Derivative Financial Instruments

We are exposed to interest rate risk that we manage to some extent using derivative instruments. Under our April 2015 interest rate swap contracts, we receive interest calculated using 3-month LIBOR, subject to a floor of 0.750%, and pay fixed interest at 2.341%, on an aggregate notional amount of $150.0 million. These swap contracts effectively fix the cash interest rate on $150.0 million of our borrowings under the Term Loan at 4.841% through September 30, 2021.

We have designated our interest rate swap contracts as cash flow hedges of our future interest payments and elected to apply the “shortcut” method of assessing hedge effectiveness. As a result, the gains and losses on the swap contracts are reported as a component of other comprehensive loss and are reclassified into interest expense as the related interest payments are made.

In connection with the acquisition of Singer Valve discussed in Note 4., Mueller Water Products, Inc. loaned funds to one of our Canadian subsidiaries. Although this intercompany loan has no direct effect on our consolidated financial statements, it creates exposure to currency risk for the Canadian subsidiary. To reduce this exposure, we entered into a U.S. dollar-Canadian dollar swap contract with the Canadian subsidiary and an offsetting Canadian dollar-U.S. dollar swap with a domestic bank. We have not designated these swaps as hedges and the changes in their fair value are included in earnings, where they offset the currency gains and losses associated with the intercompany loan.

The fair values of the swap contracts are presented below.



	September 30,
	2017		2016
	(in millions)
Interest rate swap contracts, designated as cash flow hedges:
Other current liabilities	$	1.2	$	2.0
Other noncurrent liabilities	1.3		5.3
	$	2.5	$	7.3

Currency swap contracts, not designated as hedges:
Other noncurrent liabilities	$	1.3	$	—

The fair values and the classification of the fair values between current and noncurrent portions are based on calculated cash flows using publicly available interest rate forward rate yield curve information, but amounts due at the actual settlement dates are dependent on actual rates in effect at the settlement dates and may differ significantly from amounts shown above.

The fair values of the currency swaps are as reported to us by the bank counterparty, which we believe to be a reliable source.