11. Interest Rate Swap Agreements

The Company is currently a party to four interest rate swap agreements that qualify for cash flow hedge accounting. No premium or discount was incurred upon the Company entering into any of its interest rate swap agreements because the pay rates and receive rates on the interest rate swap agreements represented prevailing rates for each counterparty at the time each of the interest rate swap agreements was consummated. The fair values of the interest rate swaps are recorded on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet as an asset or liability with the effective portion of the interest rate swaps’ gains or losses reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and the ineffective portion reported in earnings.

The valuation technique used to determine fair value is the income approach and under this approach, the Company uses projected future interest rates as provided by counterparties to the interest rate swap agreements and the fixed rates that the Company is obligated to pay under these agreements. Therefore, the Company’s measurements use significant unobservable inputs, which fall in Level 3 of the U.S. GAAP hierarchy as defined by FASB ASC Topic 820-10-35. There were no changes in valuation techniques during the period and no transfers in or out of Level 3. See Note 14 for a summary of unrealized gains or losses recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income and earnings.

Below is a summary of the Company’s current interest rate swap agreements designated as hedge agreements as of June 30, 2011:


										Estimated
	Amount			Effective	Pay			Receive	Expiration	Fair Value at
Category	Hedged			Date	Rate			Rate	Date	June 30, 2011
Interest Rate Swap Assets
	$	175,000		December 2010		1.4000	%	1-Month LIBOR	September 2015	$	1,500
	$	175,000		December 2010		1.3975	%	1-Month LIBOR	September 2015		1,443

										$	2,943

Interest Rate Swap Liabilities
	$	106,632	⁽³⁾	August 2007		4.9220	%	3-Month LIBOR	August 2012	$	(6,415	)
	$	149,285	⁽⁴⁾	November 2008		3.6300	%	1-Month LIBOR	⁽¹⁾		(4,537	) ⁽²⁾

										$	(10,952	)


Total	$	605,917


⁽¹⁾		$85,310 of this swap expires November 2011 and $63,975 expires November 2012.

⁽²⁾		Approximately $1,266 is reflected in other current liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of June 30, 2011.

⁽³⁾		An additional $18,368 of this original $125,000 swap is no longer designated as a hedge as a result of the prepayment of the unextended portion of the Company’s term loan debt.

⁽⁴⁾		An additional $25,715 of this original $175,000 swap is no longer designated as a hedge as a result of the prepayment of the unextended portion of the Company’s term loan debt. $14,690 of this additional amount expires November 2011 and $11,025 expires November 2012.

During June 2011, the Company prepaid the remaining unextended portion of its term loan debt under its senior secured credit facility (see Note 4). As a result, the Company determined that a portion of the quarterly interest payments hedged by two of its interest rate swap agreements and the quarterly interest payments related to its previously terminated interest rate swap agreement were probable not to occur and therefore reclassified approximately $2,760 of its accumulated other comprehensive loss related to these cash flow hedges to earnings, as a component of loss on early retirement of debt, during the three and six months ended June 30, 2011.

The Company amortized approximately $2,259 and $2,317 to interest expense during the six months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, related to a previously terminated interest rate swap agreement. The Company will amortize approximately $3,953 to interest expense for this terminated interest rate swap agreement over the next twelve months. See Note 14 for additional information about the Company’s fair value measurements related to its interest rate swap agreements.