DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND HEDGING ACTIVITIES

The Company is exposed to financial market risk related to foreign currency fluctuations and changes in interest rates. These exposures are actively monitored by management. To manage the volatility related to the exposure to changes in interest rates, the Company has entered into a derivative financial instrument. Management's objective is to reduce, where it is deemed appropriate to do so, fluctuations in earnings and cash flows associated with changes in interest rates. Ribbon's policies and practices are to use derivative financial instruments only to the extent necessary to manage exposures. Ribbon does not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

The Company records derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value. The accounting for changes in the fair value of derivatives depends on the intended use of the derivative, whether the Company has elected to designate a derivative in a hedging relationship and apply hedge accounting and whether the hedging relationship has satisfied the criteria necessary to apply hedge accounting. Derivatives designated and qualifying as a hedge of the exposure to changes in the fair value of an asset, liability, or firm commitment attributable to a specific risk, such as interest rate risk, are considered fair value hedges. Derivatives designated and qualifying as a hedge of the exposure to variability in expected future cash flows, or other types of forecasted transactions, are considered cash flow hedges. Derivatives may also be designated as hedges of the foreign currency exposure of a net investment in a foreign operation. Hedge accounting generally provides for the matching of the timing of gain or loss recognition on the hedging instrument with the recognition of the changes in the fair value of the hedged asset or liability that are attributable to the hedged risk in a fair value hedge, or the earnings effect of the hedged forecasted transactions in a cash flow hedge. The Company may enter into derivative contracts that are intended to economically hedge certain of its risk even though hedge accounting does not apply or the Company elects not to apply hedge accounting.

Cash Flow Hedge of Interest Rate Risk

The 2020 Credit Facility is comprised of the 2020 Term Loan Facility and the 2020 Revolving Credit Facility. The 2020 Term Loan Facility had an outstanding balance of $400 million at March 31, 2020. The 2020 Revolving Credit Facility was undrawn at March 31, 2020. The 2020 Credit Facility has variable interest rates based on LIBOR (see Note 9). As a result of exposure to interest rate movements, during March 2020, the Company entered into an interest rate swap arrangement, which effectively converted its $400 million term loan with its variable-rate interest based upon one-month LIBOR to an aggregate fixed rate of 0.904%, plus a leverage-based margin as defined in the 2020 Credit Facility. The notional amount of this swap as of March 31, 2020 was $400 million and the swap matures on March 3, 2025, the same date the 2020 Credit Facility matures.

The Company’s objectives in using interest rate derivatives are to add stability to interest expense and to manage its exposure to interest rate movements. To accomplish this objective, the Company is using an interest rate swap as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income in the condensed consolidated balance sheet and is subsequently reclassified into earnings in the period that the hedged forecasted transactions affect earnings. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, such a derivative was used to hedge the variable cash flows associated with the 2020 Credit Facility. Any ineffective portion of the change in fair value of the derivative would be recognized directly in earnings. However, during the three months ended March 31, 2020, there was no hedge ineffectiveness recorded by the Company.

Amounts reported in accumulated other comprehensive income related to the Company's derivative will be reclassified to interest expense as interest is accrued on the Company’s variable-rate debt. Based upon projected forward rates, the Company estimates as of March 31, 2020 that $2.4 million may be reclassified as an increase to interest expense over the next twelve months.

The impact of the Company’s derivative financial instrument on its condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive loss for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was as follows (in thousands):



Loss recognized in other comprehensive loss on derivative (effective portion)	$	(9,717	)
Amount reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive loss to interest expense (effective portion)	$	190

The Company's derivative liability designed as a hedging instrument and the related fair values and locations in the condensed consolidated balance sheet at March 31, 2020 are as follows (in thousands):



	Balance sheet location
Interest rate derivative - liability derivative	Accrued expenses and other	$	(238	)
Interest rate derivative - liability derivative	Other long-term liabilities	$	(9,289	)

The Company has classified the interest rate derivative aggregating $9.5 million at March 31, 2020 as a Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy (see Note 1).