Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to issue $225 million worth of debt to repay its senior secured credit facility.

The company will issue convertible senior notes due 2021 in a private offering, complete with an overallotment option to purchase up to a further $33.8 million of the debt.

The issue will be priced at a future date.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals secured a $250 million credit facility in October 2015 to fund its planned purchase of R-Tech Ueno. The new debt issue could help free up some of the company's cash given that Sucampo is required to maintain at least $25 million in a restricted cash account until at least $35 million of the facility is repaid or prepaid.