Long-Term Debt

Long-term debt consisted of the following:



	September 27, 2015			December 28, 2014
Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes:
Series 2015-1 Class A-2-I Notes	$	875,000		$	—
Series 2015-1 Class A-2-II Notes	900,000			—
Series 2015-1 Class A-2-III Notes	500,000			—
Term A Loans, repaid in June 2015	—			541,733
Term B Loans, repaid in June 2015	—			759,758
7% debentures, due in 2025	86,743			85,853
Capital lease obligations, due through 2045 (a)	82,763			59,073
Unamortized debt issuance costs (b)	(41,374		)	(8,243		)
	2,403,132			1,438,174
Less amounts payable within one year (a)	(23,198		)	(53,202		)
Total long-term debt	$	2,379,934		$	1,384,972

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(a)	Capital lease obligations as of December 28, 2014 and the related amounts payable within one year have been updated to exclude the Bakery’s capital lease obligations as a result of the sale of the Bakery during the second quarter of 2015 and the presentation as discontinued operations in our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 28, 2014.

(b)

During the second quarter of 2015, the Company early adopted an amendment requiring debt issuance costs be presented in the balance sheet as a direct reduction of the related debt liability rather than as an asset. The adoption of this guidance resulted in the reclassification of debt issuance costs of $8,243 from “Other assets” to “Long-term debt” in our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 28, 2014. See Note 1 and Note 16 for further information.

Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, excluding the effect of purchase accounting adjustments, as of September 27, 2015 were as follows:



Fiscal Year
2015 (a)	$	5,773
2016	23,193
2017	23,373
2018	24,482
2019	862,857
Thereafter	1,518,085
	$	2,457,763

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(a)	Represents maturities of long-term debt for the remainder of our 2015 fiscal year, from September 28, 2015 through January 3, 2016.

Except as described below, the Company did not have any significant changes to its long-term debt as disclosed in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in the Form 10-K.

On June 1, 2015, Wendy’s Funding, LLC (“Wendy’s Funding” or the “Master Issuer”), a limited-purpose, bankruptcy-remote, wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of The Wendy’s Company, entered into a base indenture and a related supplemental indenture (collectively, the “Indenture”) under which the Master Issuer may issue multiple series of notes. On the same date, the Master Issuer issued Series 2015-1 3.371% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-I (the “Class A-2-I Notes”) with an initial principal amount of $875,000, Series 2015-1 4.080% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-II (the “Class A-2-II Notes”) with an initial principal amount of $900,000 and the Series 2015-1 4.497% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-III, (the “Class A-2-III Notes”) with an initial principal amount of $500,000 (collectively the “Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes”). In addition, the Master Issuer entered into a revolving financing facility of Series 2015-1 Variable Funding Senior Secured Notes, Class A-1 (the “Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes” and, together with the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes, the “Series 2015-1 Senior Notes”), which allows for the drawing of up to $150,000 under the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes, which include certain credit instruments, including a letter of credit facility. The Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes were issued under the Indenture and allow for drawings on a revolving basis. During the third quarter of 2015, the Company borrowed and repaid $19,000 under the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes.

The Series 2015-1 Senior Notes were issued in a securitization transaction pursuant to which certain of the Company’s domestic and foreign revenue-generating assets, consisting principally of franchise-related agreements, real estate assets, and intellectual property and license agreements for the use of intellectual property, were contributed or otherwise transferred to the Master Issuer and certain other limited-purpose, bankruptcy-remote, wholly-owned indirect subsidiaries of the Company that act as guarantors (the “Guarantors”) of the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes and that have pledged substantially all of their assets, excluding certain real estate assets and subject to certain limitations, to secure the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes. The Company has guaranteed the obligations of the Master Issuer under the Indenture and the Series 2015-I Senior Notes and pledged substantially all of its assets to secure such obligations.

Interest and principal payments on the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes are payable on a quarterly basis. The requirement to make such quarterly principal payments on the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes is subject to certain financial conditions set forth in the Indenture. The legal final maturity date of the Series 2015-I Class A-2 Notes is in June 2045, but, unless earlier prepaid to the extent permitted under the Indenture, the anticipated repayment dates of the Class A-2-I Notes, the Class A-2-II Notes and the Class A-2-III Notes will be 4.25, 7 and 10 years, respectively, from the date of issuance (the “Anticipated Repayment Dates”). If the Master Issuer has not repaid or refinanced the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes prior to the respective Anticipated Repayment Dates, additional interest will accrue pursuant to the Indenture.

The Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes will accrue interest at a variable interest rate based on (i) the prime rate, (ii) overnight federal funds rates, (iii) the London interbank offered rate for U.S. Dollars or (iv) with respect to advances made by conduit investors, the weighted average cost of, or related to, the issuance of commercial paper allocated to fund or maintain such advances, in each case plus any applicable margin and as specified in the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 note agreement. There is a commitment fee on the unused portion of the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes which ranges from 0.50% to 0.85% based on utilization. It is anticipated that the principal and interest on the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes will be repaid in full on or prior to June 2020, subject to two additional one-year extensions. Following the anticipated repayment date (and any extensions thereof), additional interest will accrue on the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes equal to 5.0% per year. As of September 27, 2015, $22,052 of letters of credit were outstanding against the Series 2015-1 Class A-1 Notes, which relate primarily to interest reserves required under the Indenture.

During the nine months ended September 27, 2015, the Company incurred debt issuance costs of $43,751 in connection with the issuance of the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes. The debt issuance costs are being amortized to “Interest expense” through the Anticipated Repayment Dates of the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes utilizing the effective interest rate method. As of September 27, 2015, the effective interest rates, including the amortization of debt issuance costs, were 3.789%, 4.338% and 4.681% for the Class A-2-I Notes, Class A-2-II Notes and Class A-2-III Notes, respectively.

The Series 2015-1 Senior Notes are subject to a series of covenants and restrictions customary for transactions of this type, including (i) that the Master Issuer maintains specified reserve accounts to be used to make required payments in respect of the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes, (ii) provisions relating to optional and mandatory prepayments and the related payment of specified amounts, including specified make-whole payments in the case of the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes under certain circumstances, (iii) certain indemnification payments in the event, among other things, the assets pledged as collateral for the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes are in stated ways defective or ineffective and (iv) covenants relating to recordkeeping, access to information and similar matters. The Series 2015-1 Senior Notes are also subject to customary rapid amortization events provided for in the Indenture, including events tied to failure to maintain stated debt service coverage ratios, the sum of global gross sales for specified restaurants being below certain levels on certain measurement dates, certain manager termination events, an event of default, and the failure to repay or refinance the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes on the applicable scheduled maturity date. The Series 2015-1 Senior Notes are also subject to certain customary events of default, including events relating to non-payment of required interest, principal, or other amounts due on or with respect to the Series 2015-1 Senior Notes, failure to comply with covenants within certain time frames, certain bankruptcy events, breaches of specified representations and warranties, failure of security interests to be effective, and certain judgments.

In accordance with the Indenture, certain cash accounts have been established with the Indenture trustee for the benefit of the trustee and the noteholders, and are restricted in their use. As of September 27, 2015, Wendy’s Funding had restricted cash of $29,373, which primarily represented cash collections and cash reserves held by the trustee to be used for payments of principal, interest and commitment fees required for the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes. Such restricted cash is included in “Prepaid expenses and other current assets” in the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of September 27, 2015. Changes in such restricted cash have been presented as a component of cash flows from operating and financing activities in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows since the cash is restricted to the payment of interest and principal, respectively.

The proceeds from the issuance of the Series 2015-1 Class A-2 Notes, were used to repay all amounts outstanding on the Term A Loans and Term B Loans under the Company’s May 16, 2013 Restated Credit Agreement amended on September 24, 2013 (the “2013 Restated Credit Agreement”). In connection with the repayment of the Term A Loans and Term B Loans, Wendy’s terminated the related interest rate swaps with notional amounts totaling $350,000 and $100,000, respectively, which had been designated as cash flow hedges. See Note 8 for more information on the interest rate swaps. As a result, the Company recorded a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $7,295 during the second quarter of 2015, primarily consisting of the write-off of deferred costs related to the 2013 Restated Credit Agreement of $7,233 and fees paid to terminate the related interest rate swaps of $62.