Debt

The following table summarizes the major components of debt at each balance sheet date (in millions) and provides the maturities and interest rate ranges of each major category as of September 30, 2015:


	September 30, 2015		December 31, 2014
U.S. revolving credit facility, maturing July 2020	$	—	$	—
Letter of credit facilities, maturing through December 2018		—		—
Canadian credit facility and term loan, maturing November 2017 (weighted average effective interest rate of 2.1% at September 30, 2015 and 2.6% at December 31, 2014)		114		232
Senior notes maturing through 2045, interest rates ranging from 2.60% to 7.75% (weighted average interest rate of 4.7% at September 30, 2015 and 5.7% at December 31, 2014)		6,083		6,273
Tax-exempt bonds, maturing through 2045, fixed and variable interest rates ranging from 0.02% to 5.7% (weighted average interest rate of 2.1% at September 30, 2015 and 2.2% at December 31, 2014)		2,493		2,541
Capital leases and other, maturing through 2055, interest rates up to 12%		360		389

		9,050		9,435
Current portion of long-term debt		215		1,090

	$	8,835	$	8,345

Debt Classification

As of September 30, 2015, we had $701 million of debt maturing within the next 12 months, including $500 million of 2.6% senior notes that mature in September 2016 and $117 million of tax-exempt bonds. In addition, $487 million of tax-exempt bonds have term interest rate periods that expire within the next 12 months. Based on our intent and ability to refinance portions of our current obligations on a long-term basis as of September 30, 2015, including through use of forecasted available capacity under our long-term U.S. revolving credit facility (“$2.25 billion revolving credit facility”), we have classified $973 million of this debt as long-term and the remaining $215 million as current obligations.

As of September 30, 2015, we also have $491 million of variable-rate tax-exempt bonds that are supported by letters of credit. The interest rates on these bonds are reset on either a daily or weekly basis through a remarketing process. All recent remarketings have successfully placed Company bonds with investors at reasonable, market-driven rates and we currently expect future remarketings to be successful. However, if the remarketing agent is unable to remarket our bonds, the remarketing agent can put the bonds to us. In the event of a failed remarketing, we have the intent and ability to use availability under our $2.25 billion revolving credit facility to fund the debt obligations until they can be remarketed successfully. Accordingly, we classified these borrowings as long-term in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at September 30, 2015.

Revolving Credit and Letter of Credit Facilities

In July 2015, we amended and restated our $2.25 billion revolving credit facility, extending the term through July 2020.

As of September 30, 2015, we had an aggregate committed capacity of $2.4 billion for letters of credit under various U.S. credit facilities. Our $2.25 billion revolving credit facility is our primary source of letter of credit capacity. Our remaining committed letter of credit capacity is provided under facilities with terms ending through December 2018. As of September 30, 2015, we had an aggregate of $982 million of letters of credit outstanding under various credit facilities. As of September 30, 2015, we had no outstanding borrowings under our $2.25 billion revolving credit facility and $832 million of letters of credit issued and supported by the facility, leaving $1,418 million of unused and available capacity.

We also have a Canadian credit agreement that matures in November 2017 and provides for C$150 million of revolving credit capacity. We have the ability to issue up to C$50 million of letters of credit under the Canadian revolving credit facility, which if utilized, reduces the amount of credit capacity available for borrowings. As of September 30, 2015, we had no letters of credit or borrowings outstanding under the credit facility.

Debt Borrowings and Repayments

Canadian Term Loan — We repaid C$119 million, or $93 million, of net advances under our Canadian term loan during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 with available cash. The remaining decline in the carrying value of borrowings outstanding under our Canadian term loan is due to foreign currency translation.

Senior Notes — During 2015, we refinanced a significant portion of our high-coupon senior notes. Details related to each component of the refinancing follow:

Make-Whole Redemption — In January 2015, we repaid $947 million of WM senior notes, which comprised all of the outstanding senior notes maturing in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The repayment of these debt balances was achieved by exercising the optional redemption provisions of the notes, which required that we pay the outstanding principal plus a make-whole premium. The “Loss on early extinguishment of debt” reflected in our Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 includes $122 million of charges related to these redemptions.

Tender Offers — During 2015, WM and WM Holdings made cash tender offers to purchase any and all of certain outstanding senior notes. The series of notes targeted in the tenders and the amounts tendered of each series are summarized below:

•

$449 million of WM Holdings 7.10% senior notes due 2026, of which $145 million were tendered;

•

$577 million of WM 7.00% senior notes due 2028, of which $182 million were tendered;

•

$223 million of WM 7.375% senior notes due 2029, of which $84 million were tendered;

•

$496 million of WM 7.75% senior notes due 2032, of which $286 million were tendered; and

•

$600 million of WM 6.125% senior notes due 2039, of which $326 million were tendered.

The “Loss on early extinguishment of debt” reflected in our Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 includes $430 million of charges related to these tender offers.

New Issuance — In February 2015, WM issued $1.8 billion of new senior notes consisting of:

•

$600 million of 3.125% senior notes due March 1, 2025;

•

$450 million of 3.90% senior notes due March 1, 2035; and

•

$750 million of 4.10% senior notes due March 1, 2045.

The net proceeds from these debt issuances were $1.78 billion. The Company used the proceeds from the 2025 notes for general corporate purposes. The proceeds from the 2035 notes and the 2045 notes were used to pay the purchase price and accrued interest for the notes redeemed through the tender offers discussed above and for general corporate purposes.

Tax-Exempt Bonds — During the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we made net repayments of $50 million on our tax-exempt bonds.