Financial Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Long-term debt, principally to banks and noteholders, consists of:


(in thousands, except interest rates)	September 30, 2020		December 31, 2019

Revolving credit agreement with borrowings outstanding at an end of period interest rate of 3.17% in 2020 and 3.43% in 2019 (including the effect of interest rate hedging transactions, as described below), due in 2022	$	418,000	$	424,000
Other debt, at an average end of period rate of 5.50% in both 2020 and 2019, due in varying amounts through 2021	12		29
Long-term debt	418,012		424,029
Less: current portion	(12)		(20)
Long-term debt, net of current portion	$	418,000	$	424,009

On October 27, 2020, we entered into a $700 million unsecured Four-Year Revolving Credit Facility Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) which amended and restated the prior amended and restated $685 million Five-Year Revolving Credit Facility Agreement, which we had entered into on November 7, 2017 (the “Prior Agreement”). The Credit Agreement matures on October 27, 2024. Under the Prior Agreement, $418 million of borrowings were outstanding as of September 30, 2020. The applicable interest rate for borrowings was LIBOR plus a spread, based on our leverage ratio at the time of borrowing, with an option to borrow at base rate. At the time of the last borrowing on September 28, 2020, the spread was 1.375%. Under the Prior Agreement, the spread was based on a pricing grid, which ranged from 1.250% to 1.750% and, after giving effect to the amendments, the applicable spread under the Credit Agreement increased by 25 basis points, now ranging from 1.50% to 2.00%, in each case, based on our leverage ratio. Under the Prior Agreement, we were required to maintain a leverage ratio (as defined in the agreement) of not greater than 3.50 to 1.00 and minimum interest coverage (as defined) of 3.00 to 1.00. Under the prior agreement, our leverage ratio was 1.50 to 1.00 and our interest coverage ratio was 14.62 to 1.00 as of September 30, 2020 and, at that date, we would have been able to borrow an additional $267 million.

The Credit Agreement contains customary terms, as well as affirmative covenants, negative covenants and events of default that are comparable to those in the Prior Agreement. The Borrowings are guaranteed by certain of the Company’s subsidiaries.

Our ability to borrow additional amounts under the Credit Agreement is conditional upon the absence of any defaults, as well as the absence of any material adverse change (as defined in the Credit Agreement).

On November 27, 2017, we terminated our interest rate swap agreements, originally entered into on May 9, 2016, that had effectively fixed the interest rate on $300 million of revolving credit borrowings, in order to enter into a new interest rate swap with a greater notional amount, and the same maturity as the Credit Agreement. We received $6.3 million when the swap agreements were terminated and that payment will be amortized into interest expense through March 2021.

On May 6, 2016, we terminated other interest rate swap agreements that had effectively fixed the interest rate on $120 million of revolving credit borrowings, in order to enter into a new interest rate swap with a greater notional amount, and the same maturity as the Credit Agreement. We paid $5.2 million to terminate the swap agreements, which were fully amortized into interest expense through June 2020.

On November 28, 2017, we entered into interest rate swap agreements for the period December 18, 2017 through October 17, 2022. These transactions have the effect of fixing the LIBOR portion of the effective interest rate (before addition of the spread) on $350 million of indebtedness drawn under the Credit Agreement at the rate of 2.11% during the period. Under the terms of these transactions, we pay the fixed rate of 2.11% and the counterparties pay a floating rate based on the one-month LIBOR rate at each monthly calculation date, which on September 16, 2020 was 0.16%, during the swap period. On September 16, 2020, the all-in-rate on the $350 million of debt was 3.485%.

These interest rate swaps are accounted for as a hedge of future cash flows, as further described in Note 16. No cash collateral was received or pledged in relation to the swap agreements.

Indebtedness under the Credit Agreement is ranked equally in right of payment to all unsecured senior debt.

We were in compliance with all debt covenants as of September 30, 2020.