v2.3.0.11
Debt
9 Months Ended
Jun. 25, 2011
Debt  
Debt

(5) Debt

The Company had total debt with a carrying value of $1.47 billion and $1.45 billion at June 25, 2011 and September 25, 2010, respectively, which consisted principally of Convertible Notes (principal of $1.725 billion). The Company has recorded the Convertible Notes net of the unamortized debt discount as required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Convertible Notes

Original Convertible Notes. On December 10, 2007, the Company issued and sold $1.725 billion, at par, of 2.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2037 (the "Original Notes"). Net proceeds from the offering were $1.69 billion, after deducting the underwriters' discounts of $34.5 million and estimated offering expenses of $1.5 million, and were used to repay certain of the Company's outstanding senior secured indebtedness. On November 18, 2010, the Company entered into separate, privately-negotiated exchange agreements under which it retired $450.0 million in aggregate principal of its Original Notes for $450.0 million in aggregate principal of new 2.00% Convertible Exchange Senior Notes due 2037 ("Exchange Notes"). Following these transactions, $1.275 billion in principal amount of the Original Notes remained outstanding. In connection with this exchange transaction, the Company recorded a loss on extinguishment of debt of $29.9 million in its Consolidated Statements of Operations in the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

Holders may require the Company to repurchase the Original Notes on December 13, 2013, and each of December 15, 2017, 2022, 2027 and 2032 or upon a fundamental change, as defined, at a repurchase price equal to 100% of their accreted principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest. The Company may redeem any of the Original Notes beginning December 18, 2013, by giving holders at least 30 days' notice. The Company may redeem the Original Notes either in whole or in part at a redemption price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, including contingent interest and liquidated damages, if any, to, but excluding, the redemption date.

The Original Notes bear interest at a rate of 2.00% per year on the principal amount, payable semi-annually in arrears in cash on June 15 and December 15 of each year, beginning June 15, 2008 and ending on December 15, 2013. The Original Notes will accrete principal from December 15, 2013 at a rate that provides holders with an aggregate annual yield to maturity of 2.00% per year. Beginning with the six month interest period commencing December 15, 2013, the Company will pay contingent interest during any six month interest period to the holders of Original Notes if the "trading price", as defined, of the Original Notes for each of the five trading days ending on the second trading day immediately preceding the first day of the applicable six month interest period equals or exceeds 120% of the accreted principal amount of the Original Notes. The holders of the Original Notes may convert the notes into shares of the Company's common stock at a conversion price of approximately $38.60 per share, subject to adjustment, prior to the close of business on September 15, 2037 under any of the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter if the last reported sale price of the Company's common stock exceeds 130% of the conversion price for at least 20 trading days in the 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the preceding calendar quarter; (2) during the five business day period after any five consecutive trading day period in which the trading price per note for each day of such period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of the Company's common stock and the conversion rate on each such day; (3) if the notes have been called for redemption; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events. None of these triggering events had occurred as of June 25, 2011.

 

In lieu of delivery of shares of the Company's common stock in satisfaction of the Company's obligation upon conversion of the Original Notes, the Company may elect to deliver cash or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock. If the Company elects to satisfy its conversion obligation in a combination of cash and shares of the Company's common stock, the Company is required to deliver up to a specified dollar amount of cash per $1,000 original principal amount of Original Notes, and will settle the remainder of its conversion obligation in shares of its common stock. It is the Company's current intent and policy to settle any conversion of the Original Notes as if the Company had elected to make the net share settlement election.

The Original Notes are the Company's senior unsecured obligations and rank equally with all of its existing and future senior unsecured debt and prior to all future subordinated debt. The Convertible Notes are effectively subordinated to any future secured indebtedness to the extent of the collateral securing such indebtedness, and structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables) of the Company's subsidiaries.

Exchange Convertible Notes. On November 18, 2010, pursuant to separate, privately-negotiated exchange agreements, the Company retired $450.0 million in aggregate principal of its Original Notes for $450.0 million in aggregate principal of Exchange Notes.

Holders may require the Company to repurchase the Exchange Notes on December 15, 2016, and on each of December 15, 2020, December 15, 2025, December 13, 2030 and December 14, 2035 or upon a fundamental change, as defined in the Second Supplemental Indenture, at a repurchase price equal to 100% of their accreted principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest. The Company may redeem any of the notes beginning December 19, 2016, by giving holders at least 30 days' notice. The Company may redeem the Exchange Notes either in whole or in part at a redemption price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, including contingent interest and liquidated damages, if any, to, but excluding, the redemption date.

The Exchange Notes bear interest at a rate of 2.00% per year on the principal amount, payable semi-annually in arrears in cash on June 15 and December 15 of each year, beginning December 15, 2010, and ending on December 15, 2016 and will accrete principal from December 15, 2016 at a rate that provides holders with an aggregate annual yield to maturity of 2.00% per year. Beginning with the six month interest period commencing December 15, 2016, the Company will pay contingent interest during any six month interest period to the holders of Exchange Notes if the "trading price", as defined, of the Exchange Notes for each of the five trading days ending on the second trading day immediately preceding the first day of the applicable six month interest period equals or exceeds 120% of the accreted principal amount of the Exchange Notes. The holders of the Exchange Notes may convert the Exchange Notes into shares of the Company's common stock at a conversion price of approximately $23.03 per share, subject to adjustment, prior to the close of business on September 15, 2037 under any of the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter if the last reported sale price of the Company's common stock exceeds 130% of the conversion price for at least 20 trading days in the 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the preceding calendar quarter; (2) during the five business day period after any five consecutive trading day period in which the trading price per note for each day of such period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of the Company's common stock and the conversion rate on each such day; (3) if the Exchange Notes have been called for redemption; or (4) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events. None of these triggering events had occurred as of June 25, 2011.

In lieu of delivery of shares of the Company's common stock in satisfaction of the Company's obligation upon conversion of the Exchange Notes, the Company may elect to deliver cash or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock. If the Company elects to satisfy its conversion obligation in a combination of cash and shares of the Company's common stock, the Company is required to deliver up to a specified dollar amount of cash per $1,000 original principal amount of Exchange Notes, and will settle the remainder of its conversion obligation in shares of its common stock. It is the Company's current intent and policy to settle any conversion of the Exchange Notes as if the Company had elected to make the net share settlement election.

The Exchange Notes are the Company's senior unsecured obligations and rank equally with all of its existing and future senior unsecured debt and prior to all future subordinated debt. The Exchange Notes are effectively subordinated to any future secured indebtedness to the extent of the collateral securing such indebtedness, and structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables) of our subsidiaries.

Accounting for the Convertible Notes

In May 2008, the FASB issued FSP APB 14-1, Accounting for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash upon Conversion (Including Partial Cash Settlement) (FSP APB 14-1)(codified within ASC 470, Debt). This accounting standard applies to certain convertible debt instruments that may be settled in cash (or other assets), or partially in cash, upon conversion. The liability and equity components of convertible debt instruments within the scope of this accounting standard must be separately accounted for in a manner that reflects the entity's nonconvertible debt borrowing rate when interest expense is subsequently recognized. The excess of the principal amount of the debt over the amount allocated to the liability component is recognized as the value of the embedded conversion feature within additional-paid-in capital in stockholders' equity and amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method.

 

On September 27, 2009 (the first day of fiscal 2010), the Company adopted this accounting standard, which is applicable to its Convertible Notes because its terms include cash or partial cash settlement. Accordingly, the Company accounted for the liability and equity components of its Original Notes separately to reflect its nonconvertible debt borrowing rate. The Company estimated the fair value of the Original Notes without the conversion feature as of the date of issuance ("liability component"). The estimated fair value of the liability component of $1.256 billion was determined using a discounted cash flow technique. Key inputs used to estimate the fair value of the liability component included the Company's estimated nonconvertible debt borrowing rate as of December 10, 2007 (the date the Convertible Notes were issued), the amount and timing of cash flows, and the expected life of the Convertible Notes. The estimated effective interest rate of 7.62% was estimated by comparing other companies' debt issuances that had features similar to the Company's debt excluding the conversion feature and who had similar credit ratings during the same annual period as the Company.

The excess of the gross proceeds received over the estimated fair value of the liability component totaling $468.9 million was allocated to the conversion feature ("equity component") as an increase to capital in excess of par value with a corresponding offset recognized as a discount to reduce the net carrying value of the Convertible Notes. The discount is being amortized to interest expense over a six-year period ending December 18, 2013 (the expected life of the liability component) using the effective interest method. In addition, third-party transaction costs are required to be allocated to the liability and equity components based on their relative values. As such, a portion of the deferred financing costs were allocated to the equity component and recorded as a reduction to capital in excess of par value.

As of September 25, 2010, the carrying amount of the Original Notes and related equity component (recorded in capital in excess of par value, net of deferred taxes) consisted of the following:

 

Convertible notes principal amount

   $ 1,725,000   

Unamortized discount

     (277,947
        

Net carrying amount

   $ 1,447,053   

Equity component, net of taxes

   $ 283,638   

As noted above, on November 18, 2010, the Company executed separate, privately-negotiated exchange agreements, and the Company retired $450.0 million in aggregate principal of its Original Notes for $450.0 million in aggregate principal of Exchange Notes. The Company followed the derecognition provisions pursuant to subtopic ASC 470-20-40, which requires the allocation of the fair value of the consideration transferred (i.e., the Exchange Notes) between the liability and equity components of the original instrument to determine the gain or loss on the transaction. In connection with this transaction, the Company recorded a loss on extinguishment of debt of $29.9 million, which is comprised of the loss on the debt itself of $26.0 million and the write-off of the pro-rata amount of debt issuance costs of $3.9 million allocated to the notes retired. The loss on the debt itself is calculated as the difference between the fair value of the liability component of the Original Notes' amount retired immediately before the exchange and its related carrying value immediately before the exchange. The fair value of the liability component was calculated similar to the description above for initially recording the Original Notes under FSP APB 14-1, and the Company used an effective interest rate of 5.46%, representing the estimated nonconvertible debt borrowing rate with a three year maturity at the measurement date. In addition, under this accounting guidance, a portion of the fair value of the consideration transferred is allocated to the reacquisition of the equity component, which is the difference between the fair value of the consideration transferred and the fair value of the liability component immediately before the exchange. As a result, $39.9 million was allocated to the reacquisition of the equity component of the original instrument, which is recorded net of deferred taxes within capital in excess of par value.

Since the Exchange Notes have the same characteristics as the Original Notes and can be settled in cash or a combination of cash and shares of common stock (i.e., partial settlement), the Company is required to account for the liability and equity components of its Exchange Notes separately to reflect its nonconvertible debt borrowing rate. The Company estimated the fair value of the Exchange Notes without the conversion feature as of the date of issuance ("liability component"). The estimated fair value of the liability component of $349.0 million was determined using a discounted cash flow technique. Key inputs used to estimate the fair value of the liability component included the Company's estimated nonconvertible debt borrowing rate as of November 18, 2010 (the date the Convertible Notes were issued), the amount and timing of cash flows, and the expected life of the Exchange Notes. The Company used an estimated effective interest rate of 6.52%.

The excess of the fair value transferred over the estimated fair value of the liability component totaling $97.3 million was allocated to the conversion feature as an increase to capital in excess of par value with a corresponding offset recognized as a discount to reduce the net carrying value of the Exchange Notes. As a result of the fair value of the Exchange Notes being lower than the Exchange Notes principal value, there is an additional discount on the Exchange Notes of $3.7 million at the measurement date. The total discount is being amortized to interest expense over a six-year period ending December 15, 2016 (the expected life of the liability component) using the effective interest method. In addition, third-party transaction costs have been allocated to the liability and equity components based on the relative values of these components.

 

As of June 25, 2011, the Convertible Notes (both the Original Notes and Exchange Notes) and related equity components (recorded in capital in excess of par value, net of deferred taxes) consisted of the following:

 

Interest expense under the Convertible Notes is as follows:

 

     Three Months Ended      Nine Months Ended  
     June 25,
2011
     June 26,
2010
     June 25,
2011
     June 26,
2010
 

Amortization of debt discount

   $ 18,229       $ 18,499       $ 54,438       $ 54,418   

Amortization of deferred financing costs

     969         1,035         2,925         3,045   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Non-cash interest expense

     19,198         19,534         57,363         57,463   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

2.00% accrued interest

     8,620         8,601         25,850         25,804   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 
   $ 27,818       $ 28,135       $ 83,213       $ 83,267   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

If the Company fails to comply with the reporting obligations contained in the Convertible Notes agreements, the sole remedy of the holders of the Convertible Notes for the first 90 days following such event of default consists exclusively of the right to receive an extension fee in an amount equal to 0.25% of the accreted principal amount of the Convertible Notes. Based on the Company's evaluation of the Convertible Notes in accordance with ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, Subtopic 40, Contracts in Entity's Own Equity, the Company determined that the Convertible Notes contain a single embedded derivative, comprising both the contingent interest feature and the filing failure penalty payment, requiring bifurcation as the features are not clearly and closely related to the host instrument. The Company has determined that the value of this embedded derivative was nominal as of June 25, 2011 and September 25, 2010.

As of June 25, 2011, upon conversion, including the potential premium that could be payable on a fundamental change (as defined), the Company would issue a maximum of approximately 68.6 million common shares to the Convertible Note holders.