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Note 3 - Long-Term Debt
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Notes to Financial Statements  
Long-term Debt [Text Block]
(
3
)           LONG-TERM DEBT
 
Our long-term debt at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 consisted of the following:
 
 
 
March 31,
2015
 
 
December 31,
2014
 
 
 
(In thousands)
 
Senior Notes Due 2022
  $ 500,000     $ 500,000  
Multicurrency Facility Agreement
    60,000       44,000  
      560,000       544,000  
Debt Premium
    700       732  
Total
  $ 560,700     $ 544,732  
 
 
 
The following is a summary of scheduled debt maturities by year:
 
Year
 
Debt Maturity
 
 
 
 
(In thousands)
 
 
2015
  $ -  
 
2016
    -  
 
2017
    -  
 
2018
    -  
 
2019
    60,000  
 
Thereafter
    500,000  
 
Total
  $ 560,000  
 
Senior Notes Due 2022
 
On March 12, 2012, we issued $300.0 
million aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior notes due 2022. On December 5, 2012, we issued an additional $200.0 
million of senior notes with substantially the same terms as the previous $300.0 
million issuance (together with the original issue, the “Senior Notes”). The Senior Notes pay interest semi-annually on March 15 and September 15, and commenced September 
15, 2012 for the March 
12, 2012 Senior Notes and March 
15, 2013 for the December 
5, 2012 Senior Notes. Prior to March 15, 2017, we may redeem some or all of the Senior Notes for cash at a redemption price equal to 100% of their principal amount plus an applicable make-whole premium and accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. The make-whole premium is based on U.S. treasuries plus 50 basis points. On and after March 15, 2017, we may redeem some or all of the Senior Notes at the redemption prices (expressed as percentages of principal amount) equal to 103.188% for the twelve-month period beginning March 15, 2017, 102.125% for the twelve-month period beginning March 15, 2018, 101.063% for the twelve-month period beginning March 15, 2019 and 100.000% beginning March 15, 2020, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. In conjunction with the Senior Notes offering, we incurred $12.7 
million in debt issuance costs which are included in our balance sheet under deferred costs and other assets and are being amortized into interest cost over the life of the Senior Notes using the effective interest method. We used the proceeds from the issuance of the Senior Notes to repay amounts outstanding under our $160.0 
million aggregate principal amount of 7.75% senior notes (the “Old Notes”) and under our facility agreement which was subsequently terminated in December 
2012 (the “Old Facility”). In conjunction with the retirement of the Old Notes and the repayment of our Old Facility, we recognized a loss on extinguishment of debt of $4.2 
million.
 
At March 31, 2015, the fair value of the Senior Notes, based on quoted market prices, was approximately $391.3 
million, compared to a carrying amount of $500.7 
million.
 
Multicurrency Facility Agreement
 
On September 21, 2012, we entered into a Multicurrency Facility Agreement, amended on February 25, 2013, (the “Old Facility”) among us, as guarantor, one of our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, as borrower, and a group of financial institutions as lenders. The Old Facility had a scheduled maturity date of September 21, 2017 and committed the lenders to provide loans up to an aggregate principal amount of $150.0 million at any one time outstanding. Loans under the Old Facility accrued interest at the London InterBank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), plus an applicable margin.
 
On September 26, 2014, we terminated the Old Facility and we entered into a new Multicurrency Facility Agreement (the “Multicurrency Facility Agreement”) among us, as guarantor, one of our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, as borrower (the “Borrower”), and a group of financial institutions, that included all the financial institutions who provided credit under the Old Facility, as lenders (the “Lenders”). This new facility has a scheduled maturity date of September 26, 2019 and commits the Lenders to provide revolving loans up to $300.0 million at any one time outstanding, subject to certain terms and conditions, and contains sublimits for swingline loans and the issuance of letters of credit. The Borrower has the option to request increases in the aggregate commitments under the facility to an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400.0 million, also subject to certain terms and conditions. Revolving loans under the Multicurrency Facility Agreement will accrue interest at LIBOR, plus an applicable margin, and swingline loans will accrue interest at the alternate base rate margin. The applicable margin will be based on our most recent capitalization ratio. The fee for unused commitments is 0.375% per annum.
 
In February 2015, we entered into an amendment to the Multicurrency Facility Agreement that reduced the requirement under the covenant governing the interest coverage ratio. In return for the reduction, the lenders required that we agree to certain financial restrictions, including limiting our ability make certain payments beyond permitted amounts for dividends, acquisitions or share repurchases. We paid an additional $1.0 million in fees and our unused commitment fee rate increased by 12.5 basis points to 50 basis points.
 
The Multicurrency Facility Agreement, as amended, is secured by certain vessels of the Borrower. The collateral that secures the loans under the Multicurrency Facility Agreement may also secure all of the Borrower’s obligations under any hedging agreements between the Borrower and any Lender or other hedge counterparty to the Multicurrency Facility Agreement.
 
We have unamortized fees paid to the arrangers, the agent and the security trustee of the Old Facility totaling $4.9 million at March 31, 2015, which fees are being amortized into interest cost on a straight-line basis over the life of the Multicurrency Facility Agreement. We unconditionally guaranteed all existing and future indebtedness and liabilities of the Borrower arising under the Multicurrency Facility Agreement and other related loan documents. Such guarantee may also cover obligations of the Borrower arising under any hedging arrangements. The Multicurrency Facility Agreement is subject to certain financial covenants. At March 31, 2015, we were in compliance with all the covenants under this agreement and had $60.0 million borrowed and outstanding. The weighted average interest rate applicable to amounts outstanding at March 31, 2015 was 2.44%.
 
Norwegian Facility Agreement
 
On June 20, 2013, we entered into an amendment to our December 27, 2012 agreement (the “Norwegian Facility Agreement”) among us, as guarantor, one of our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, as borrower (the “Norwegian Borrower”), and a Norwegian bank as lead lender (the “Norwegian Lender”). The amendment was established to adjust certain covenants and to allow us to begin to draw on available credit. The Norwegian Facility Agreement has a scheduled maturity date of September 30, 2017 and commits the Norwegian Lender to provide loans up to an aggregate principal amount of 600.0 million NOK (approximately $74.0 million) at any one time outstanding, subject to certain terms and conditions. We paid fees to the Norwegian Lender totaling $1.3 million, which are being amortized into interest cost over the life of the Norwegian Facility Agreement using the effective interest method. On October 23, 2014, we entered into an additional amendment to the Norwegian Facility Agreement which extended the scheduled maturity date from September 30, 2017 to September 30, 2019 and revised certain financial covenants. Loans under the Norwegian Facility Agreement accrue interest at Norwegian InterBank Offered Rate (“NIBOR”), plus an applicable margin based on our capitalization ratio. The fee for unused commitments is 0.5% per annum.
 
 
In February 2015, we entered into an amendment to the Norwegian Facility Agreement that reduced the requirement under the covenant governing the interest coverage ratio. In return for the reduction, the lenders required that we agree to certain financial restrictions, including limiting our ability make certain payments beyond permitted amounts for dividends, acquisitions or share repurchases. We paid an additional $0.2 million in fees and our unused commitment fee rate increased by 12.5 basis points to 62.5 basis points.
 
The Norwegian Facility Agreement, as amended, is secured by certain vessels of the Norwegian Borrower. The collateral that secures the loans under the Norwegian Facility Agreement may also secure all of the Norwegian Borrower’s obligations under any hedging agreements between the Norwegian Borrower and the Norwegian Lender or other hedge counterparty to the Norwegian Facility Agreement.
 
We unconditionally guaranteed all existing and future indebtedness and liabilities of the Norwegian Borrower arising under the Norwegian Facility Agreement and other related loan documents. Such guarantee may also cover obligations of the Norwegian Borrower arising under any hedging arrangements described above. The Norwegian Facility Agreement is subject to certain financial covenants. At March 31, 2015 we had no amounts borrowed and outstanding and were in compliance with all the covenants under this agreement.