Derivative Financial Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivative Financial Instruments

Derivative Financial Instruments

To manage interest rate risk, the Company enters into interest rate swap contracts to adjust the amount of total debt that is subject to variable interest rates. Such contracts effectively fix the borrowing rates on floating rate debt to limit the exposure against the risk of rising interest rates. The Company does not enter into interest rate swap contracts for speculative or trading purposes and it has only entered into interest rate swap contracts with financial institutions that it believes are creditworthy counterparties. The Company monitors the financial institutions that are counterparties to its interest rate swap contracts and to the extent possible diversifies its swap contracts among various counterparties to mitigate exposure to any single financial institution.

The Company’s risk management objective and strategy with respect to interest rate swap contracts is to protect the Company against adverse fluctuations in interest rates by reducing its exposure to variability in cash flows relating to interest payments on a portion of its outstanding debt. The Company is meeting its objective by hedging the risk of changes in its cash flows (interest payments) attributable to changes in the LIBOR index rate, the designated benchmark interest rate being hedged (the “hedged risk”), on an amount of the Company’s debt principal equal to the then-outstanding swap notional. The forecasted interest payments are deemed to be probable of occurring.

The Company’s interest rate swap contracts are designated as cash flow hedges for accounting and tax purposes. The Company assesses, both at the hedge’s inception and on an ongoing basis, hedge effectiveness based on the overall changes in the fair value of the interest rate swap contracts. Hedge effectiveness of the interest rate swap contracts is based on a hypothetical derivative methodology. Any ineffective portion of the interest rate swap contracts is recorded in current-period earnings.

As of September 30, 2012, the Company had interest rate swap contracts outstanding with notional amounts aggregating $849,406. The Company’s outstanding interest rate swap contracts have varying maturities ranging from September 2015 to July 2017. At September 30, 2012, the Company’s interest rate cash flow hedges were highly effective, in all material respects.

The fair values of the Company’s derivative financial instruments included in the consolidated balance sheets are as follows:

	Liability Derivatives
	Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value
		September 30, 2012		December 31, 2011
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments:
Interest rate swap contracts	Other liabilities	$	24,429	$	19,091
Total derivatives		$	24,429	$	19,091

The amounts of the gains and losses related to the Company’s derivative financial instruments designated as hedging instruments are as follows:

	Amount of Loss Recognized  in Other Comprehensive  Income (“OCI”) on Derivatives  (Effective Portion)				Location of Loss Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Earnings  (Effective Portion)	Amount of Loss Reclassified  from Accumulated OCI into  Earnings (Effective Portion)(a)
	Three Months Ended September 30,					Three Months Ended September 30,
	2012		2011			2012		2011
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships:
Interest rate swap contracts	$	3,618	$	19,666	Interest expense	$	2,728	$	2,376

(a) There were no gains or losses recognized in earnings related to any ineffective portion of the hedging relationship or related to any amount excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness for the three months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011.

	Amount of Loss Recognized in OCI on Derivatives  (Effective Portion)				Location of Loss Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Earnings  (Effective Portion)	Amount of Loss Reclassified  from Accumulated OCI into  Earnings (Effective Portion)(b)
	Nine Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2012		2011			2012		2011
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships:
Interest rate swap contracts	$	12,346	$	19,666	Interest expense	$	7,008	$	2,376

(b) There were no gains or losses recognized in earnings related to any ineffective portion of the hedging relationship or related to any amount excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011.