8. Derivatives

Foreign Exchange Risk Management

As of September 30, 2017, the Company held foreign currency forward contracts to (i) hedge certain forecasted foreign exchange cash flows arising from service contracts (“Service Contract Hedging”) and (ii) hedge non-United States Dollar anticipated intercompany royalties (“Royalty Hedging”). It is the Company’s policy to enter into foreign currency transactions only to the extent necessary to reduce earnings and cash flow volatility associated with foreign exchange rate movements. The Company does not enter into foreign currency transactions for investment or speculative purposes.

As of September 30, 2017, the Company had 57 open Service Contract Hedging and Royalty Hedging contracts to hedge certain forecasted foreign currency cash flow transactions occurring in 2017 and 2018 with notional amounts totaling $294 million. For accounting purposes these hedges are considered highly effective. As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the Company had recorded gross unrealized gains (losses) of $6 million and ($7) million and $11 million and ($9) million, respectively, related to these contracts. Upon expiration of the hedge instruments during 2017 and 2018, the Company will reclassify the unrealized holding gains and losses on the derivative instruments included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”) into earnings. The unrealized gains (losses) are included in other current assets and liabilities on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016.

Interest Rate Risk Management

The Company purchases interest rate caps and has entered into interest rate swap agreements for purposes of managing its exposure to interest rate fluctuations.

On June 9, 2011, the Company entered into six interest rate swaps which expired between September 30, 2013 and March 31, 2016, in an effort to limit its exposure to changes in the variable interest rate on its senior secured credit facilities. During May 2015, the Company terminated the remaining open interest rate swaps for a cash payment to the counterparty of $12 million, which included $1 million of accrued interest. Since the hedged forecasted cash transactions continued to be probable of occurring, the accumulated loss ($3 million at December 31, 2015) related to the terminated interest rate swaps in AOCI was reclassified to earnings as a component of interest expense in the same periods as the hedged forecasted transactions occurred over the first three months of 2016.

The Company, through the merger with IMS Health described in Note 12 below, has United States Dollar denominated interest rate caps (the “2014 Caps”) with a total notional value of $700 million at strike prices between 2% and 3% in an effort to limit its exposure to changes in the variable interest rate on its senior secured credit facilities. The 2014 Caps commenced at various times between April 2014 and April 2016 and expire in April 2019. The 2014 Caps are accounted for as cash flow hedges.

The Company, through the merger with IMS Health, has United States Dollar and Euro denominated interest rate swap agreements (the “2014 USD Swap” and “2014 EUR Swap”) to limit its exposure to changes in the variable interest rate on its senior secured credit facilities. The 2014 USD Swap and 2014 EUR Swap began accruing interest in April and June 2014, respectively, and expire in March 2019 and March 2021, respectively. On these agreements, the Company pays fixed rates of 2.1% to 1.65%, respectively, and receives variable rates of interest equal to the greater of three-month United States Dollar London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or three-month Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR”), and 1%.

On June 3, 2015, the Company entered into seven forward starting interest rate swaps (the “2015 Swaps”) in an effort to limit its exposure to changes in the variable interest rate on its senior secured credit facilities. Interest on the swaps began accruing on June 30, 2016, and the interest rate swaps expire at various times from March 2017 through March 2020. The Company pays a fixed rate ranging from 1.3% to 2.1% and receives a variable rate of interest equal to the three-month LIBOR on these agreements.

The critical terms of the 2015 Swaps are substantially the same as the underlying borrowings. These interest rate swaps are being accounted for as cash flow hedges as these transactions were executed to hedge the Company’s interest payments and for accounting purposes these hedges are highly effective. As such, the effective portion of the hedges is recorded as unrealized gains (losses) on derivatives included in AOCI and the ineffective portion of the hedges is recognized in earnings. The 2014 EUR Swap (notional value $343 million) ceased to be considered a highly effective hedge for accounting purposes when the underlying debt was refinanced on March 7, 2017. As such, the Company discontinued hedge accounting on that date and prospective changes in the fair value of the 2014 EUR Swap are recognized in earnings. The 2014 USD Swap (notional value $100 million) ceased to be considered a highly effective hedge for accounting purposes this quarter and as such, the Company has discontinued hedge accounting and prospective changes in the fair value of the 2014 USD Swap are recognized in earnings. The fair value of these interest rate swaps represents the present value of the anticipated net payments the Company will make to the counterparty, which, when they occur, are reflected as interest expense on the consolidated statements of income. These interest rate swaps will result in a total debt mix of approximately 57% fixed rate debt and 43% variable rate debt, before the additional protection arising from the interest rate caps.

Net Investment Risk Management

Subsequent to the merger with IMS Health, the Company designated its foreign currency denominated debt as a hedge of its net investment in certain foreign subsidiaries to reduce the volatility in stockholders’ equity caused by changes in the Euro exchange rate with respect to the United States Dollar. As of September 30, 2017, these borrowings (net of original issue discount) were €4,044 million ($4,779 million). The effective portion of foreign exchange gains or losses on the remeasurement of the debt is recognized in the cumulative translation adjustment component of AOCI with the related offset in long-term debt. Those amounts will be reclassified from AOCI to earnings upon the sale or substantial liquidation of these net investments. The amount of foreign exchange losses related to the net investment hedge included in the cumulative translation adjustment component of AOCI for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $490 million.

The fair values of the Company’s derivative instruments and the line items on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets to which they were recorded are summarized in the following table:

		September 30, 2017						December 31, 2016
(in millions)	Balance Sheet Classification	Assets		Liabilities		Notional		Assets		Liabilities		Notional
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments:
Foreign exchange forward contracts	Other current assets and liabilities	$	6	$	7	$	294	$	11	$	9	$	300
Interest rate swaps	Other liabilities		—		4		405		—		15		945
Interest rate caps	Deposits and other assets		—		—		700		1		—		1,000
Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:
Foreign exchange forward contracts	Other current liabilities		—		—		—		—		1		189
Interest rate swaps	Other liabilities		—		8		443		—		—		—
Total derivatives		$	6	$	19			$	12	$	25

The effect of the Company’s cash flow hedging instruments on other comprehensive (loss) income is summarized in the following table:

	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
(in millions)	2017			2016		2017			2016
Foreign exchange forward contracts	$	(2	)	$	4	$	(7	)	$	(3	)
Interest rate swaps		3			4		5			(6	)
Total	$	1		$	8	$	(2	)	$	(9	)