Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Interest Rate Risk . The primary objectives of our investment policy, in order of priority, are as follows: safety and preservation of principal and diversification of risk; liquidity of investments sufficient to meet cash flow requirements; and competitive yield. Although our investments are subject to market risk, our investment policy specifies credit quality standards for our investments and limits the amount of credit exposure from any single issue, issuer or certain types of investment. Our investment policy allows us to maintain a portfolio of cash equivalents and short-term investments in a variety of securities, including U.S. federal government and federal agency securities, corporate bonds or commercial paper issued by U.S. corporations, money market instruments, certain qualifying money market mutual funds, certain repurchase agreements, and tax-exempt obligations of states, agencies and municipalities in the U.S. Our cash equivalents and investments as of December 31, 2023 consisted of money market funds and time deposits which are not subject to significant interest rate risk.
We are exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates in connection with our term loan borrowings. In May 2021 we entered into a credit agreement, or the Credit Agreement, that provides for (i) a seven-year $3.1 billion term loan B facility, or the Dollar Term Loan, (ii) a seven-year €625.0 million term loan B facility, or the Euro Term Loan and, together with the Dollar Term Loan, collectively known as the Term Loan and (iii) a five-year $500.0 million revolving credit facility, or the Revolving Credit Facility. There were no borrowings outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility or the Euro Term Loan as of December 31, 2023. Dollar Term Loan borrowings of $2.7 billion were outstanding as of December 31, 2023 and subject to a U.S. dollar Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or Term SOFR, floor of 0.50%. In January 2024 we completed a repricing of the Dollar Term Loan, at par, which resulted in a 50-basis point margin reduction. The applicable margin for the Dollar Term Loan is now 3.00% (in the case of Term SOFR) and 2.00% (in the case of borrowings at the prime lending rate).
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To achieve a desired mix of floating and fixed interest rates on our Dollar Term Loan, we entered into interest rate swap agreements in April 2023. The interest rate swap agreements have a notional amount of $500.0 million and are effective until April 2026. As a result of these agreements, the interest rate on a portion of our term loan borrowings is fixed at 3.9086%, plus the borrowing spread, until April 30, 2026. The net asset fair value of outstanding interest rate swap contracts was $0.4 million as of December 31, 2023. The impact of a hypothetical increase or decrease in interest rates on the fair value of the interest rate swap contracts would be offset by a change in the value of the underlying liability. If interest rates were to increase or decrease by 1%, interest expense for 2024 would increase or decrease by approximately $22.1 million, based on the unhedged portion of our outstanding variable rate borrowings.
In April 2021, we issued $1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of 4.375% senior secured notes, due 2029, or the Secured Notes. In 2017, we completed a private placement of $575.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.50% exchangeable senior notes due 2024, or the 2024 Notes, and in June 2020, we completed a private offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 2.00% exchangeable senior notes due 2026, or the 2026 Notes.
The Secured Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes have fixed annual interest rates of 4.375%, 1.50% and 2.00%, respectively, and we therefore do not have economic interest rate exposure on the Secured Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes. However, the fair values of the Secured Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes are exposed to interest rate risk. Generally, the fair values of the Secured Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. The fair values of the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes are also affected by volatility in our ordinary share price. As of December 31, 2023 the fair values of the Secured Notes, the 2024 Notes and the 2026 Notes were estimated to be approximately $1.4 billion, $559.0 million and $1.0 billion, respectively .
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk . We have significant operations in Europe as well as in the U.S. The functional currency of each foreign subsidiary is generally the local currency. We are exposed to foreign currency exchange risk as the functional currency financial statements of foreign subsidiaries are translated to U.S. dollars. The assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries having a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate prevailing at the balance sheet date, and at the average exchange rate for the reporting period for revenue and expense accounts. The cumulative foreign currency translation adjustment is recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss in shareholders’ equity. The reported results of our foreign subsidiaries will be influenced by their translation into U.S. dollars by currency movements against the U.S. dollar. Our primary currency translation exposure is related to our subsidiaries that have functional currencies denominated in sterling and euro. A hypothetical 10% strengthening or weakening in the rates used to translate the results of our foreign subsidiaries that have functional currencies denominated in sterling and euro would have increased or decreased net income for the year ended December 31, 2023 by approximately $86.8 million and $4.6 million, respectively.
Transactional exposure arises where transactions occur in currencies other than the functional currency. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the exchange rate prevailing at the date of the transaction. The resulting monetary assets and liabilities are translated into the appropriate functional currency at exchange rates prevailing at the balance sheet date and the resulting gains and losses are reported in foreign exchange gain (loss) in the consolidated statements of income (loss). As of December 31, 2023, our exposure to transaction risk primarily related to sterling and euro denominated net monetary liabilities, including intercompany loans, held by subsidiaries with a U.S. dollar functional currency. We have entered into foreign exchange forward contracts to manage this currency risk. These foreign exchange forward contracts are not designated as hedges; gains and losses on these derivative instruments are designed to offset gains and losses on the underlying balance sheet exposures. As of December 31, 2023, we held foreign exchange forward contracts with notional amounts totaling $511.7 million. The net asset fair value of outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts was $17.4 million as of December 31, 2023. Based on our foreign currency exchange rate exposures as of December 31, 2023, a hypothetical 10% adverse fluctuation in exchange rates would decrease the fair value of our foreign exchange forward contracts by approximately $38.9 million. The resulting loss on these forward contracts would be offset by a positive impact on the underlying monetary assets and liabilities.
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