Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

Note 9 – Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

Background

The Company is exposed to certain risks arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. The Company principally manages its exposures to a wide variety of business and operational risks through management of its core business activities. The Company manages economic risk, including interest rate, liquidity and credit risk primarily by managing the amount, sources and duration of its debt funding and, to a limited extent, the use of derivative instruments. For additional information regarding the leveling of the Company’s derivatives, refer to Note 10 – Fair Value Measurements.

The Company’s objective in using interest rate derivatives is to manage its exposure to interest rate movements and add stability to interest expense. To accomplish this objective, the Company uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed rate payments over the life of the agreement without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

2023 Hedge Activity

In June 2023, the Company entered into $350 million of forward starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against variability in future cash flows resulting from changes in SOFR. The swaps exchange variable rate SOFR interest on $350 million of SOFR indexed debt to a weighted average fixed interest rate of 3.57% beginning August 1, 2023 through the maturity date of January 1, 2029. The swaps are designated to hedge the variable rate interest payments of the 2029 Unsecured Term Loan indexed to SOFR. As of December 31, 2023, these interest rate swaps were valued as a liability of approximately $1.3 million.

In December 2023, the Company entered into $150 million forward-starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in SOFR. The swaps exchange variable rate SOFR interest on $150 million of SOFR indexed debt to a weighted average fixed interest rate of 3.60% beginning December 31, 2024 through the maturity date of December 31, 2034. The swaps are designated to hedge previously unhedged variable rate interest payments indexed to SOFR. As of December 31, 2023, these interest rate swaps were valued as a liability of approximately $3.2 million

2022 Settlements - Hedging 2022 Debt Issuances

In May and July 2021, the Company entered into forward-starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates from the trade date through the forecasted issuance date of $300 million of long-term debt. The Company hedged its exposure to the variability in future cash flows for a forecasted issuance of long-term debt over a maximum period ending December 2022. In August 2022, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the debt issuance, receiving $28.4 million upon termination. This settlement was included as a component of accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (“OCI”), to be recognized as an adjustment to income over the term of the debt.

2021 Settlements - Hedging 2021 Debt Issuances

In August 2020, the Company entered into forward-starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates from the trade date through the forecasted issuance date of $100

million of long-term debt. The Company hedged its exposure to the variability in future cash flows for a forecasted issuance of long-term debt over a maximum period ending February 2022. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the debt issuance, receiving $8.0 million upon termination. This settlement was included as a component of accumulated OCI, to be recognized as an adjustment to income over the term of the debt.

In December 2020, the Company entered into forward-starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates from the trade date through the forecasted issuance date of $100 million of long-term debt. The Company hedged its exposure to the variability in future cash flows for a forecasted issuance of long-term debt over a maximum period ending February 2022. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the debt issuance, receiving $5.6 million upon termination. This settlement was included as a component of accumulated OCI, to be recognized as an adjustment to income over the term of the debt.

In February 2021, the Company entered into forward-starting interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates from the trade date through the forecasted issuance date of $100 million of long-term debt. The Company hedged its exposure to the variability in future cash flows for a forecasted issuance of long-term debt over a maximum period ending February 2022. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the debt issuance, receiving $3.1 million upon termination. This settlement was included as a component of accumulated OCI, to be recognized as an adjustment to income over the term of the debt.

2021 Settlements – Extinguishment of Term Loans

Prior to May 2021, the Company had entered interest rate swap agreements to hedge against future cash flows on variable-rate borrowings. These interest rate swap agreements were settled in May 2021. The Company incurred a charge of $14.6 million upon this repayment and settlement, including swap termination costs of $13.4 million and the write-off of previously unamortized debt issuance costs of $1.2 million. Details of the interest rate swaps and related terminations is as follows:    

In July 2014, the Company entered into interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $65 million in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreements, the Company received from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one month LIBOR and paid to the counterparty a fixed rate of 2.09%. These swaps effectively converted $65 million of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from July 21, 2014 to July 21, 2021. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the payoff of the related term loan, paying $0.3 million upon termination. This settlement was recognized as an expense during the year ended December 31, 2021.

In June 2016, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $40 million in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, the Company received from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one month LIBOR and paid to the counterparty a fixed rate of 1.40%. This swap effectively converted $40 million of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from August 1, 2016 to July 1, 2023. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the payoff of the related term loan, paying $1.0 million upon termination. This settlement was recognized as an expense during the year ended December 31, 2021.

In December 2018, the Company entered into interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $100 million in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreements, the Company received from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one month LIBOR and paid to the counterparty a fixed rate of 2.66%. These swaps effectively converted $100 million of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from December 27, 2018 to January 15, 2026. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the payoff of the related term loan, paying $9.2 million upon termination. This settlement was recognized as an expense during the year ended December 31, 2021.

In October 2019, the Company entered into interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $65 million in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreements, the Company received from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one month LIBOR and paid to the counterparty a fixed rate of 1.4275%. This swap effectively converted $65 million of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from July 12, 2021 to January 12, 2024. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the payoff of the related term loan, paying $1.8 million upon termination. This settlement was recognized as an expense during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Also, in October 2019, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $35 million in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, the Company receives from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one month LIBOR and pays to the counterparty a fixed rate of 1.4265%. This swap effectively converted $35 million of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from September 29, 2020 to January 12, 2024. In May 2021, the Company terminated the swap agreements upon the payoff of the related term loan, paying $1.1 million upon termination. This settlement was recognized as an expense during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Recognition

The Company recognizes all derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities at fair value on the balance sheet.  The Company recognizes its derivatives within Other Assets, net and Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses and Other Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The Company recognizes all changes in fair value for hedging instruments designated and qualifying for cash flow hedge accounting treatment as a component of OCI.

Accumulated OCI relates to (i) the change in fair value of interest rate derivatives and (ii) realized gains or losses on settled derivative instruments. Amounts are reclassified out of accumulated OCI as an adjustment to interest expense for (i) realized gains or losses related to effective interest rate swaps and (ii) realized gains or losses on settled derivative instruments amortized over the term of the hedged debt transaction. During the next twelve months, the Company estimates that an additional $6.3 million will be reclassified as a decrease to interest expense.

During 2021, the Company accelerated the reclassification of amounts in accumulated OCI into expense given that the hedged forecasted transactions were no longer likely to occur. During 2021, the Company accelerated a loss of $13.4 million out of OCI into earnings due to missed forecasted transactions associated with terminated swap agreements in connection with the early payoff of the hedged term loans (see 2021 Settlements – Extinguishment of Term Loans above).

The Company had the following outstanding interest rate derivatives that were designated as cash flow hedges of interest rate risk (presented in thousands, except number of instruments):

	Number of Instruments 1		Notional Amount1
	December 31,	December 31,	December 31,		December 31,
Interest Rate Derivatives	2023	2022	2023		2022
Interest rate swap	6	—	$	500,000	$	—

(1) Number of Instruments and total Notional amounts disclosed includes all interest rate swap agreements outstanding at the balance sheet date, including forward-starting swaps prior to their effective date.

The table below presents the estimated fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as well as their classification in the Consolidated Balance Sheets (presented in thousands).

	Asset Derivatives
	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:
Other Assets, net	$	—	$	—

	Liability Derivatives
	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:
Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses, and Other Liabilities	$	(4,501)	$	—

The table below presents the effect of the Company’s derivative financial instruments in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 (presented in thousands).

							Location of Accumulated OCI	Amount Reclassified from
	Amount of Income/(Loss) Recognized						Reclassified from Accumulated	Accumulated OCI as a
	in OCI on Derivative						OCI into Income	(Reduction)/Increase in Interest Expense
Year Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2021			2023		2022		2021
Interest rate swaps	$	(1,911)	$	29,881	$	14,958	Interest expense	$	(5,109)	$	(684)	$	15,973
							Loss on extinguishment of debt and settlement of related hedges	$	—	$	—	$	13,363

The Company does not use derivative instruments for trading or other speculative purposes and did not have any other derivative instruments or hedging activities as of December 31, 2023.

Credit Risk-Related Contingent Features

The Company has agreements with its derivative counterparties that contain a provision where the Company could be declared in default on its derivative obligations if repayment of the underlying indebtedness is accelerated by the lender due to the Company’s default on the indebtedness.

Although the derivative contracts are subject to master netting arrangements, which serve as credit mitigants to both the Company and its counterparties under certain situations, the Company does not net its derivative fair values or any existing rights or obligations to cash collateral on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

As of December 31, 2023, the fair value of derivatives in a net liability position related to these agreements, which includes interest but excludes any adjustment for nonperformance risk was $4.1 million. The Company had no derivatives outstanding as of December 31, 2022. There was no offsetting of derivative assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.