Debt

6.875% Senior Secured Notes

The carrying value and fair value of the Company's debt is as follows (in thousands):



	March 31, 2017					December 31, 2016
	Carrying Amount			Fair Value		Carrying Amount			Fair Value
6.875% Senior Secured Notes, $465.0 million par	$	462,141		$	480,113	$	461,899		$	466,628
Debt issuance costs	(6,958		)	—		(7,546		)	—
Total	$	455,183		$	480,113	$	454,353		$	466,628

The fair value of the Company's 6.875% Senior Secured Notes is based upon the value of such debt in the secondary market.

The Company's 6.875% Senior Secured Notes would be categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy if they were required to be recorded at fair value.

On March 10, 2015, the Company entered into a purchase agreement with Jefferies LLC, as initial purchaser (the “Initial Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell, and the Initial Purchaser agreed to purchase, $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.875% Senior Secured Notes (the “6.875% Senior Secured Notes”), pursuant to an indenture dated March 13, 2015 (the “6.875% Indenture”), in a private offering exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes were resold by the Initial Purchaser to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act.

The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes mature on March 15, 2020 and bear interest at a rate of 6.875% per year, payable on March 15 and September 15 of each year, beginning on September 15, 2015. The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes were issued at 98.962% with net proceeds (before fees and expenses) of $494.8 million and a yield to maturity of 7.083%.

On March 13, 2015, KCG and certain subsidiary guarantors (the "6.875% Guarantors") under the 6.875% Indenture, fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a joint and several basis the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes. The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes and the obligations under the 6.875% Indenture are currently secured by pledges of all of the equity interests in each of KCG’s and the 6.875% Guarantors’ existing and future domestic subsidiaries (but limited to 66% of the voting equity interests of controlled foreign company subsidiaries and excluding equity interests in regulated subsidiaries to the extent that such pledge would have a material adverse regulatory effect or is not permitted by applicable law) and security interests in substantially all other tangible and intangible assets of KCG and the 6.875% Guarantors, in each case subject to customary exclusions; provided, however, that if in the future KCG or any of the 6.875% Guarantors enter into certain first lien obligations (as described in the 6.875% Indenture) the collateral agent is authorized by the holders of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes to enter into an Intercreditor Agreement pursuant to which the lien securing the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes would be contractually subordinated to the lien securing such first lien obligations, to the extent of the value of the collateral securing such obligations. The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes are effectively subordinated to any existing and future indebtedness that is secured by assets that do not constitute collateral under the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes to the extent of the value of such assets. All of the 6.875% Guarantors are wholly-owned subsidiaries of KCG.

On or after March 15, 2017, KCG may redeem all or a part of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes upon not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ notice, at the redemption prices (expressed as percentages of principal amount) set forth below plus accrued and unpaid interest on the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes redeemed, to the applicable redemption date, if redeemed during the 12-month period beginning on March 15 of the years indicated below:



Year	Percentage
2017	103.438	%
2018	101.719	%
2019 and thereafter	100.000	%

The 6.875% Indenture contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including limitations on indebtedness, liens, hedging agreements, investments, loans and advances, asset sales, mergers and acquisitions, dividends, transactions with affiliates, prepayments of other indebtedness, restrictions on subsidiaries, and issuance and repurchases of capital stock. As of March 31, 2017, the Company was in compliance with these covenants.

If at any time the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes are rated investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Group and no default or event of default has occurred and is continuing under the 6.875% Indenture, certain of the restrictive covenants will be suspended and will not apply to KCG or its restricted subsidiaries; provided, however, that such covenants will be reinstated if the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes subsequently cease to be rated or are no longer assigned an investment grade rating by both rating agencies.

The 6.875% Senior Secured Notes and the guarantee of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and have no registration rights and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

The Company has determined that the terms of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes do not give rise to a bifurcatable derivative instrument under GAAP.

The Company incurred issuance costs of approximately $12.6 million in connection with the issuance of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes. The issuance costs are recorded, net, within Debt on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and are being amortized as interest expense over the remaining term of the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes. Including issuance costs and original issue discount, the 6.875% Senior Secured Notes had an effective yield of 7.590%. Of the above mentioned costs, $11.3 million was paid to a related party. See Footnote 11 "Related Parties" for additional information relating to financing and advising activities.

In the first quarter of 2016, the Company repurchased $35.0 million par value of 6.875% Senior Secured Notes in the open market for $31.2 million (including interest owed). The Company recorded a $3.7 million pre-tax gain within Investment income and other, net on the Consolidated Statements of Operations as a result of these repurchases. The gain on repurchase was net of accelerated original issue discount of $0.3 million and accelerated debt issuance costs of $0.7 million.

Revolving Credit Agreement

On June 5, 2015, KCG Americas LLC ("KCGA"), a wholly-owned broker dealer subsidiary of KCG, as borrower, and KCG, as guarantor, entered into a credit agreement (the "KCGA Facility Agreement”) with a consortium of banks. The KCGA Facility Agreement replaced the prior KCGA credit agreement, dated July 1, 2013, which was terminated as of June 5, 2015.

The KCGA Facility Agreement comprises two classes of revolving loans in a total aggregate committed amount of $355.0 million, including a swingline facility with a $50.0 million sub-limit, subject to two borrowing bases (collectively, the “KCGA Revolving Facility”): Borrowing Base A and Borrowing Base B (limited to a maximum loan amount of $115.0 million). The KCGA Revolving Facility also provides for future increases of the revolving credit facility of up to $145.0 million to a total of $500.0 million on certain terms and conditions.

Borrowings under the KCGA Revolving Facility bear interest, at the borrower's option, at a rate based on the federal funds rate (“Base Rate Loans”) or based on LIBOR (“Eurodollar Loans”), in each case plus an applicable margin. For each Base Rate Loan, the interest rate per annum is equal to the greater of the federal funds rate or an adjusted one-month LIBOR rate plus (a) for each Borrowing Base A loan, a margin of 1.50% per annum and (b) for each Borrowing Base B loan, a margin of 2.50% per annum. For each Eurodollar Loan, the interest rate per annum is equal to an adjusted LIBOR rate corresponding to an interest period of one, two or three months plus (a) for each Borrowing Base A loan, a margin of 1.50% per annum and (b) for each Borrowing Base B loan, a margin of 2.50% per annum. As of both March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, there were no outstanding borrowings under the KCGA Facility Agreement.

The proceeds of the Borrowing Base A loans may be used solely to finance the purchase and settlement of securities. The proceeds of Borrowing Base B loans may be used solely to fund clearing deposits with the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC").

KCGA is charged a commitment fee at a rate of 0.40% per annum on the average daily amount of the unused portion of the KCGA Facility Agreement.

The loans under the KCGA Facility Agreement will mature on June 5, 2017. The KCGA Revolving Facility is fully and unconditionally guaranteed on an unsecured basis by KCG and, to the extent elected by KCGA, any of its or KCG’s other subsidiaries. It is secured by first-priority pledges of and liens on certain eligible securities, subject to applicable concentration limits, in the case of Borrowing Base A loans, and by first-priority pledges of and liens on the right to the return of certain eligible NSCC margin deposits, in the case of Borrowing Base B loans.

The KCGA Facility Agreement includes customary affirmative and negative covenants, including limitations on indebtedness, liens, hedging agreements, investments, loans and advances, asset sales, mergers and acquisitions, dividends, transactions with affiliates, restrictions on subsidiaries, issuance of capital stock, negative pledges and business activities. It contains financial maintenance covenants establishing a minimum total regulatory capital for KCGA, a maximum total asset to total regulatory capital ratio for KCGA, a minimum excess net capital limit for KCGA, a minimum liquidity ratio for KCGA, and a minimum tangible net worth threshold for KCGA. As of March 31, 2017, the Company and KCGA were in compliance with these covenants.

The KCGA Facility Agreement also contains events of default customary for facilities of its type, including: nonpayment of principal, interest, fees and other amounts when due, inaccuracy of representations and warranties in any material respect; violation of covenants; cross-default and cross-acceleration to material indebtedness; bankruptcy and insolvency events; material judgments; ERISA events; collateral matters; certain regulatory matters; and a “change of control”; subject, where appropriate, to threshold, notice and grace period provisions.

In connection with the KCGA Revolving Facility, the Company incurred issuance costs of $1.7 million which are recorded within Other assets on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and are being amortized as interest expense over the term of the facility.

The Company recorded expenses with respect to its Debt as follows (in thousands):



	For the three months ended March 31,
	2017		2016
Interest expense	$	8,234	$	8,417
Amortization of debt issuance costs ⁽¹⁾	795		821
Commitment fee ⁽²⁾	354		359
Accelerated amortization of debt issuance costs ⁽³⁾	—		738
Accelerated interest expense on repurchase of debt ⁽³⁾	—		298
Total	$	9,383	$	10,633


⁽¹⁾	Included within Interest expense on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.


⁽²⁾	Included within Other expense on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.


⁽³⁾	In conjunction with the repurchase of debt in the open market, the Company accelerated a prorated portion of its original issue discount and capitalized debt issuance costs. These costs have been netted against the gain on repurchase within Investment income and other, net on the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2016.