DOW JONES NEWSWIRES MannKind Corp. (MNKD) announced Monday that it would offer up to 8 million shares, as the biopharmaceutical company said it would enter into a share-lending agreement with Bank of America Corp. (BAC). Shares of the company, which develops and markets therapeutic products to treat diabetes, cancer and other diseases, fell 6.9% to $6.35 in after-hours trading. As of Monday's close, the stock is down 22% in the year to date. Bank of America's Merrill Lynch intends to sell the borrowed shares in the common stock offering and to use the resulting short position to facilitate short sales and privately negotiated derivative transactions by which some investors in a concurrent offering of $100 million of notes due in 2015 may hedge their investment in the notes. MannKind won't receive any proceeds from the offering, but will receive a one-time loan fee. Bank of America will be required to return the borrowed shares pursuant to the terms of the lending agreement. The news came after MannKind last week said it planned to issue as many as 36.4 million shares in separate deals to Mann Group LLC and private investment firm Seaside 88 LP as it works to reduce its debt. The company recently had about 114 million shares outstanding. -By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; john.kell@dowjones.com
