Senior Notes

On May 7, 2008, we issued $275 million of senior notes in a private placement to a group of institutional investors (the “2008 Senior Notes”). The 2008 Senior Notes were issued in four series with maturities ranging from 5 to 10 years. The outstanding 2008 Senior Notes’ weighted average interest rate is 7.2% and the weighted average maturity is 10.0 years. On July 14, 2010, we issued $245 million of senior notes in a private placement to a group of institutional investors (the “2010 Senior Notes” and, with the 2008 Senior Notes, the “Senior Notes”). The 2010 Senior Notes were issued in four series with maturities ranging from 6 to 10 years. The outstanding 2010 Senior Notes’ weighted average interest rate is 5.6% and the weighted average maturity is 9.8 years. The Senior Notes require interest payments semi-annually and contain certain restrictive covenants, including the maintenance of consolidated net debt to consolidated EBITDA ratio and a fixed charge coverage ratio. The purchase agreements for the Senior Notes also contain certain covenants typical of unsecured facilities. As of December 31, 2017, we were in compliance with all financial covenants.

The following table presents the carrying amounts and fair values for the Senior Notes at December 31, 2017 and September 30, 2017:



	December 31, 2017						September 30, 2017
	Carrying Amounts			Fair Value			Carrying Amounts			Fair Value
	(In thousands)
The 2008 Senior Notes	$	131,000		$	132,814		$	131,000		$	134,250
The 2010 Senior Notes	113,000			117,669			113,000			119,106
Debt issuance costs	(166		)	(166		)	(199		)	(199		)
Total	$	243,834		$	250,317		$	243,801		$	253,157

We measure the fair value of the Senior Notes based on Level 2 inputs, which include quoted market prices and interest rate spreads of similar securities.