Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Financial Instruments [Abstract]

Financial Instruments

9.   Financial Instruments

Derivatives

The Company is exposed to market risk for changes in foreign currency exchange rates due to the global nature of its operations. In order to manage this risk the Company has hedged portions of its forecasted sales and purchases, which occur within the next twelve months and are denominated in non-functional currencies, with currency forward or collar contracts designated as cash flow hedges. At December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company had contracts with U.S. dollar equivalent notional amounts of $83,541 and $63,935, respectively, to exchange foreign currencies, principally the U.S. dollar, British pound, Singapore dollar, Chinese yuan and Malaysian ringgit. The Company believes it is probable that all forecasted cash flow transactions will occur.

The Company has an outstanding floating-to-floating cross currency swap agreement for a total notional amount of $50,000 in exchange for CHF 65,100. In February 2011, the Company amended and restated the terms of the arrangement to extend its maturity date to October 15, 2015. This transaction continues to hedge a portion of the Company's net investment in CHF-denominated operations. The agreement qualifies as a net investment hedge and the effective portion of the change in fair value is reported within the cumulative translation adjustment section of other comprehensive earnings. The fair values at December 31, 2011 and 2010 reflected losses of $21,656 and $19,774, respectively, due to the strengthening of the Swiss franc relative to the U.S. dollar over the term of the arrangement.

In January 2011, the Company entered into foreign currency forward contracts to purchase $350,000 for €258,719, which were designated as hedging an equivalent amount of the Company's euro denominated net investment. The agreements qualified as net investment hedges with the changes in fair value being reported within the cumulative translation adjustment section of other comprehensive earnings (loss). These arrangements were settled on April 4, 2011, resulting in a loss of $18,211 being reflected within the cumulative translation adjustment.

The following table sets forth the fair values of derivative instruments held by the Company as of December 31, 2011, and 2010 and the balance sheet lines in which they are recorded:

	Fair Value - Asset (Liability)
	December 31, 2011			December 31, 2010			Balance Sheet Caption
Foreign currency forward / collar contracts	$	394		$	503		Prepaid / Other assets
Foreign currency forward / collar contracts		(1,284	)		-		Other accrued expenses
Net investment hedge - cross currency swap		(21,656	)		(19,774	)	Other liabilities

The amount of gains or losses from hedging activity recorded in earnings is not significant and the amount of unrealized gains and losses from cash flow hedges which are expected to be reclassified to earnings in the next twelve months is not significant; therefore, additional tabular disclosures are not presented.  There are no amounts excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness and there are no credit risk related contingent features in the Company's derivative instruments.

The Company is exposed to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by counterparties to the financial instrument contracts held by the Company; however, nonperformance by these counterparties is considered unlikely as the Company's policy is to contract with highly-rated, diversified counterparties.

Fair Value Measurements

ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (ASC 820), establishes a fair value hierarchy that requires the Company to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. A financial instrument's categorization within the hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.  ASC 820 establishes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

·   Level 1 inputs are quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

·   Level 2 inputs include inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices in active markets for similar assets and liabilities, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of assets or liabilities.

·   Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.

The following table presents the Company's assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2011 and 2010:

	December 31, 2011						December 31, 2010
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets:
Short-term investments	$	-	$	-	$	-	$	121,734	$	-	$	-
Foreign currency cash flow hedges		-		394		-		-		503		-
Liabilities:
Net investment hedge derivative		-		21,656		-		-		19,774		-
Foreign currency cash flow hedges		-		1,284		-		-		-		-

Short-term investments consist of investment grade time deposits with original maturities between three months and one year and are included in current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Short-term investments are measured at fair value using quoted market prices. The derivative contracts are measured at fair value using models based on observable market inputs such as foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates; therefore, they are classified within Level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.

In addition to fair value disclosure requirements related to financial instruments carried at fair value, accounting standards require disclosures regarding the fair value of all of the Company's financial instruments.

The estimated fair value of long-term debt at December 31, 2011 and 2010 was $2,679,793 and $1,976,363, respectively, compared to the carrying value of $2,187,252 and $1,807,476. The carrying value includes the portion that is due and payable in less than one year of $1,022 and $16,590 at December 31, 2011and 2010, respectively. The estimated fair value of the long-term debt is based on quoted market prices for similar instruments.

The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, trade receivables, accounts payable, notes payable, and accrued expenses are reasonable estimates of their fair values as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 due to the short-term nature of these instruments.