Long-term Debt. On July 6, 2016, we entered into a Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Second Amended Credit Agreement”), with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as administrative agent (the “Agent”), swingline lender and a lender, and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, as sole lead arranger and sole bookrunner. In addition to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, Bank of America, N.A., U.S. Bank, National Association, and HSBC Bank USA, National Association, are parties to the Second Amended Credit Agreement as lenders. The Second Amended Credit Agreement amends and restates in its entirety Merit’s previously outstanding Amended and Restated Credit Agreement and all amendments thereto.

The Second Amended Credit Agreement provides for a term loan of $150 million and a revolving credit commitment up to an aggregate amount of $275 million, which includes a reserve of $25 million to make swingline loans from time to time. The term loan is payable in quarterly installments in the amounts provided in the Second Amended Credit Agreement until the maturity date of July 6, 2021, at which time the term and revolving credit loans, together with accrued interest thereon, will be due and payable. At any time prior to the maturity date, we may repay any amounts owing under all revolving credit loans, term loans, and all swingline loans in whole or in part, subject to certain minimum thresholds, without premium or penalty, other than breakage costs.

In summary, principal balances under our long-term debt as of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, consisted of the following (in thousands):



	September 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
Term loan	$	147,500		$	64,962
Revolving credit loans	180,913			142,631
Less debt issuance costs	(653		)	—
Total long-term debt	327,760			207,593
Less current portion	10,000			10,000
Long-term portion	$	317,760		$	197,593

Revolving credit loans denominated in dollars and term loans made under the Second Amended Credit Agreement bear interest, at our election, at either a Base Rate or Eurocurrency Base Rate (as such terms are defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) plus the applicable margin, which increases as our Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) increases. Revolving credit loans denominated in an Alternative Currency (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) bear interest at the Eurocurrency rate plus the applicable margin. Swingline loans bear interest at the base rate plus the applicable margin. Upon an event of default, the interest rate may be increased by 2.0%. The revolving credit commitment will also carry a commitment fee of 0.15% to 0.4% per annum on the unused portion.

The Second Amended Credit Agreement is collateralized by substantially all our assets. The Second Amended Credit Agreement contains covenants, representations and warranties and other terms customary for loans of this nature. The Second Amended Credit Agreement requires that we maintain certain financial covenants, as follows:



		Covenant Requirement
Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio (1)
	Through March 31, 2017	4.5 to 1.0
	April 1, 2017 through June 30, 2017	4.0 to 1.0
	July 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017	3.75 to 1.0
	January 1, 2018 through March 31, 2018	3.5 to 1.0
	April 1, 2018 and thereafter	3.25 to 1.0
Consolidated EBITDA (2)		1.25 to 1.0
Consolidated Net Income (3)		$—
Facility Capital Expenditures (4)		$30 million

(1)	Maximum Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) as of any fiscal quarter end.
(2)	Minimum ratio of Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement and adjusted for certain expenditures) to Consolidated Fixed Charges (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) for any period of four consecutive fiscal quarters.
(3)	Minimum level of Consolidated Net Income (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) for certain periods, and subject to certain adjustments.
(4)	Maximum level of the aggregate amount of all Facility Capital Expenditures (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Agreement) in any fiscal year.

Additionally, the Second Amended Credit Agreement contains customary events of default and affirmative and negative covenants for transactions of this type. As of September 30, 2016, we believe we were in compliance with all covenants set forth in the Second Amended Credit Agreement.

Future minimum principal payments on our long-term debt as of September 30, 2016, are as follows (in thousands):



Years Ending	Future Minimum
December 31	Principal Payments
2016	2,500
2017	10,000
2018	12,500
2019	15,000
2020	17,500
Thereafter	270,913
Total future minimum principal payments	$	328,413

As of September 30, 2016, we had outstanding borrowings of approximately $328.4 million under the Second Amended Credit Agreement, with available borrowings of approximately $91.6 million, based on the leverage ratio required pursuant to the Second Amended Credit Agreement. Our interest rate as of September 30, 2016 was a fixed rate of 3.48% on $131.3 million and 3.62% on $43.8 million as a result of interest rate swaps (see Note 10), a variable floating rate of 3.02% on $153.0 million and a variable floating rate of 5.00% on approximately $0.4 million. Our interest rate as of December 31, 2015 was a fixed rate of 2.48% on $135.0 million as a result of an interest rate swap, a variable floating rate of 1.74% on $65.8 million and a variable floating rate of 2.12% on approximately $6.8 million.