Women First HealthCare files plan outlining repayment of creditors

San Diego Business Journal, July 26, 2004 by Marion Webb

Women First files liquidation plan: Bankrupt San Diego-based specialty pharmaceutical firm Women First HealthCare Inc. has filed a liquidation plan outlining how it will repay roughly $80 million in debt to creditors, according to an online newsletter.

The Daily Deal, a newsletter for financial dealmakers, reported on July 21 that Women First proposed a plan filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington, to repay creditors with liquidated assets of the company.

Unsecured creditors would receive pro rata shares of the firm's remaining assets after the secured creditors are paid.

Women First would pay unsecured creditors through a liquidating trust overseen by a joint committee of creditors and lenders, according to The Deal.

The trust would hold Women First's remaining assets and any money the estate recovers from third parties.

Women First's senior lenders, CIBC WMC Inc. and Whitney Private Debt Fund--owed $29 million on notes secured by interests in the firm's product lines--would receive proceeds from the sale of collateral.

A hearing has been set for July 28 on the firm's motion to approve the bidding procedures for the sale of various products.

In June, Women First sold assets of Vaniqa, a cream to prevent facial hair growth, to SkinMedica Inc., a Carlsbad-based specialty pharmaceutical firm, for a net of $36.6 million.

Women First filed for Chapter 11 protection on April 29 after missing an interest payment.

At the time its petition listed $54 million in secured debt and $26 million in unsecured trade debt.