Debt and Credit Agreements

9 Months Ended

Oct. 27, 2012

Debt and Credit Agreements

The Company repaid the $325 million, 7.375% notes due October 2012 (the “October 2012 Notes”) on their maturity date of October 1, 2012. Upon repayment, the Company took the actions required under the applicable guarantee fall-away provisions to cause its subsidiaries Staples the Office Superstore, LLC, Staples the Office Superstore, East Inc., Staples Contract & Commercial, Inc. and Staples the Office Superstore Limited Partnership (collectively, the “Guarantor Subsidiaries”) to be legally released from their guarantees of debt related to the January 2014 Notes, the November 2014 Revolving Credit Facility (as defined below) and the Commercial Paper Program (as defined below). The Guarantor Subsidiaries are no longer legally guaranteeing the repayment of the debt; therefore, the Guarantor Subsidiaries note included in the Company's previous financial statement filings is no longer required.

The Company has a credit agreement with Bank of America, N.A. , as Administrative Agent and other lending institutions named therein (the "November 2014 Revolving Credit Facility"). The November 2014 Revolving Credit Facility provides for a maximum borrowing of $1.0 billion, which pursuant to an accordion feature may be increased to $1.5 billion upon the Company's request and the agreement of the lenders participating in the increase. The Company also has a commercial paper program ("Commercial Paper Program") that allows the Company to issue up to $1.0 billion of unsecured commercial paper notes ("Notes") from time to time. The November 2014 Revolving Credit Facility serves as a backstop to the Commercial Paper Program. Maturities of the Notes vary, but may not exceed 397 days from the date of issue. As of October 27, 2012, no Notes were outstanding. The maximum amount outstanding under the Commercial Paper Program during the third quarter of 2012 was $75.0 million.

The Company also has various other lines of credit under which we may borrow a maximum of $302.9 million. At October 27, 2012, the Company had $137.0 million of borrowings outstanding under these credit agreements.

The major components of the Company’s outstanding debt as of October 27, 2012 and January 28, 2012 are as follows (in thousands):



	October 27, 2012			January 28, 2012
October 2012 Notes	$	—		$	332,617
January 2014 Notes	1,515,428			1,525,003
Lines of credit	137,001			170,745
Capital lease obligations and other notes payable	8,403			9,815
	1,660,832			2,038,180
Less: current portion	(119,046		)	(439,143		)
Net long-term debt	$	1,541,786		$	1,599,037

- Definition

The entire disclosure for information about short-term and long-term debt arrangements, which includes amounts of borrowings under each line of credit, note payable, commercial paper issue, bonds indenture, debenture issue, own-share lending arrangements and any other contractual agreement to repay funds, and about the underlying arrangements, rationale for a classification as long-term, including repayment terms, interest rates, collateral provided, restrictions on use of assets and activities, whether or not in compliance with debt covenants, and other matters important to users of the financial statements, such as the effects of refinancing and noncompliance with debt covenants.

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