Bill Ackman Says Valeant Doesn't Have To Sell Core Assets

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX have plunged roughly 90 percent over the past year and the company's mounting debt load is having investors think the company's only path towards long-term survival is selling off core assets. Related Link: Valeant's Bausch and Lomb: To Sell Or Not To Sell? Billionaire hedge fund manager and major Valeant investor and board member Bill Ackman was a guest on CNBC on Thursday to discuss various issues, including his outlook on Valeant. "The underlying franchises here are strong," Ackman said in the phone interview with CNBC. "There has clearly been business disruption as a result of recent events - but I think we got a really strong CEO." Ackman added that under the new CEO, Joseph Papa, Valeant is now generating cash "every single day." He added that the cash flow will be allocated towards de-levering the business and there will be no need to sell core assets. Ackman also stated that investing in Valeant "isn't without risk" but Papa is already "doing a very good job" and will "have a lot more to report" in a few weeks will help make investors "comfortable." Shares of Valeant were trading higher by more than 4 percent at $22.49 Thursday afternoon.