection with its entry into the Commercialization Agreement, the Purchasers (i) waived the requirement that some or all of the Asset Disposition Proceeds realized from the granting of the Exclusive License be used to prepay the outstanding principal amount of the Notes pursuant to Section 2.7(b) of the Note Purchase Agreement and (ii) agreed to (a) replace the minimum net sales covenant in Section 6.7 of the Note Purchase Agreement with a minimum EBITDA covenant, and (b) made certain other amendments related to the amortization of the Notes. In addition, the prepayment premiums were amended to 4% of the principal amount of the Notes to be prepaid, if such prepayment occurs after the second anniversary of the Purchase Date but on or prior to the fifth anniversary of the Purchase Date; and (iii) zero, if such prepayment occurs after the fifth anniversary of the Purchase Date. The minimum EBITDA covenants stipulate that the Company’s EBITDA, measured as of the last day of the twelve month measurement period be (i) for the twelve month period from October 1, 2017 through to September 30, 2018 be at least $90 million and (ii) $125 million, thereafter. The Amendment also modified the repayment schedule; and required the Company to prepay and retire $10.0 million of the Senior Notes and pay a $0.4 million prepayment fee. The Company paid a $3.0 million upfront non-refundable amendment fee which, pursuant to the terms of the modification, can be off-set dollar for dollar against any future prepayment fees.

The Company accounted for the amendment as a debt modification in accordance with the applicable accounting standards. Accordingly, the $3.0 million amendment fee paid to the Purchasers was capitalized and is being amortized over the remaining term of the Senior Notes.

The Senior Notes and related indenture contain customary covenants, including, among other things, and subject to certain qualifications and exceptions, covenants that restrict the Company’s ability and the ability of its subsidiaries to: incur or guarantee additional indebtedness; create or permit liens on assets; pay dividends on capital stock or redeem, repurchase or retire capital stock or subordinated indebtedness; make certain investments and other restricted payments; engage in mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and amalgamations; transfer and sell certain assets; and engage in transactions with affiliates.

The principal amount of the Senior Notes is repayable as of June 30, 2018 is as follows (amounts in thousands):


2018 (remainder)	$	25,000
2019		120,000
2020		80,000
2021		82,500
Total	$	307,500

The Company is scheduled to make the Senior Notes principal payments of $105.0 million prior to June 30, 2019 and has classified this portion of the Senior Notes within the current liabilities section of the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

The following is a summary of the carrying value of the Senior Notes as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):


	June 30,		December 31,
	2018		2017
Principal amount of the Senior Notes	$	307,500	$	365,000
Unamortized debt discount balance		(3,589)		(4,717)
Unamortized debt issuance costs		(2,330)		(3,063)
Total Senior Notes	$	301,581	$	357,220

The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being amortized as interest expense through April 2021 using the effective interest method. The following is a summary of interest expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Contractual interest expense	$	9,425	$	10,393	$	19,866	$	23,159
Amortization of debt discount and debt issuance costs		853		595		1,861		1,197
Total interest expense Senior Notes	$	10,278	$	10,988	$	21,727	$	24,356

Convertible Debt

On September 9, 2014, the Company issued $345.0 million aggregate principal amount of 2.50% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2021 (the Convertible Notes) resulting in net proceeds to the Company of $334.2 million after deducting the underwriting discount and offering expenses of $10.4 million and $0.4 million, respectively.

The Convertible Notes were issued pursuant to an indenture, as supplemented by a supplemental indenture dated September 9, 2014, between the Company and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (the Trustee), and mature on September 1, 2021, unless earlier converted, redeemed or repurchased. The Convertible Notes bear interest at the rate of 2.50% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on March 1 and September 1 of each year, beginning March 1, 2015.

Prior to March 1, 2021, holders of the 2021 Convertible Notes can convert their securities, at their option: (i) during any calendar quarter commencing after December 31, 2015, if the last reported sale price of the common stock for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the immediately preceding calendar quarter is greater than or equal to $25.01 (130% of the $19.24 conversion price) on each applicable trading day; (ii) during the five business day period after any five consecutive trading day period in which the trading price per $1,000 principal amount of notes for each trading day of the measurement period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of our common stock and the conversion rate on each such trading day; and (iii) at any time upon the occurrence of specified corporate transactions, to include a change of control (as defined in the Notes Indenture). On or after March 1, 2021 to the close of business on the second scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date, the holders of the 2021 Convertible Notes may convert all or any portion of their notes, in multiples of $1,000 principal amount, at the option of the holder regardless of the foregoing circumstances. The initial conversion rate of 51.9852 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes is equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $19.24 per share of common stock.

Upon conversion, the Company will pay or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of the Company's common stock or a combination of cash and shares of the Company's common stock, at the Company's election. If the conversion obligation is satisfied solely in cash or through payment and delivery of a combination of cash and shares, the amount of cash and shares, if any, due upon conversion will be based on a daily conversion value calculated on a proportionate basis for each trading day in a 40 trading day observation period.

The closing price of the Company’s common stock did not exceed 130% of the $19.24 conversion price for the required period during the quarter or the six month period ended June 30, 2018. As a result, the Convertible Notes are not convertible as of June 30, 2018.

The Convertible Notes were accounted for in accordance with ASC Subtopic 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options. Pursuant to ASC Subtopic 470-20, since the Convertible Notes can be settled in cash, shares of common stock or a combination of cash and shares of common stock at the Company’s option, the Company is required to separately account for the liability (debt) and equity (conversion option) components of the instrument. The carrying amount of the liability component of any outstanding debt instrument is computed by estimating the fair value of a similar liability without the conversion option. The amount of the equity component is then calculated by deducting the fair value of the liability component from the principal amount of the convertible debt instrument. The effective interest rate used in determining the liability component of the Convertible Notes was 9.34%. This resulted in the initial recognition of $226.0 million as the liability component net of a $119.0 million debt discount with a corresponding net of tax increase to paid-in capital of $73.3 million, representing the equity component of the Convertible Notes. The underwriting discount of $10.4 million and offering expenses of $0.4 million were allocated between debt issuance costs and equity issuance costs in proportion to the allocation of the proceeds. Equity issuance costs of $3.7 million related to the convertible notes were recorded as an offset to additional paid-in capital.

The following is a summary of the liability component of the Convertible Notes as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):


	June 30,		December 31,
	2018		2017
Principal amount of the Convertible Notes	$	345,000	$	345,000
Unamortized discount of the liability component		(63,357)		(71,799)
Unamortized debt issuance costs		(3,186)		(3,691)
Total Convertible Notes	$	278,457	$	269,510

The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being amortized as interest expense through September 2021. The following is a summary of interest expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Stated coupon interest	$	2,156	$	2,156	$	4,312	$	4,312
Amortization of debt discount and debt issuance costs		4,537		4,165		8,947		8,213
Total interest expense Convertible Notes	$	6,693	$	6,321	$	13,259	$	12,525