Other
The Company’s broker-dealer subsidiary may utilize available, uncommitted lines of credit with no annual facility fees, which approximate $50 million, to satisfy unanticipated, short-term liquidity needs. As of March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, no borrowings were outstanding on these uncommitted lines of credit.
Note 6 Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company uses derivative financial instruments to manage the economic impact of fluctuations in interest rates related to its long-term debt and to mitigate the overall market risk for certain recently created product portfolios.
SFAS No. 133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities,” as amended by SFAS No. 138, “Accounting for Certain Derivative Instruments and Certain Hedging Activities, an Amendment of FASB Statement No. 133” and further amended by SFAS No. 149, “Amendment of Statement 133 on Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities,” (collectively, “SFAS No. 133”), requires recognition of all derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value. Derivatives that do not meet the SFAS No. 133 criteria for hedge accounting must be adjusted to fair value through earnings. Changes in the fair value of derivatives that do meet the hedge accounting criteria under SFAS No. 133 are offset against the change in the fair value of the hedged assets or liabilities, with only any “ineffectiveness” (as defined under SFAS No. 133) marked through earnings.
At March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, the Company did not hold any derivatives designated in a formal hedge relationship under the provisions of SFAS No. 133.
Derivative Transactions Related to Financing Part of the Transactions
As of March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, the Company held nine interest rate swap derivative transactions and one collar derivative that effectively convert $2.3 billion of variable rate debt into fixed-rate borrowings. In addition at March 31, 2008 the Company also held three basis swap derivative transactions with a notional amount of $1.5 billion. These basis swap derivatives effectively lock-in the expected future difference between one-month and three-month LIBOR as the primary reference rate for our variable debt. Collectively, these derivatives are referred to as the “New Debt Derivatives.” As further discussed in Note 5, “Debt,” the Company borrowed $2.3 billion under a variable rate term loan facility and $785.0 million under 10.5% senior term notes due 2015 to finance part of the Transactions. The Company recorded $49.4 million in unrealized losses related to the New Debt Derivatives in “Other Income/(Expense)” on the accompanying consolidated statement of income for the three months ended March 31, 2008. As the New Debt Derivatives did not exist until the fourth quarter of 2007, there were no unrealized gains/losses related to the New Debt Derivatives for the three months ended March 31, 2007. At March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, the fair value of the New Debt Derivatives is ($83.4 million) and ($31.7 million), respectively, and is reflected in “Fair Value of Open Derivatives” on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007.
Derivative Transactions Related to Certain Recently Created Product Portfolios
The Company entered into swap agreements and futures contracts that have not been designated as hedging instruments under SFAS No. 133 in order to mitigate overall market risk of certain recently created product portfolios. At March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, the net fair value of these open non-hedging derivatives was approximately ($0.2 million) and $17,000, respectively, and is reflected as approximately $0.2 million in “Fair Value of Open Derivatives” and $0.01 million in “Other Assets” on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2008, the Company recorded approximately $0.3 million of net losses related to these derivatives, comprised of approximately $26,000 in unrealized losses and $0.3 million in realized losses, both of which are reflected in “Other Income/(Expense)” on the accompanying consolidated statement of income for that period. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, the Company recorded
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