Indebtedness

12 Months Ended

Oct. 03, 2021

INDEBTEDNESS

The detail of our long-term debt at the end of each fiscal year is as follows (in thousands):


	2021		2020
Class A-2-I Notes	$	570,688	$	570,688
Class A-2-II Notes	272,938		272,938
Class A-2-III Notes	446,625		446,625
Class A-1 Variable Funding Notes	—		107,876
Finance lease obligations	2,275		2,934
Total debt	1,292,526		1,401,061
Less current maturities of long-term debt	(894)		(818)
Less unamortized debt issuance costs	(18,212)		(23,330)
Long-term debt	$	1,273,420	$	1,376,913

Securitized financing transaction — On July 8, 2019, Jack in the Box Funding, LLC (the “Master Issuer”), a limited-purpose, bankruptcy-remote, wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the Company, completed its securitization transaction and issued $575.0 million of its Series 2019-1 3.982% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-I (the “Class A-2-I Notes”), $275.0 million of its Series 2019-1 4.476% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-II (the “Class A-2-II Notes”) and $450.0 million of its Series 2019-1 4.970% Fixed Rate Senior Secured Notes, Class A-2-III (the “Class A-2-III Notes”) and together with the Class A-2-I Notes and the Class A-2-II Notes, (the “Class A-2 Notes”), in an offering exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. In connection with the issuance of the Class A-2 Notes, the Master Issuer also entered into a revolving financing facility of Series 2019-1 Variable Funding Senior Secured Notes, Class A-1 (the “Variable Funding Notes”), which allows for the drawing of up to $150.0 million under the Variable Funding Notes and the issuance of letters of credit. The Class A-2 Notes and the Variable Funding Notes are referred to collectively as the “Notes.”

The Notes were issued in a privately placed securitization transaction pursuant to which certain of the Company’s revenue-generating assets, consisting principally of franchise-related agreements, real estate assets, and intellectual property and license agreements for the use of intellectual property, are held by the Master Issuer and certain other limited-purpose, bankruptcy remote, wholly owned indirect subsidiaries of the Company that act as Guarantors (as defined below) of the Notes and that have pledged substantially all of their assets, excluding certain real estate assets and subject to certain limitations, to secure the Notes.

The proceeds from the issuance of the Class A-2 Notes, were used to repay the remaining principal outstanding on the term loans and revolving credit facility. As a result, a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $2.8 million was recorded in fiscal 2019, primarily consisting of the write-off of unamortized deferred financing costs related to the Credit Agreement, and is reflected in “Interest expense, net” in the consolidated statement of earnings.

Class A-2 Notes — Interest and principal payments on the Class A-2 Notes are payable on a quarterly basis. The quarterly principal payment of $3.25 million on the Class A-2 Notes may be suspended when the specified leverage ratio, which is a measure of outstanding debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, adjusted for certain items (as defined in the Indenture), is less than or equal to 5.0x. Exceeding the leverage ratio of 5.0x does not violate any covenant related to the Class A-2 Notes. As of October 3, 2021, the Company’s actual leverage ratio was under 5.0x, and as a result, quarterly principal payments are not required. Accordingly, the entire outstanding balance of the Class A-2 Notes has been classified as long-term debt.

The legal final maturity date of the Class A-2 Notes is in August 2049, but it is expected that, 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 August 2023, August 2026 and August 2029, respectively (the “Anticipated Repayment Dates”). If the Master Issuer has not repaid or refinanced the Class A-2 Notes prior to the respective anticipated repayment date, additional interest will accrue pursuant to the Indenture. The Class A-2 Notes are secured by the collateral described below under “Guarantees and Collateral.”

Variable Funding Notes — The Variable Funding Notes were issued under the Indenture and allow for drawings on a revolving basis and the issuance of letters of credit. Depending on the type of borrowing under the Variable Funding Notes, interest on the Variable Funding Notes will be based on (i) the prime rate, (ii) overnight federal funds rates, (iii) the London interbank offered rate for U.S. Dollars or (iv) the lenders’ commercial paper funding rate plus any applicable margin, as set forth in the Variable Funding Note Purchase Agreement. There is a scaled commitment fee on the unused portion of the Variable Funding Notes facility of between 50 and 100 basis points. It is anticipated that the principal and interest on the Variable Funding Notes will be repaid in full on or prior to August 2024, subject to two one-year extensions at the option of the Company. Following the anticipated repayment date (and any extensions thereof), additional interest will accrue equal to 5.00% per annum. As of October 3, 2021 and September 27, 2020, $39.5 million of letters of credit were outstanding against the Variable Funding Notes, which relate primarily to interest reserves required under the Indenture. During the second quarter of 2020, to secure our liquidity position and provide financial flexibility given the uncertain market conditions, we borrowed $107.9 million under the Variable Funding Notes. During the second quarter of 2021, the Company fully paid down its outstanding borrowings on its Variable Funding Notes. As of October 3, 2021, unused borrowing capacity under our Variable Funding Notes was $110.5 million.

Guarantees and collateral — Pursuant to the Guarantee and Collateral Agreement, dated July 8, 2019 (the “Guarantee and Collateral Agreement”), among the Guarantors, in favor of the trustee, the Guarantors guarantee the obligations of the Master Issuer under the Indenture and related documents and secure the guarantee by granting a security interest in substantially all of their assets. The Notes are secured by a security interest in substantially all of the assets of the Master Issuer and the Guarantors (collectively, the “Securitization Entities”). The assets of the Securitization Entities include most of the revenue-generating assets of the Company and its subsidiaries, which principally consist of franchise-related agreements, certain company-operated restaurants, intellectual property and license agreements for the use of intellectual property. Upon certain trigger events, mortgages will be required to be prepared and recorded on the real estate assets.

Covenants and restrictions — The 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 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 Class A-2 Notes under certain circumstances, (iii) certain indemnification payments in the event, among other things, the assets pledged as collateral for the Notes are in stated ways defective or ineffective and (iv) covenants relating to recordkeeping, access to information and similar matters. The 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 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 Class A-2 Notes in full by the applicable anticipated repayment date. The 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 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.

Deferred financing costs — In 2019, the Company incurred costs of approximately $33.0 million in connection with the securitization transaction. The costs related to our Class A-2 Notes are presented as a reduction in “Long-term debt, net of current maturities” and are being amortized over the Anticipated Repayment Dates, utilizing the effective interest rate method. The costs related to our Variable Funding Notes are presented within “Other assets, net” and are being amortized over the Anticipated Repayment Date of August 2026 using the straight-line method. As of October 3, 2021, the effective interest rates, including the amortization of debt issuance costs, were 4.545%, 4.800%, and 5.198% for the Class A-2-I Notes, Class A-2-II Notes and Class A-2-III Notes, respectively.

Maturities of long-term debt — Assuming repayment by the Anticipated Repayment Dates and based on the leverage ratio as of October 3, 2021, principal payments on our long-term debt outstanding at October 3, 2021 for each of the next five fiscal years and thereafter are as follows (in thousands):


2022	$	894
2023	571,610
2024	372
2025	38
2026	272,964
Thereafter	446,648
	$	1,292,526