Contractual Obligations and Commitments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND COMMITMENTS

NOTE E – CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND COMMITMENTS

Borrowings and Credit Arrangements

We had total debt outstanding of $10.885 billion as of September 30, 2024 and $9.102 billion as of December 31, 2023, with current obligations of $1.652 billion as of September 30, 2024 and $531 million as of December 31, 2023. The debt maturity schedule for our long-term debt obligations is presented below:

(in millions, except interest rates)	Issuance Date	Maturity Date	As of				Coupon Rate(1)
			September 30, 2024		December 31, 2023
March 2025 Senior Notes(3)	March 2022	March 2025	—		1,105		0.750%
June 2025 Senior Notes	May 2020	June 2025	—		500		1.900%
March 2026 Senior Notes	February 2019	March 2026	255		255		3.750%
December 2027 Senior Notes(3)	November 2019	December 2027	1,007		995		0.625%
March 2028 Senior Notes(3)	March 2022	March 2028	839		829		1.375%
March 2028 Senior Notes	February 2018	March 2028	344		344		4.000%
March 2029 Senior Notes	February 2019	March 2029	272		272		4.000%
March 2029 Senior Notes(3)	February 2024	March 2029	839		—		3.375%
June 2030 Senior Notes	May 2020	June 2030	1,200		1,200		2.650%
March 2031 Senior Notes(3)	March 2022	March 2031	839		829		1.625%
March 2032 Senior Notes(3)	February 2024	March 2032	1,399		—		3.500%
March 2034 Senior Notes(3)	March 2022	March 2034	560		553		1.875%
November 2035 Senior Notes(2)	November 2005	November 2035	350		350		6.500%
March 2039 Senior Notes	February 2019	March 2039	450		450		4.550%
January 2040 Senior Notes	December 2009	January 2040	300		300		7.375%
March 2049 Senior Notes	February 2019	March 2049	650		650		4.700%
Unamortized Debt Issuance Discount and Deferred Financing Costs		2024 - 2049	(75)		(65)
Finance Lease Obligation		Various	4		5
Long-term debt			$	9,233	$	8,571

(1) Coupon rates are semi-annual, except for the euro-denominated notes, which bear an annual coupon.

(2) Corporate credit rating improvements may result in a decrease in the adjusted interest rate on our November 2035 Notes to the extent that our lowest credit rating is above BBB- or Baa3. The interest rates on our November 2035 Notes will be permanently reinstated to the issuance rate of 6.25% if the lowest credit ratings assigned to these senior notes is either A- or A3 or higher.

(3) These notes are euro-denominated and presented in U.S. dollars based on the exchange rate in effect as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.

Revolving Credit Facility

On May 10, 2021, we entered into a $2.750 billion revolving credit facility (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility) with a global syndicate of commercial banks. On May 10, 2024, we entered into a third amendment to the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility credit agreement, which provided for, among other things, an extension of the scheduled maturity date to May 10, 2029, an amendment of the Ratings based pricing grid of the Applicable Margin, each as defined in the credit agreement, and reset the applicable date for purposes of determining the amounts of restructuring charges and restructuring-related expenses that may be excluded from consolidated Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), as defined by the credit agreement, for purposes of our maximum leverage ratio covenant, from December 31, 2022 to March 31, 2024, as further discussed under Financial Covenant below. This facility provides backing for our commercial paper program, and outstanding commercial paper directly reduces borrowing capacity under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility. We had no amounts outstanding under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility as of September 30, 2024 or December 31, 2023.

Financial Covenant

As of September 30, 2024, we were in compliance with the financial covenant required by the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility.

	Covenant Requirement	Actual
	as of September 30, 2024	as of September 30, 2024
Maximum permitted leverage ratio(1)	3.75 times	1.95 times

(1) Ratio of total debt to deemed consolidated EBITDA, as defined by the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility credit agreement, as amended.

The 2021 Revolving Credit Facility includes the financial covenant requirement for all of our credit arrangements that we maintain the maximum permitted leverage ratio of 3.75 times for the remaining term. The credit agreement provides for higher leverage ratios, at our election, for the period following a Qualified Acquisition, as defined by the agreement, for which consideration exceeds $1.000 billion. In the event of such an acquisition, for the four succeeding quarters immediately following, including the quarter in which the acquisition occurs, the maximum permitted leverage ratio is 4.75 times. It steps down for the fifth, sixth and seventh succeeding quarters to 4.50 times, 4.25 times and 4.00 times, respectively. Thereafter, a maximum leverage ratio of 3.75 times is required through the remaining term of the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility. We have elected to designate the Axonics acquisition as a Qualified Acquisition under the credit agreement, and upon closing, will increase the maximum permitted leverage ratio at that time. The agreement also provides for an exclusion of any debt incurred to fund a Qualified Acquisition, until the earlier of the acquisition close date or date of abandonment, termination or expiration of the acquisition agreement. As of September 30, 2024, we excluded from our leverage ratio calculation $2.218 billion of debt incurred in connection with the Axonics acquisition.

The financial covenant requirement, as amended on May 10, 2024, provides for an exclusion from the calculation of consolidated EBITDA, as defined by the credit agreement, through maturity, of certain charges and expenses. The credit agreement amendment reset the starting date for purposes of calculating such permitted exclusions related to restructuring charges and restructuring-related expenses from December 31, 2022 to March 31, 2024. Permitted exclusions include up to $500 million in cash and non-cash restructuring charges and restructuring-related expenses associated with our current or future restructuring plans. As of September 30, 2024, we had $401 million of the restructuring charge exclusion remaining. In addition, any cash litigation payments (net of any cash litigation receipts), as defined by the agreement, are excluded from the calculation of consolidated EBITDA, as defined by the agreement, provided that the sum of any excluded net cash litigation payments do not exceed $1.000 billion plus all accrued legal liabilities as of December 31, 2022. As of September 30, 2024, we had $1.442 billion of the litigation exclusion remaining.

Any inability to maintain compliance with this covenant could require us to seek to renegotiate the terms of our credit arrangements or seek waivers from compliance with this covenant, both of which could result in additional borrowing costs. Further, there can be no assurance that our lenders would agree to such new terms or grant such waivers on terms acceptable to us. In this case, all 2021 Revolving Credit Facility commitments would terminate, and any amounts borrowed under the facility would become immediately due and payable. Furthermore, any termination of our 2021 Revolving Credit Facility may negatively impact the credit ratings assigned to our commercial paper program, which may impact our ability to refinance any then outstanding commercial paper as it becomes due and payable.

Commercial Paper

Our commercial paper program is backed by the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility. We did not have any commercial paper outstanding as of September 30, 2024 or December 31, 2023.

Senior Notes

We had senior notes outstanding of $10.924 billion as of September 30, 2024 and $9.136 billion as of December 31, 2023. Our senior notes were issued in public offerings, are redeemable prior to maturity and are not subject to sinking fund requirements. Our senior notes are unsecured, unsubordinated obligations and rank on parity with each other. These notes are effectively junior to liabilities of our subsidiaries (refer to Other Arrangements below).

In February 2024, American Medical Systems Europe B.V. (AMS Europe), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Boston Scientific, completed a registered public offering of €2.000 billion in aggregate principal amount of euro-denominated senior notes comprised of €750 million of 3.375% Senior Notes due 2029 and €1.250 billion of 3.500% Senior Notes due 2032 (collectively, the 2024 Eurobonds). Boston Scientific has fully and unconditionally guaranteed all of AMS Europe's obligations under the 2024 Eurobonds, in addition to all of AMS Europe's obligations under the euro-denominated senior notes that were

previously issued by AMS Europe in 2022, and no other subsidiary of Boston Scientific will guarantee these obligations. AMS Europe is a “finance subsidiary” as defined in Rule 13-01(a)(4)(vi) of Regulation S-X. The financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of AMS Europe are consolidated in the financial statements of Boston Scientific. The offering resulted in cash proceeds of $2.145 billion, net of investor discounts and issuance costs.

We used the net proceeds from the offering of the 2024 Eurobonds to fund the repayment at maturity of our 3.450% Senior Notes due March 2024 and to pay accrued and unpaid interest with respect to such notes. Additionally, we plan to use the remaining net proceeds from the offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of the Axonics acquisition and to pay related fees and expenses, and for general corporate purposes. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act and the satisfaction (or waiver) of other customary closing conditions. If (i) the Axonics acquisition is not consummated on or before the later of (x) January 8, 2025 (as such date may be extended in accordance with the merger agreement to no later than January 8, 2026) and (y) the date that is five business days after any later date to which we and Axonics may agree to extend the "Outside Date" in the merger agreement or (ii) AMS Europe notifies the trustee that we will not pursue consummation of the Axonics Acquisition, AMS Europe will be required to redeem each series of the notes at a special mandatory redemption price equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount of such series of notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the date on which the notes will be redeemed. Refer to Note B – Acquisitions and Strategic Investments for more information on the Axonics acquisition.

Other Arrangements

We have accounts receivable factoring programs in certain European countries and with commercial banks in China and Japan which include promissory notes discounting programs. We account for our factoring programs as sales under FASB ASC Topic 860, Transfers and Servicing. We have no retained interest in the transferred receivables, other than collection and administration, and once sold, the accounts receivable are no longer available to satisfy creditors in the event of bankruptcy. Amounts de-recognized for accounts and notes receivable, which are excluded from Trade accounts receivable, net within our accompanying unaudited consolidated balance sheets, are aggregated by contract denominated currency below (in millions):

Factoring Arrangements	As of September 30, 2024				As of December 31, 2023
	Amount De-recognized		Weighted Average Interest Rate		Amount De-recognized		Weighted Average Interest Rate
Euro denominated	$	211	5.5	%	$	206	5.1	%
Yen denominated	199		0.9	%	214		0.6	%
Renminbi denominated	27		2.2	%	14		2.9	%

Other Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We had outstanding letters of credit of $216 million as of September 30, 2024 and $174 million as of December 31, 2023, which consisted primarily of bank guarantees and collateral for workers' compensation insurance arrangements. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 we had not recognized a related liability for our outstanding letters of credit within our accompanying unaudited consolidated balance sheets.

We have a supplier financing program offered primarily in the U.S. that enables our suppliers to opt to receive early payment at a nominal discount, while allowing us to lengthen our payment terms and optimize working capital. Our standard payment term in the U.S. is 90 days. All outstanding payables related to the supplier finance program are classified within Accounts Payable within our unaudited consolidated balance sheets and were $137 million as of September 30, 2024 and $152 million as of December 31, 2023.

Refer to Note E – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our audited financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on our borrowings and credit agreements.