Financial Instruments and Fair Value Measurements | NOTE 11. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS Derivative Financial Instruments In the normal course of business, our operations are exposed to global market risks, including the effect of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. To manage these risks, we may enter into various derivative contracts, such as foreign currency contracts to manage foreign currency exposure, and interest rate swaps to manage the effect of interest rate fluctuations. We do not use derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. All of our derivative financial instruments are customized derivative transactions and are not exchange-traded. Management reviews our hedging program, derivative positions and overall risk management strategy on a regular basis. We enter into only those transactions we believe will be highly effective at offsetting the underlying risk. There have been no significant changes in our policy or strategy from what was disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. The following table presents the fair value and location of our derivative instruments (in thousands): March 31, 2016 December 31, 2015 Asset Liability Asset Liability Net investment hedges – Canadian dollar denominated $ - $ 2,183 $ - $ - Net investment hedges – pound sterling denominated 42,301 - 33,471 - Cash flow hedge foreign currency options – peso denominated - 64 - 88 Foreign currency options – Canadian dollar denominated (1) 1,203 676 3,324 - Foreign currency options – euro denominated (1) 840 7,045 11,711 84 Foreign currency options – pound sterling denominated (1) 8,431 - 4,241 745 Foreign currency options – yen denominated (1) 149 6,011 832 717 Interest rate hedges - 30,994 - 12,095 Total fair value of derivatives $ 52,924 $ 46,973 $ 53,579 $ 13,729 (1) As discussed above, these foreign currency options are not designated as hedges. We recognized losses of $16.8 million and gains of $20.1 million in Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains and (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net Foreign Currency We primarily manage our foreign currency exposure by borrowing in the currencies in which we invest. We may issue debt in a currency that is not the same functional currency of the borrowing entity to offset the translation and economic exposures related to our net investment in international subsidiaries. To mitigate the impact of the translation from the fluctuations in exchange rates, we may designate this debt as a nonderivative financial instrument hedge. We also hedge our investments in certain international subsidiaries using foreign currency derivative contracts (net investment hedges) to offset the translation and economic exposures related to our investments in these subsidiaries by locking in a forward exchange rate at the inception of the hedge. To the extent we have an effective hedging relationship, we report all changes in fair value of the hedged portion of the nonderivative financial instruments and net investment hedges in equity in the foreign currency translation component of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss (“AOCI” ) AOCI Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net We may use foreign currency option contracts, including puts, calls and collars to mitigate foreign currency exchange rate risk associated with the translation of our projected net operating income of our international subsidiaries. These are not designated as hedges as they do not meet hedge accounting requirements. Changes in the fair value of non-hedge designated derivatives are recorded directly in earnings within the line item Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net AOCI The following tables summarize the activity in our foreign currency contracts for the three months ended March 31 (in millions, except for weighted average forward rates and number of active contracts): 2016 Foreign Currency Contracts Local Currency Net Investment Forward Contracts Forward and Option Contracts GBP JPY CAD EUR (1) GBP (1) (2) JPY (1) Other (1) Notional amounts at January 1 £ 238 ¥ - $ - € 275 £ 97 ¥ 12,840 New contracts - 11,189 133 60 - 4,000 Matured or expired contracts - (11,189 ) - (45 ) (12 ) (1,460 ) Notional amounts at March 31 £ 238 ¥ - $ 133 € 290 £ 85 ¥ 15,380 Foreign Currency Contracts U.S. Dollar Net Investment Forward Contracts Forward and Option Contracts Notional amounts at January 1 $ 386 $ - $ - $ 310 $ 148 $ 109 $ 50 New contracts - 99 100 68 - 36 9 Matured or expired contracts - (99 ) - (51 ) (18 ) (13 ) (8 ) Notional amounts at March 31 $ 386 $ - $ 100 $ 327 $ 130 $ 132 $ 51 Weighted average forward rate at March 31 1.62 - 1.33 1.13 1.53 116.35 - Active contracts at March 31 3 - 2 21 14 22 20 2015 Foreign Currency Contracts Local Currency Net Investment Forward Contracts Forward and Option Contracts (1) EUR GBP JPY EUR GBP JPY Notional amounts at January 1 € 300 £ 238 ¥ 24,136 € 284 £ - ¥ - New contracts - - - 198 126 12,740 Matured or expired contracts - - - (217 ) (7 ) (1,200 ) Notional amounts at March 31 € 300 £ 238 ¥ 24,136 € 265 £ 119 ¥ 11,540 Foreign Currency Contracts U.S. Dollar Net Investment Forward Contracts Forward and Option Contracts (1) Notional amounts at January 1 $ 400 $ 400 $ 250 $ 354 $ - $ - New contracts - - - 224 188 109 Matured or expired contracts - - - (265 ) (11 ) (10 ) Notional amounts at March 31 $ 400 $ 400 $ 250 $ 313 $ 177 $ 99 (1) During the three months ended March 31, 2016, and 2015, we exercised eight and six option contracts and realized gains of $1.7 million and $2.2 million, respectively, in Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net. (2) Included in our British pounds sterling denominated option contracts are two forward contracts to sell British pounds sterling and buy euros. These forwards have a notional amount of £11.0 million (€14.8 million) and were reported in this table using a weighted average exchange rate of $1.09 U.S. dollars to the euro. Interest Rate We may enter into interest rate swap agreements, which allow us to borrow on a fixed rate basis for longer-term debt issuances, or interest rate cap agreements, which allow us to minimize the impact of increases in interest rates. We may also enter into interest rate swap agreements that allow us to receive variable-rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for us making fixed-rate payments over the life of our agreements without the exchange of the underlying notional amount. We report the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative as a component of AOCI Interest Expense AOCI Gains (Losses) on Early Extinguishment of Debt, Net Interest Expense At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, we had seven interest rate swaps outstanding with a notional amount of $1.4 billion. We did not enter into or settle any interest rate swaps during the three months ended March 31, 2016, and 2015. In January 2016, the Bank of Japan introduced negative interest rates. As a result, our two Japanese yen denominated interest rate hedges related to the 2015 Japan term loan no longer qualified for hedge accounting due to a zero percent floor mismatch in the hedging relationship. These interest rate hedges were designated as cash flow hedges at December 31, 2015, and the change in fair value was recorded in Other Comprehensive Income Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net. Other Comprehensive Income The change in Other Comprehensive Income The following table presents the gains and (losses) associated with the change in fair value for the effective portion of our derivative and nonderivative hedging instruments included in Other Comprehensive Income Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 2015 Derivative net investment hedges (1) $ 7,908 $ 63,178 Interest rate hedges (2) (11,118 ) 1,582 Cash flow hedges (3 ) - Our share of derivatives from unconsolidated co-investment ventures (4,771 ) 2,227 Total derivative instruments (7,984 ) 66,987 Nonderivative net investment hedges (3) (161,189 ) 330,114 Total derivative and nonderivative hedging instruments $ (169,173 ) $ 397,101 (1) We received $0.9 million and $1.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, and 2015, respectively, upon the settlement of net investment hedges. (2) The amounts reclassified to interest expense for three months ended March 31, 2016, were $1.0 million. The amounts reclassified to interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2015, were not considered significant. For the next 12 months from March 31, 2016, we estimate an additional expense for $5.9 million will be reclassified to Interest Expense (3) At March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015, we had €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion) and €3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) of debt, net of accrued interest, respectively, designated as nonderivative financial instrument hedges of our net investment in international subsidiaries. We recognized unrealized gains of $15.4 million in Foreign Currency and Derivative Gains (Losses) and Related Amortization, Net Fair Value Measurements We have estimated the fair value of our financial instruments using available market information and valuation methodologies we believe to be appropriate for these purposes. Considerable judgment and a high degree of subjectivity are involved in developing these estimates and, accordingly, they are not necessarily indicative of amounts that we would realize on disposition. There have been no significant changes in our policy or strategy from what was disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. Fair Value Measurements on a Recurring Basis At March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015, other than the derivatives discussed previously, we did not have any significant financial assets or financial liabilities that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis in the Consolidated Financial Statements. All of our derivatives held at March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015, were classified as Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. Fair Value Measurements on Nonrecurring Basis No assets met the criteria to be measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis at March 31, 2016, or December 31, 2015. Fair Value of Financial Instruments At March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015, the carrying amounts of certain financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts and notes receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses were representative of their fair values because of the short-term nature of these instruments. The differences in the fair value of our debt from the carrying value in the table below are the result of differences in interest rates or borrowing spreads that were available to us at March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015, as compared with those in effect when the debt was issued or assumed, including reduced borrowing spreads due to our improved credit ratings. The senior notes and many of the issues of secured mortgage debt contain pre-payment penalties or yield maintenance provisions that could make the cost of refinancing the debt at lower rates exceed the benefit that would be derived from doing so. The following table reflects the carrying amounts and estimated fair values of our debt (in thousands): March 31, 2016 December 31, 2015 Carrying Value Fair Value Carrying Value Fair Value Credit Facilities $ 306,775 $ 307,012 $ - $ - Senior notes 6,682,221 7,183,290 6,516,392 6,801,118 Term loans and other debt 1,897,819 1,910,292 2,115,457 2,128,270 Secured mortgage debt 987,826 1,080,954 1,172,473 1,262,778 Secured mortgage debt of consolidated entities 1,812,530 1,821,697 1,822,509 1,825,361 Total debt $ 11,687,171 $ 12,303,245 $ 11,626,831 $ 12,017,527 |