Elan buys up remaining ‘poison put’ bonds

TROUBLED pharmaceutical company Elan has completed the purchase of nearly all the so-called ‘poison put’ bonds that threatened its survival.

The Athlone-based drug manufacturer brought a painful chapter in its financial history to a close by spending almost 410 million buying back Liquid Yield Option Notes (LYONs) from creditors.

The company’s offer to repurchase the bonds was taken up by an overwhelming 99.8% of bondholders, a level of acceptance that came as no surprise to market analysts yesterday.