Debt Financing

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

LINE OF CREDIT AGREEMENTS

At December 31, 2018, the Company had a $3.5 billion line of credit agreement expiring in December 2023 with fees of 0.080% per annum on the total commitment, which remained unused. Fees and interest rates on this line are primarily based on the Company’s long-term credit rating assigned by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. In addition, the Company's subsidiaries had unused lines of credit that were primarily uncommitted, short-term and denominated in various currencies at local market rates of interest.

The weighted-average interest rate of short-term borrowings was 2.6% at December 31, 2018 (based on $253.5 million of foreign currency bank line borrowings and $99.9 million of commercial paper outstanding) and 2.5% at December 31, 2017 (based on $268.0 million of foreign currency bank line borrowings).

DEBT OBLIGATIONS

The Company has incurred debt obligations principally through public and private offerings and bank loans. There are no provisions in the Company’s debt obligations that would accelerate repayment of debt as a result of a change in credit ratings or a material adverse change in the Company’s business. Certain of the Company’s debt obligations contain cross-acceleration provisions, and restrictions on Company and subsidiary mortgages and the long-term debt of certain subsidiaries. Under certain agreements, the Company has the option to retire debt prior to maturity, either at par or at a premium over par. The Company has no current plans to retire a significant amount of its debt prior to maturity.

The following table summarizes the Company’s debt obligations (interest rates and debt amounts reflected in the table include the effects of interest rate swaps used to hedge debt).



		Interest rates⁽¹⁾ December 31				Amounts outstanding December 31
In millions of U.S. Dollars	Maturity dates	2018		2017		2018			2017
Fixed		4.0	%	4.0	%	$	18,075.8		$	15,533.3
Floating		3.4		4.3		1,349.9			1,750.0
Total U.S. Dollars	2019-2048					19,425.7			17,283.3
Fixed		1.6		1.6		8,069.1			8,446.6
Floating		0.0		0.0		1,264.1			1,323.4
Total Euro	2019-2029					9,333.2			9,770.0
Total British Pounds Sterling - Fixed	2020-2054	5.3		5.3		952.3			1,008.9
Total Canadian Dollar - Fixed	2021-2025	3.1		3.1		732.0			793.8
Total Japanese Yen - Fixed	2030	2.9		2.9		114.0			110.9
Fixed		0.3		0.8		414.9			451.5
Floating		2.6		2.3		244.2			244.7
Total other currencies⁽²⁾	2019-2056					659.1			696.2
Debt obligations before fair value adjustments and deferred debt costs⁽³⁾						31,216.3			29,663.1
Fair value adjustments⁽⁴⁾						(12.0		)	(6.2		)
Deferred debt costs						(129.0		)	(120.5		)
Total debt obligations						$	31,075.3		$	29,536.4


(1)	Weighted-average effective rate, computed on a semi-annual basis.


(2)	Primarily consists of Swiss Francs and Korean Won.

(3)

Aggregate maturities for 2018 debt balances, before fair value adjustments and deferred debt costs, are as follows (in millions): 2019–$0.0; 2020–$2,418.0; 2021–$2,159.0; 2022–$2,269.1; 2023–$4,958.5; Thereafter–$19,411.7. These amounts include a reclassification of short-term obligations totaling $2.4 billion to long-term obligations as they are supported by a long-term line of credit agreement expiring in December 2023.

(4)

The carrying value of underlying items in fair value hedges, in this case debt obligations, are adjusted for fair value changes to the extent they are attributable to the risk designated as being hedged. The related hedging instruments are also recorded at fair value on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.