Rogers 2015 Annual Report Download - page 126

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Each of the above senior notes and debentures are unsecured and,
as at December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, were
guaranteed by RCP, ranking equally with all of RCI’s other senior
notes, debentures, bank credit facilities, and letter of credit facilities.
We use derivatives to hedge the foreign exchange risk associated
with the principal and interest components of all of our US dollar-
denominated senior notes and debentures (see note 16).
Effective January 1, 2016, as a result of the dissolution of RCP (see
note 1), RCP is no longer a guarantor or co-obligor, as applicable,
for the Company’s bank credit and letter of credit facilities, senior
notes and debentures, and derivative instruments. RCI continues to
be the obligor in respect of each of these, while RCCI is either a co-
obligor or guarantor for the senior notes and debentures and a
guarantor, as applicable, for the bank credit and letter of credit
facilities and derivative instruments.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE INTEREST RATE
Our effective weighted average rate on all debt and short-term
borrowings, as at December 31, 2015, including the effect of all of
the associated debt derivative instruments and the exercised bond
forward, was 4.82% (2014 – 5.20%).
BANK CREDIT AND LETTER OF CREDIT FACILITIES
In 2015, we entered into a new bank credit facility (non-revolving
credit facility) that provides access to $1.0 billion of non-revolving
borrowings, in addition to our existing $2.5 billion revolving credit
facility (revolving credit facility). The non-revolving credit facility
matures in April 2017 with no scheduled principal repayments prior
to maturity. The interest rate charged on borrowings under the
non-revolving credit facility falls within the range of pricing
indicated for our revolving credit facility.
In December 2015, we amended our non-revolving bank credit
facility to allow partial, temporary repayment of this facility from
December 2015 through May 2016; the maximum credit limit
remains $1.0 billion.
During 2015, we borrowed $6,025 million (2014 – $1,330 million)
under our revolving and non-revolving credit facilities and repaid
$5,525 million (2014 – $1,330 million) (see note 30).
In April 2014, we re-negotiated the terms of our revolving credit
facility to increase the maximum amount available from $2.0 billion
to $2.5 billion while extending the maturity date from July 2017 to
July 2019. The $2.5 billion revolving credit facility is available on a
fully revolving basis until maturity and there are no scheduled
reductions prior to maturity. The interest rate charged on
borrowings from the revolving credit facility ranges from nil to
1.25% per annum over the bank prime rate or base rate, or 0.85%
to 2.25% (1.00% to 2.25% prior to April 2014) over the bankers’
acceptance rate or London Inter-Bank Offered Rate.
In April 2014, we arranged for the return and cancellation of
approximately $0.4 billion of letters of credit that were issued in
relation to the 700 MHz spectrum licence auction completed in
early 2014 and the corresponding letter of credit facility was
permanently cancelled.
As at December 31, 2015, we had $500 million (2014 – nil)
outstanding under our revolving and non-revolving credit facilities.
As at December 31, 2015, we had available liquidity of $3.0 billion
(2014 – $2.5 billion) under our $3.6 billion of revolving and non-
revolving credit and letter of credit facilities (2014 – $2.6 billion), of
which we had utilized approximately $0.1 billion (2014 – $0.1
billion) related to outstanding letters of credit and $0.5 billion of
borrowings (2014 – nil).
SENIOR NOTES AND DEBENTURES
Interest is paid on our senior notes as follows:
• semi-annually on all of our fixed rate senior notes and
debentures; and
• quarterly on our floating rate senior notes.
We have the option to redeem each of our fixed rate senior notes
and debentures, in whole or in part, at any time, if we pay the
premiums specified in the corresponding agreements.
124 ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. 2015 ANNUAL REPORT