Financing Obligations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

On May 19, 2008, the Company entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement relating to the sale and leaseback of 181 parcels of real property (the “Sale-Leaseback Transaction”), each of which is improved with a restaurant operating as an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar (the “Properties”). On June 13, 2008, the closing date of the Sale-Leaseback Transaction, the Company entered into a Master Land and Building Lease (“Master Lease”) for the Properties. The proceeds received from the transaction were $337.2 million. The Master Lease calls for an initial term of twenty years and four, five-year options to extend the term.

The Sale-Leaseback Transaction does not qualify as a sale under current U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, the Sale-Leaseback Transaction continues to be recorded under the financing method. The value of the land and leasehold improvements will remain on the Company's books and the leasehold improvements will continue to be depreciated over their remaining useful lives. The net proceeds received were recorded as a financing obligation. A portion of the lease payments is recorded as a decrease to the financing obligation and a portion is recognized as interest expense. In the event the lease obligation of any individual property or group of properties is assumed by a qualified franchisee, the portion of the transaction related to that property or group of properties is recorded as a sale in accordance with U.S. GAAP and the net book value of those properties will be removed from the Company's books, along with a ratable portion of the remaining financing obligation.

As of December 31, 2021, the portion of the original Sale-Leaseback Transaction related to 158 of the 181 Properties has qualified as a sale by assignment of the lease obligation to a qualified franchisee or a release from the lessor. In accordance with the accounting described above, the property and equipment and financing obligations have each been cumulatively reduced by approximately $284.2 million.

As of December 31, 2021, future minimum lease payments under financing obligations during the initial terms of the leases related to the sale-leaseback transactions are as follows:


Fiscal Years	(In millions)
2022	$	4.5
2023	4.4
2024	5.0
2025	5.0
2026	5.4
Thereafter	29.4
Total minimum lease payments	53.7
Less: interest	(20.9)
Total financing obligations	32.8
Less: current portion(1)	(0.8)
Long-term financing obligations	$	32.0

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(1)Included in current maturities of finance lease and financing obligations on the consolidated balance sheets.