Cell Therapeutics, Inc. to Offer to Repurchase up to $124 Million of...( SEATTLE Dec. 5 /- Cell Therapeutics I...),Health

SEATTLE, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc. ("CTI" or the "Company") (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) today announced that that its Board of Directors has authorized a "Modified Dutch Auction" tender offer to purchase a portion or all of five series of Convertible Notes (the "Notes") as follows:

    -- 4% Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2010
    -- 5.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2011
    -- 6.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2010
    -- 7.5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2011
    -- 9% Convertible Senior Notes due 2012

The Company currently expects to utilize up to $10 million for the tender, from cash currently on hand, cash expected to be received in connection with the closing of the recent collaboration with Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, and/or cash to be received in connection with a second closing of a sale of notes to a single institutional investor. Currently, there is an aggregate of $124 million of Notes outstanding. The tender offer is expected to commence in the near future.

Under the "Modified Dutch Auction" procedure, CTI would offer to purchase a portion or all of the outstanding principal amount of the Notes at a price currently expected to be no greater than $80 or less than $50 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest. A "Modified Dutch Auction" tender offer allows holders of Notes to indicate the principal amount of Notes that such holders desire to tender and the price within the specified price range at which they are prepared to tender such Notes.

CTI intends to conduct the tender offer in order to reduce the principal amount of its outstanding indebtedness and to provide an opportunity to holders of the Notes to gain liquidity with respect to the Notes that they may not otherwise have. CTI believes that reducing its outstanding indebtedness will be in the best interests of its stockholders as it will re
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