11. Senior Notes

On May 7, 2008, we issued $275 million of Senior Notes in a private placement to a group of institutional investors. The Senior Notes were issued in four series as follows:


Series	Amount	Interest Rate			Maturity Date
A	$41 million		6.37	%		May 7, 2013
B	$40 million		6.37	%		May 7, 2015
C	$63 million		6.71	%		May 7, 2015
D	$131 million		7.18	%		May 7, 2018

We are required to pay the entire unpaid principal balances of each note series on its maturity date except for Series B notes, which requires annual principal payments of $8.0 million starting on May 7, 2011 and ending on May 7, 2015.

On July 14, 2010, we issued $245 million of Senior Notes in a private placement to a group of institutional investors. The Senior Notes were issued in four series as follows:


Series	Amount		Interest Rate			Maturity Date
E	$	60 million		4.72	%		July 14, 2016
F	$	72 million		5.04	%		July 14, 2017
G	$	28 million		5.42	%		July 14, 2019
H	$	85 million		5.59	%		July 14, 2020

The Senior Notes require interest payments semi-annually and also include certain restrictive covenants. As of September 2011, we were in compliance with all financial covenants which include the maintenance of consolidated net debt to consolidated EBITDA and a fixed charge coverage ratio The issuance of the Senior Notes also required us to make certain covenants typical of unsecured facilities. The fair value of the $275 million Senior Notes was $305.9 million and $315.0 million at September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The fair value of the $245 million Senior Notes was $266.6 million and $258.7 million at September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively. We determined fair value based on quoted market prices and interest rate spreads of similar securities.

Future principal payments for the Senior Notes are as follows (in thousands):


Fiscal Year
2012	$	8,000
2013		49,000
2014		8,000
2015		71,000
2016		60,000
Thereafter		316,000

	$	512,000