Indebtedness and Interest Expense:

Our long-term debt consisted of the following as of the dates presented:



	October 1, 2017			January 1, 2017
	(in thousands)
Term loan facility	$	733,400		$	739,100
Senior notes	255,000			255,000
Note payable	—			13
Total debt outstanding	988,400			994,113
Less:
Unamortized original issue discount	(1,829		)	(2,235		)
Deferred financing costs, net	(12,995		)	(15,999		)
Current portion	(7,600		)	(7,613		)
Bank indebtedness and other long-term debt, net of deferred financing costs, less current portion	$	965,976		$	968,266

We were in compliance with the debt covenants in effect as of October 1, 2017 for both the secured credit facilities and the senior notes. For further discussion regarding the debt covenants, see Secured Credit Facilities and Senior Unsecured Notes sections below.

Secured Credit Facilities

Our secured credit facilities include (i) a $760.0 million term loan facility with a maturity date of February 14, 2021 (the “term loan facility”) and (ii) a $150.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility with a maturity date of February 14, 2019, which includes a letter of credit sub-facility and a $30.0 million swingline loan sub-facility (the “revolving credit facility” and together with the term loan facility, the “secured credit facilities”). The secured credit facilities require scheduled quarterly payments on the term loan facility equal to 0.25% of the original principal amount of the term loan facility from July 2014 to December 2020, with the remaining balance paid at maturity, February 14, 2021. As of October 1, 2017 and January 1, 2017, we had no borrowings outstanding and $9.9 million of letters of credit issued but undrawn under the revolving credit facility.

The term loan was issued net of $3.8 million of original issue discount. We also paid $17.8 million and $3.4 million in debt financing costs related to the term loan facility and revolving credit facility, respectively, which we capitalized in “Bank indebtedness and other long-term debt, net of deferred financing costs” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The original issue discount and deferred financing costs are amortized over the lives of the facilities and are included in “Interest expense” on our Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

Borrowings under the secured credit facilities bear interest at a rate equal to, at our option, either (a) a London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) determined by reference to the costs of funds for Eurodollar deposits for the interest period relevant to such borrowings, adjusted for certain additional costs, subject to a 1.00% floor in the case of term loans or (b) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of (i) the federal funds effective rate plus 0.50%; (ii) the prime rate of Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch; and (iii) the one-month adjusted LIBOR plus 1.00%, in each case plus an applicable margin. The base applicable margin is 3.25% with respect to LIBOR borrowings and 2.25% with respect to base rate borrowings under the

term loan facility and base rate borrowings and swingline borrowings under the revolving credit facility. The applicable margin

for LIBOR borrowings under the term loan facility was subject to one step-down from 3.25% to 3.00% based on our net first lien senior secured leverage ratio and the applicable margin for LIBOR borrowings under the revolving credit facility was subject to two step-downs from 3.25% to 3.00% and 2.75% based on our net first lien senior secured leverage ratio. Effective March 4, 2016, the applicable margin for both our term loan facility and revolving credit facilities stepped down to 3.0%. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the applicable margin for LIBOR borrowings under both the term loan facility and the revolving credit facility will return to their previous level of 3.25%.

During the nine months ended October 1, 2017, the federal funds rate ranged from 0.55% to 1.16%, the prime rate ranged from 3.75% to 4.25% and the one-month LIBOR ranged from 0.76% to 1.24% .

The weighted average effective interest rate incurred on our borrowings under our secured credit facilities was 4.7% and 4.6% for the nine months ended October 1, 2017 and October 2, 2016, respectively, which includes amortization of debt issuance costs related to our secured credit facilities, amortization of our term loan facility original issue discount and commitment and other fees related to our secured credit facilities.

In addition to paying interest on outstanding principal under the secured credit facilities, we are required to pay a commitment fee to the lenders under the revolving credit facility with respect to the unutilized commitments thereunder. The base applicable commitment fee rate under the revolving credit facility was 0.50% per annum and was subject to one step-down from 0.50% to 0.375% based on our net first lien senior secured leverage ratio. Effective March 4, 2016, the commitment fee rate stepped down to 0.375%. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the commitment fee rate will return to it previous level of 0.50%. We are also required to pay customary agency fees, as well as letter of credit participation fees computed at a rate per annum equal to the applicable margin for LIBOR rate borrowings on the dollar equivalent of the daily stated amount of outstanding letters of credit, plus such letter of credit issuer’s customary documentary and processing fees and charges and a fronting fee computed at a rate equal to 0.125% per annum on the daily stated amount of such letter of credit.

All obligations under the secured credit facilities are unconditionally guaranteed by our Parent on a limited-recourse basis and each of our existing and future direct and indirect material, wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries, subject to certain exceptions. The obligations are secured by a pledge of our capital stock and substantially all of our assets and those of each subsidiary guarantor, including capital stock of the subsidiary guarantors and 65% of the capital stock of the first-tier foreign subsidiaries that are not subsidiary guarantors, in each case subject to exceptions. Such security interests consist of first priority liens with respect to the collateral.

The secured credit facilities also contain customary affirmative and negative covenants, and events of default, which limit our ability to, among other things: incur additional debt or issue certain preferred shares; create liens on certain assets; make certain loans or investments (including acquisitions); pay dividends on or make distributions with respect to our capital stock or make other restricted payments; consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; sell assets; enter into certain transactions with our affiliates; enter into sale-leaseback transactions; change our lines of business; restrict dividends from our subsidiaries or restrict liens; change our fiscal year; and modify the terms of certain debt or organizational agreements.

Our revolving credit facility includes a springing financial maintenance covenant that requires our net first lien senior secured leverage ratio not to exceed 6.25 to 1.00 (the ratio of consolidated net debt secured by first-priority liens on the collateral to the last twelve months’ EBITDA, as defined in the senior credit facilities). The covenant will be tested quarterly if the revolving credit facility is more than 30% drawn (excluding outstanding letters of credit) and will be a condition to drawings under the revolving credit facility that would result in more than 30% drawn thereunder.

Senior Unsecured Debt

Our senior unsecured debt consists of $255.0 million aggregate principal amount borrowings of 8.000% Senior Notes due 2022 (the “senior notes”). The senior notes bear interest at a rate 8.000% per year and mature on February 15, 2022. We may redeem some or all of the senior notes at certain redemption prices set forth in the indenture governing the senior notes (the “indenture”).

We paid $6.4 million in debt issuance costs related to the senior notes, which we capitalized in “Bank indebtedness and other long-term debt, net of deferred financing costs” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The deferred financing costs are being amortized over the life of the senior notes and are included in “Interest expense” on our Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

Our obligations under the senior notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed, jointly and severally, by our present and future direct and indirect wholly-owned material domestic subsidiaries that guarantee our secured credit facilities.

The indenture contains restrictive covenants that limit our ability to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt or issue certain preferred shares; (ii) create liens on certain assets; make certain loans or investments (including acquisitions); (iii) pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make other restricted payments; (iv) consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; (v) sell assets; (vi) enter into certain transactions with our affiliates; and (vii) restrict dividends from our subsidiaries.

The weighted average effective interest rate incurred on borrowings under our senior notes was 8.2% for the nine months ended October 1, 2017 and 8.3% for the nine months ended October 2, 2016, which included amortization of debt issuance costs and other fees related to our senior notes.

Interest Expense

Interest expense consisted of the following for the periods presented:



	Three Months Ended
	October 1, 2017		October 2, 2016
	(in thousands)
Term loan facility ⁽¹⁾	$	8,014	$	7,646
Senior notes	5,083		5,157
Capital lease obligations	434		436
Sale leaseback obligations	2,647		2,674
Amortization of debt issuance costs	1,001		1,001
Other	272		323
Total interest expense	$	17,451	$	17,237



	Nine Months Ended
	October 1, 2017		October 2, 2016
	(in thousands)
Term loan facility ⁽¹⁾	$	23,240	$	23,303
Senior notes	15,248		15,470
Capital lease obligations	1,264		1,315
Sale leaseback obligations	7,949		8,067
Amortization of debt issuance costs	3,004		3,004
Other	869		260
Total interest expense	$	51,574	$	51,419

__________________

(1) Includes amortization of original issue discount.

The weighted average effective interest rate incurred on our combined borrowings under our secured credit facilities and senior notes was 5.6% for both the nine months ended October 1, 2017 and October 2, 2016, respectively.