Long-Term Debt and Capital Lease Obligations

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Long-Term Debt and Capital Lease Obligations

Long-Term Debt and Capital Lease Obligations

5. Long-Term Debt and Capital Lease Obligations

The Company’s long-term debt and capital lease obligations consisted of the following as of December 31, 2010 and September 30, 2011:

	As of		As of
	December 31,		September 30,
	2010		2011
	(in thousands)
Senior secured notes due April 1, 2016	$	325,000	$	324,800
Unamortized premium on senior secured notes due April 1, 2016	26,251		23,143
Capital lease obligations	—		1,250
Carrying value of debt and capital lease obligations	351,251		349,193
Less current portion of long-term debt and capital lease obligations	—		(607		)
Long-term debt and capital lease obligations	$	351,251	$	348,586

Senior Secured Notes due April 1, 2016

General. In April 2010, ITC^DeltaCom issued $325.0 million aggregate principal amount of 10.5% senior secured notes due on April 1, 2016 at an offering price of 97.857% and received net proceeds of $308.5 million after transaction fees of $9.5 million. In July 2010, the Company completed an exchange offer and exchanged the Notes for an identical series of Notes registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company applied the net proceeds to repay $305.5 million aggregate amount of indebtedness, including all principal plus accrued and unpaid interest, outstanding under its first lien and second lien senior secured credit facilities and its former revolving credit facility, which were terminated.

Under the indenture for the Notes, following the consummation of the Acquisition, ITC^DeltaCom was required to offer to repurchase any or all of the Notes at 101% of their principal amount. The tender window was open from December 20, 2010 through January 18, 2011. As a result, approximately $0.2 million outstanding principal amount of the Notes was repurchased in January 2011.

The Notes accrue interest at a rate of 10.5% per year. Interest on the Notes is payable semi-annually in cash in arrears on April 1 and October 1 of each year. The Notes will mature on April 1, 2016. As a result of purchase accounting, the Notes were recorded at acquisition date fair value. The fair value was based on publicly-quoted market prices. The resulting debt premium is being amortized over the remaining life of the Notes.

Redemption. ITC^DeltaCom may redeem some or all of the Notes, at any time before April 1, 2013, at a redemption price equal to 100% of their principal amount plus a “make-whole” premium. ITC^DeltaCom may redeem some or all of the Notes at any time on or after April 1, 2013, at specified redemption prices declining from 105.250% to 100% of their principal amount. In addition, before April 1, 2013, ITC^DeltaCom may redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 110.5% of their principal amount with the net proceeds of certain equity offerings. During any 12-month period before April 1, 2013, ITC^DeltaCom may redeem up to 10% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 103% of their principal amount. If (1) ITC^DeltaCom sells certain of its assets and does not either (a) apply the net sale proceeds to repay indebtedness under the senior secured revolving credit facility, the Notes, or other indebtedness secured on a first-priority basis or (b) reinvest the net sale proceeds in its business, or (2) ITC^DeltaCom experiences a change of control, it may be required to offer to purchase Notes from holders at 100% of their principal amount, in the case of a sale of assets, or 101% of their principal amount, in the case of a change of control. ITC^DeltaCom would be required to pay accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on the Notes redeemed or purchased in each of the foregoing events of redemption or purchase.

Ranking and guaranty. The Notes are ITC^DeltaCom’s general senior obligations and rank equally in right of payment with any future senior indebtedness. The Notes are secured on a first-priority basis, along with any future pari passu secured obligations, subject to specified exceptions and permitted liens, by substantially all of the assets of ITC^DeltaCom and its subsidiaries that are deemed to be restricted subsidiaries under the indenture governing the Notes. Currently all of ITC^DeltaCom subsidiaries are deemed to be restricted subsidiaries under the indenture. The Notes are guaranteed on a senior secured basis by each of ITC^DeltaCom’s restricted subsidiaries on the initial issue date of the Notes and will be guaranteed on a senior secured basis by each future domestic restricted subsidiary, other than certain excluded subsidiaries, and by any foreign restricted subsidiary that guarantees any indebtedness of ITC^DeltaCom or any domestic restricted subsidiary. The guarantees are the subsidiary guarantors’ general senior obligations and rank equally in right of payment with all of the subsidiary guarantors’ existing and future senior indebtedness.

The subsidiary guarantors are wholly owned, directly or indirectly, by ITC^DeltaCom, Inc. and have, jointly and severally, fully and unconditionally guaranteed, to each holder of the Notes, the full and prompt performance of ITC^DeltaCom’s obligations under the Notes and the indenture governing the Notes, including the payment of principal (or premium, if any) and interest on the Notes, on an equal and ratable basis. Further, ITC^DeltaCom has no independent assets or operations, and there are no significant restrictions on the ability of its consolidated subsidiaries to transfer funds to ITC^DeltaCom in the form of cash dividends, loans or advances. ITC^DeltaCom’s assets consist solely of cash representing less than 1% of consolidated assets and investments it has made in its consolidated subsidiaries, and its operations consist solely of changes in its investment in subsidiaries and interest associated with the senior indebtedness. Based on these facts, and in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation S-X Rule 3-10, “Financial statements of guarantors and issuers of guaranteed securities registered or being registered,” ITC^DeltaCom is not required to provide condensed consolidating financial information for the subsidiary guarantors.

Covenants. The indenture governing the Notes contains covenants that, among other things, limit ITC^DeltaCom’s ability, and the ability of ITC^DeltaCom’s restricted subsidiaries, to incur additional indebtedness, create liens, pay dividends on, redeem or repurchase ITC^DeltaCom’s capital stock, make investments or repay subordinated indebtedness, engage in sale-leaseback transactions, enter into transactions with affiliates, sell assets, create restrictions on dividends and other payments to ITC^DeltaCom from its subsidiaries, issue or sell stock of subsidiaries, and engage in mergers and consolidations. All of the covenants are subject to a number of important qualifications and exceptions under the indenture. As of December 31, 2010 and September 30, 2011, the Company was in compliance with all of its financial covenants.

Fair value. As of December 31, 2010 and September 30, 2011, the fair value of the ITC^DeltaCom Notes was approximately $352.6 million and $328.0 million, respectively, based on quoted market prices.

Capital Leases

The Company leases certain equipment that is accounted for as capital leases. All of these capital leases were assumed by the Company through its acquisition of STS Telecom. Depreciation expense related to assets under capital leases is included in depreciation and amortization expense.

ITC DELTACOM INC 10-Q