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LONG-TERM DEBT AND OTHER BORROWING ARRANGEMENTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 30, 2012

Long-Term Debt, Other Disclosures [Abstract]

12. LONG-TERM DEBT AND OTHER BORROWING ARRANGEMENTS

Long-term debt consisted of the following components:

	Maturity	December 30, 2012			December 25, 2011
		(In thousands)
Senior notes, at 7 ⅞%, net of unaccreted discount	2018	$	497,301		$	496,846
The U.S. Credit Facility Term B-1 note payable at
4.8125%	2014		275,443			275,443
The U.S. Credit Facility Term B-2 note payable at
9.00%	2014		283,647			299,145
The U.S. Credit Facility with one revolving note payable on
which the Company had funds borrowed at 4.32% and
6.25%	2014		103,600			347,300
Mexico Credit Facility (defined below) with notes payable at TIIE Rate
plus 2.25% or Equilibrium Interbank Interest Rate plus 4.5%	2014		—			—
Subordinated Loan Agreement (defined below) with one
term note payable at 9.845%	2015		—			50,000
Other	Various		4,765			4,878
Long-term debt			1,164,756			1,473,612
Less: Current maturities of long-term debt			(15,886	)		(15,611	)
Long-term debt, less current maturities		$	1,148,870		$	1,458,001

Senior and Subordinated Notes

At December 30, 2012, the Company had an aggregate principal balance of $500.0 million of 7 ⅞% senior notes due 2018 (the “2018 Notes”) outstanding that are registered under the Securities Act of 1933. The 2018 Notes are unsecured obligations of the Company and are guaranteed by one of the Company’s subsidiaries. Interest is payable on December 15 and June 15 of each year, commencing on June 15, 2011. The indenture governing the 2018 Notes contains various covenants that may adversely affect our ability, among other things, to incur additional indebtedness, incur liens, pay dividends or make certain restricted payments, consummate certain asset sales, enter into certain transactions with JBS USA and our other affiliates, merge, consolidate and/or sell or dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. Additionally, we have an aggregate principal balance of $3.9 million of 7 ⅝% senior unsecured notes, 8 ⅜% senior subordinated unsecured notes and 9 ¼% senior unsecured notes outstanding at December 30, 2012.

JBS Subordinated Loan Agreement

On June 23, 2011, the Company entered into a Subordinated Loan Agreement with JBS USA (the “Subordinated Loan Agreement”), which provided an aggregate commitment of $100.0 million. On June 23, 2011, JBS USA made a term loan to the Company in the principal amount of $50.0 million. Pursuant to the terms of the Subordinated Loan Agreement, we also agreed to reimburse JBS USA up to $56.5 million for draws upon any letters of credit issued for JBS USA’s account that support certain obligations of the Company or its subsidiaries. On December 16, 2011, the Company and JBS USA executed an amendment to the Subordinated Loan Agreement that, among other things, provided that if the Company consummated a stock rights offering (the “Rights Offering”) that allowed stockholders of record as of January 17, 2012 to purchase an aggregate 44,444,444 shares of the Company’s common stock on or before March 24, 2012, the loan commitment under the Subordinated Loan Agreement would be terminated. The Company consummated the Rights Offering on February 29, 2012. Further, under the U.S. Credit Facility (as defined below), following the consummation of the Rights Offering, (i) the Company, at its option, was permitted to prepay the outstanding $50.0 million term loan under the Subordinated Loan Agreement and (ii) the existing commitment of JBS USA to make an additional $50.0 million term loan to the Company under the Subordinated Loan Agreement would be terminated. On March 7, 2012, the Company repaid the outstanding $50.0 million term loan under the Subordinated Loan Agreement, plus accrued interest, with proceeds received from the Rights Offering and the remaining commitment of JBS USA to make loans under the Subordinated Loan Agreement was terminated.

JBS USA agreed to arrange for letters of credit to be issued on its account in the amount of $56.5 million to an insurance company serving the Company in order to allow that insurance company to return cash it held as collateral against potential workers compensation, auto and general liability claims. In return for providing this letter of credit, the Company has agreed to reimburse JBS USA for the letter of credit cost the Company would otherwise incur under its U.S. Credit Facility (as defined below). The total amount paid by the Company for 2012 and 2011 costs, to reimburse JBS USA, was $2.2 million and $0.4 million, respectively. As of December 30, 2012, the Company has accrued an obligation of $0.2 million to reimburse JBS USA for letter of credit costs incurred on its behalf.

U.S. Credit Facility

Pilgrim’s and certain of its subsidiaries have entered into a credit agreement (the “U.S. Credit Facility”) with CoBank ACB, as administrative agent and collateral agent, and other lenders party thereto, which currently provides a $700.0 million revolving credit facility and a Term B facility. The U.S. Credit Facility also includes an accordion feature that allows us, at any time, to increase the aggregate revolving loan commitment by up to an additional $100.0 million and to increase the aggregate Term B loans commitment by up to an additional $400.0 million, in each case subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including obtaining the lenders’ agreement to participate in the increase and an aggregate limit on all commitments under the U.S. Credit Facility of $1.85 billion. On April 22, 2011, we increased the amount of the sub-limit for swingline loans under the U.S. Credit Facility to $100.0 million. The revolving loan commitment and the Term B loans will mature on December 28, 2014.

On December 28, 2009, the Company paid loan costs totaling $50.0 million related to the U.S. Credit Facility that it recognized as an asset on its balance sheet. The Company amortizes these capitalized costs to interest expense over the life of the U.S. Credit Facility.

Subsequent to the end of each fiscal year, a portion of our cash flow must be used to repay outstanding principal amounts under the Term B loans. With respect to 2012, the Company estimates that it will be required to pay approximately $141.0 million of its cash flow toward the outstanding principal under the Term B loans, which the Company expects to pay on April 29, 2013. The Company did not have excess cash flow from 2011 to be applied toward the outstanding principal under the Term B loans. In April 2011, the Company paid approximately $46.3 million of its excess cash flow from 2010 toward the outstanding principal under the Term B loans. The excess cash flow payments have been and will continue to be applied to installments of the Term B loans ratably in accordance with the then outstanding amounts thereof. The U.S. Credit Facility also requires us to use the proceeds we receive from certain asset sales and specified debt or equity issuances and upon the occurrence of other events to repay outstanding borrowings under the U.S. Credit Facility. The cash proceeds received by the Company from the Rights Offering were not subject to this requirement. On December 30, 2012, a principal amount of $559.1 million under the Term B loans commitment was outstanding.

Actual borrowings by the Company under the revolving credit commitment component of the U.S. Credit Facility are subject to a borrowing base, which is a formula based on certain eligible inventory, eligible receivables and restricted cash under the control of CoBank ACB. As of December 30, 2012, the applicable borrowing base was $658.1 million, the amount available for borrowing under the revolving loan commitment was $529.9 million and outstanding borrowings and letters of credit under the revolving loan commitment were $103.6 million and $24.6 million, respectively.

The U.S. Credit Facility contains financial covenants and various other covenants that may adversely affect our ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, incur liens, pay dividends or make certain restricted payments, consummate certain assets sales, enter into certain transactions with JBS USA and our other affiliates, merge, consolidate and/or sell or dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. On June 23, 2011 and December 16, 2011, the Company entered into amendments to the U.S. Credit Facility, which, among other things, (i) temporarily suspended the requirement for the Company to comply with the fixed charge coverage ratio and senior secured leverage ratio financial covenants until the quarter ended December 30, 2012, (ii) modified the fixed charge coverage ratio financial covenant so that when the requirement to comply with this covenant resumes in the quarter ended December 30, 2012, the Company can calculate the fixed charge coverage ratio based upon a specified number of fiscal quarters selected by the Company, (iii) reduced the minimum allowable consolidated tangible net worth to the sum of $450 million plus 50% of the cumulative net income (excluding any losses) of the Company from December 16, 2011 through such date of calculation and (iv) increased the maximum allowable senior secured leverage ratio, determined for any period of four consecutive fiscal quarters ending on the last day of each fiscal quarter, to be no greater than 4.0 to 1.0 for periods calculated from September 24, 2012 and thereafter. The Company is currently in compliance with these financial covenants.

The U.S. Credit Facility provides that the Company may not incur capital expenditures in excess of $175.0 million in either 2011 or 2012 and $350.0 million each fiscal year thereafter. The U.S. Credit Facility contains various other covenants that may adversely affect our ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, incur liens, pay dividends or make certain restricted payments, consummate certain assets sales, enter into certain transactions with JBS USA and our other affiliates, merge, consolidate and/or sell or dispose of all or substantially all of our assets.

All obligations under the U.S. Credit Facility are unconditionally guaranteed by certain of the Company’s subsidiaries and are secured by a first priority lien on (i) the accounts receivable and inventories of the Company and its non-Mexico subsidiaries, (ii) 65% of the equity interests in the Company’s direct foreign subsidiaries and 100% of the equity interests in the Company’s other subsidiaries, (iii) substantially all of the personal property and intangibles of the borrowers and guarantors under the U.S. Credit Facility and (iv) substantially all of the real estate and fixed assets of the Company and the guarantor subsidiaries under the U.S. Credit Facility.

Mexico Credit Facility

On October 19, 2011, Avícola Pilgrim’s Pride de México, S.A. de C.V. , Pilgrim’s Pride S. de R.L. de C.V. and certain Mexican subsidiaries entered into an amended and restated credit agreement (the “Mexico Credit Facility”) with ING Bank (México), S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, ING Grupo Financiero, as lender and ING Capital LLC, as administrative agent. The Mexico Credit Facility has a final maturity date of September 25, 2014. The Mexico Credit Facility is secured by substantially all of the assets of the Company’s Mexico subsidiaries. As of December 30, 2012, the U.S. dollar-equivalent of the loan commitment under the Mexico Credit Facility was $42.8 million. There were no outstanding borrowings under the Mexico Credit Facility at December 30, 2012.

Under the Mexico Credit Facility, if (i) any default or event of default has occurred and is continuing or (ii) the quotient of the borrowing base divided by the outstanding loans and letters of credit (the “Collateral Coverage Ratio”) under the Mexico Credit Facility is less than 1.25 to 1.00, the loans and letters of credit under the Mexico Credit Facility will be subject to, and cannot exceed, a borrowing base. The borrowing base is a formula based on accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid assets, net cash under the control of the administrative agent and up to 150.0 million Mexican pesos of fixed assets of our Mexico subsidiaries party to the Mexico Credit Facility. The borrowing base formula will be reduced by trade payables of those Mexico subsidiaries. If the Collateral Coverage Ratio falls below 1.25 to 1.00, the borrowing base requirement would terminate upon the earlier of (i) the Collateral Coverage Ratio exceeding 1.25 to 1.00 as of the latest measurement period for 60 consecutive days or (ii) the borrowing availability under the Mexico Credit Facility being equal to or greater than the greater of 20% of the revolving commitments under the Mexico Credit Facility and 100.0 million Mexican pesos for a period of 60 consecutive days.

Avicola may pay dividends or make other restricted payments to the Company in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate 250.0 million Mexican pesos during the term of the Mexico Credit Facility if certain conditions are satisfied, including a condition that availability is at least 100% of the revolving loan commitment under the Mexico Credit Facility, less any letter of credit liability under the Mexico Credit Facility. However, the Company deems its earnings from Mexico as of December 30, 2012 to be permanently reinvested. As such, U.S. deferred income taxes have not been provided on these earnings. If such earnings were not considered indefinitely reinvested, certain deferred foreign and U.S. income taxes would be provided.

Early Extinguishment of Debt

The Company did not recognize any expense related to the early extinguishment of debt in 2012 or 2011. The Company incurred expenses of $11.7 million related to the early extinguishment of debt in 2010. These expenses included costs associated with the elimination of unamortized capitalized finance charges related to the Term A loan and a portion of the Term B loan of the U.S. Credit Facility.

Other Disclosures

Substantially all of our domestic inventories and domestic fixed assets are pledged as collateral to secure the obligations under the U.S. Credit Facility. The Mexico Credit Facility is secured by substantially all of the assets of the Company’s Mexico subsidiaries.

Annual maturities of long-term debt for the five years subsequent to December 30, 2012 are as follows (in thousands):

2013	$	15,886
2014		647,327
2015		263
2016		86
2017		3,611
Thereafter		500,282
Total maturities		1,167,455
Less: Amount representing original issue discount, net of accretion		(2,699	)
Total long-term debt	$	1,164,756

Total interest expense was $104.9 million, $111.5 million and $105.6 million in 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Interest related to new construction capitalized in 2012, 2011 and 2010 was $1.7 million, $3.4 million and $1.3 million, respectively.