7. DEBT

 

Outstanding debt, net of debt issuance costs, consisted of the following (dollars in millions):

 

Huntsman Corporation

 

 

Huntsman International

 

 

DIRECT AND SUBSIDIARY DEBT

 

Huntsman Corporation’s direct debt and guarantee obligations consist of a guarantee of certain indebtedness incurred from time to time to finance certain insurance premiums. Substantially all of our other debt, including the facilities described below, has been incurred by our subsidiaries (primarily Huntsman International). Huntsman Corporation is not a guarantor of such subsidiary debt.

 

Certain of our subsidiaries are designated as nonguarantor subsidiaries (“Nonguarantors”) and have third‑party debt agreements. These debt agreements contain certain restrictions with regard to dividends, distributions, loans or advances. In certain circumstances, the consent of a third party would be required prior to the transfer of any cash or assets from these subsidiaries to us.

 

Debt Issuance Costs

 

We record debt issuance costs related to a debt liability on the balance sheet as a reduction in the face amount of that debt liability. As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the amount of debt issuance costs directly reducing the debt liability was $25 million and $57 million, respectively. We record the amortization of debt issuance costs as interest expense.

 

Senior Credit Facilities

 

As of September 30, 2017, our Senior Credit Facilities consisted of our revolving facility (“Revolving Facility”) and our 2023 Term Loan B as follows (dollars in millions):

 

 

 

Our obligations under the Senior Credit Facilities are guaranteed by substantially all of our domestic subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantors”), and are secured by a first priority lien on substantially all of our domestic property, plant and equipment (other than property, plant and equipment held by Venator and its subsidiaries), the stock of all of our material domestic subsidiaries (other than Venator and its subsidiaries) and certain foreign subsidiaries, and pledges of intercompany notes between certain of our subsidiaries.

 

On October 25, 2017, we made an early prepayment of $100 million on our 2023 Term Loan B from existing cash. In connection with the $100 million prepayment of our term loan, we recognized a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $3  million. In addition, on both April 25, 2017 and July 26, 2017, we made early prepayments of $100 million each on our 2015 Extended Term Loan B from existing cash.

 

In August 2017, we made early prepayments of $1,207 million ($450 million of which constituted a mandatory repayment as described in the seventeenth amendment to the Senior Credit Facilities) on our Senior Credit Facilities, of which $106 million was paid on our 2015 Extended Term Loan B, $347 million was paid on our 2021 Term Loan B, and $754 million was paid on our 2023 Term Loan B. The funds used to pay down the debt included $732 million received from Venator ($750 million of debt raised by Venator net of $18 million of debt issuance costs), upon its payment of intercompany debt obligations owed to Huntsman and $475 million from proceeds of the Venator IPO. In connection with the $1,207 million prepayments of our term loans, we recognized a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $34 million.

 

In connection with the Separation, Venator raised $750 million of new financing, which included (i) $375 million of senior unsecured notes and (ii) $375 million under a new senior secured term loan facility. In addition, Venator entered into a new undrawn asset-based revolving lending facility in aggregate principal amount of up to $300 million. The Venator senior unsecured notes are guaranteed on a general unsecured senior basis by Venator and certain Venator subsidiaries. The Venator senior credit facilities are unconditionally guaranteed, jointly and severally, on a senior secured basis by Venator and certain of its subsidiaries. At Separation, the Venator debt facilities were recorded within current liabilities of discontinued operations. Huntsman Corporation and its direct and indirect subsidiaries (other than Venator and its subsidiaries) do not provide any direct or indirect guarantee for the Venator debt obligations described above and they are non recourse to Huntsman Corporation and its subsidiaries.

 

Seventeenth Amendment to Credit Agreement

 

On June 15, 2017, Huntsman International entered into a seventeenth amendment to the agreement governing the Senior Credit Facilities. The amendment permitted us to complete the Separation.

 

In connection with the Separation, the amendment permitted the incurrence of certain indebtedness of Venator and the internal restructuring of the P&A Business assets. With the completion of the Separation, Venator and its subsidiaries were designated as unrestricted subsidiaries.

 

A/R Programs

 

Our U.S. accounts receivable securitization program (“U.S. A/R Program”) and our European accounts receivable securitization program (“EU A/R Program” and collectively with the U.S. A/R Program, “A/R Programs”) are structured so that we transfer certain of our trade receivables to the U.S. special purpose entity (“U.S. SPE”) and the European special purpose entity (“EU SPE”) in transactions intended to be true sales or true contributions. The receivables collateralize debt incurred by the U.S. SPE and the EU SPE. Information regarding our A/R Programs as of September 30, 2017 was as follows (monetary amounts in millions):

 

 

 

 

On April 21, 2017, we entered into amendments to our A/R Programs that, among other things, extend the scheduled termination dates to April 2020. As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, $369 million and $328 million, respectively, of accounts receivable were pledged as collateral under our A/R Programs from continuing operations.

 

Note Payable from Huntsman International to Huntsman Corporation

 

As of September 30, 2017, we had a loan of $817 million to our subsidiary, Huntsman International (the “Intercompany Note”). The Intercompany Note is unsecured and $100 million of the outstanding amount is classified as current as of September 30, 2017 on our condensed consolidated balance sheets. As of September 30, 2017, under the terms of the Intercompany Note, Huntsman International promises to pay us interest on the unpaid principal amount at a rate per annum based on the previous monthly average borrowing rate obtained under our U.S. A/R Program, less 10 basis points (provided that the rate shall not exceed an amount that is 25 basis points less than the monthly average borrowing rate obtained for the U.S. LIBOR-based borrowings under our Revolving Facility).

 

COMPLIANCE WITH COVENANTS

 

We believe that we are in compliance with the covenants contained in the agreements governing our material debt instruments, including our Senior Credit Facilities, our A/R Programs and our notes.

 

Our material financing arrangements contain certain covenants with which we must comply. A failure to comply with a covenant could result in a default under a financing arrangement unless we obtained an appropriate waiver or forbearance (as to which we can provide no assurance). A default under these material financing arrangements generally allows debt holders the option to declare the underlying debt obligations immediately due and payable. Furthermore, certain of our material financing arrangements contain cross-default and cross-acceleration provisions under which a failure to comply with the covenants in one financing arrangement may result in an event of default under another financing arrangement.

 

Our Senior Credit Facilities are subject to a single financial covenant (the “Leverage Covenant”), which applies only to the Revolving Facility and is calculated at the Huntsman International level. The Leverage Covenant is applicable only if borrowings, letters of credit or guarantees are outstanding under the Revolving Facility (cash collateralized letters of credit or guarantees are not deemed outstanding). The Leverage Covenant is a net senior secured leverage ratio covenant, which requires that Huntsman International’s ratio of senior secured debt to EBITDA (as defined in the applicable agreement) is not more than 3.75 to 1.

 

If in the future Huntsman International fails to comply with the Leverage Covenant, then we may not have access to liquidity under our Revolving Facility. If Huntsman International failed to comply with the Leverage Covenant at a time when we had uncollateralized loans or letters of credit outstanding under the Revolving Facility, Huntsman International would be in default under the Senior Credit Facilities, and, unless Huntsman International obtained a waiver or forbearance with respect to such default (as to which we can provide no assurance), Huntsman International could be required to pay off the balance of the Senior Credit Facilities in full, and we may not have further access to such facilities.

 

The agreements governing our A/R Programs also contain certain receivable performance metrics. Any material failure to meet the applicable A/R Programs’ metrics in the future could lead to an early termination event under the A/R Programs, which could require us to cease our use of such facilities, prohibiting us from additional borrowings against our receivables or, at the discretion of the lenders, requiring that we repay the A/R Programs in full. An early termination event under the A/R Programs would also constitute an event of default under our Senior Credit Facilities, which could require us to pay off the balance of the Senior Credit Facilities in full and could result in the loss of our Senior Credit Facilities.