Financial Instruments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Financial Instruments

15. Financial Instruments

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

(in thousands, except interest rates)	March 31, 2019	December 31, 2018
Revolving credit agreement with borrowings outstanding at an end of period interest rate of 3.61% in 2019 and 3.69% in 2018 (including the effect of interest rate hedging transactions, as described below), due in 2022	$491,000	$499,000
Finance obligation	-	25,886
Other debt, at an average end of period rate of 5.50% in both 2019 and 2018, due in varying amounts through 2021	41	45
Long-term debt	491,041	524,931
Less: current portion	(19)	(1,224)
Long-term debt, net of current portion	$491,022	$523,707

On November 7, 2017, we entered into a $685 million unsecured Five-Year Revolving Credit Facility Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) which amended and restated the prior $550 million Agreement, entered into on April 8, 2016 (the “Prior Agreement”). Under the Credit Agreement, $491 million of borrowings were outstanding as of March 31, 2019. The applicable interest rate for borrowings was LIBOR plus a spread, based on our leverage ratio at the time of borrowing. At the time of the last borrowing on March 18, 2019, the spread was 1.375%. The spread was based on a pricing grid, which ranged from 1.250% to 1.750%, based on our leverage ratio. Based on our maximum leverage ratio and our Consolidated EBITDA, and without modification to any other credit agreements, as of March 31, 2019, we would have been able to borrow an additional $194 million under the Agreement.

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).

Due to the implementation of ASC 842, Leases, on January 1, 2019, as further described in Note 3 the finance obligation that had a balance of $25.9 million as of December 31, 2018, was eliminated and replaced with a finance lease obligation that is included in Other noncurrent liabilities and Accrued liabilities.

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 and that cost will be 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 March 18, 2019 was 2.49%, during the swap period. On March 18, 2019, the all-in-rate on the $350 million of debt was 3.61%.

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.

Under the Credit Agreement, we are currently required to maintain a leverage ratio (as defined in the agreement) of not greater than 3.75 to 1.00 for each fiscal quarter ending prior to (but not including) September 30, 2019, and 3.50 to 1.00 for each fiscal quarter ending on or after September 30, 2019, and minimum interest coverage (as defined) of 3.00 to 1.00.

As of March 31, 2019, our leverage ratio was 1.79 to 1.00 and our interest coverage ratio was 12.08 to 1.00. We may purchase our Common Stock or pay dividends to the extent our leverage ratio remains at or below 3.50 to 1.00, and may make acquisitions with cash provided our leverage ratio does not exceed the limits noted above.

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 March 31, 2019.