Payments of principal and interest to owners of the book-entry interests described below are expected to be made in accordance with the procedures of The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) and its participants, including Clearstream Banking, S.A. (“Clearstream”), and Euroclear Bank SA/NV, as operator of the Euroclear System (“Euroclear”).
The trustee will maintain an office in the Borough of Manhattan, the City of New York where we will pay the principal and premium, if any, on the notes.
Interest
The notes will bear interest from and including May 16, 2023 to, but excluding, the maturity date at a rate per annum equal to 5.100%. Interest on the notes will be payable semi-annually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year (each, an “interest payment date”), beginning on December 1, 2023, to the persons in whose names the notes are registered at the close of business on May 15 and November 15 of each year. Interest on the notes will be paid on the basis of a 360-day year comprised of twelve 30-day months.
If any interest payment date or the maturity date falls on a day that is not a business day, the related payment will be made on the next succeeding business day with the same force and effect as if made on the day such payment was due, and no interest will accrue for the period from and after the interest payment date or maturity date, as the case may be.
Ranking
The notes will be our direct, senior unsecured obligations and will rank equally with all of our existing and future senior unsecured debt.
We are a holding company and conduct our operations primarily through subsidiaries. However, the notes will be obligations exclusively of Equifax Inc. and will not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries. As a result, the notes will be structurally subordinated to all debt and other liabilities of our subsidiaries, which means that creditors of our subsidiaries will be paid from their assets before holders of the notes would have any claims to those assets. At March 31, 2023, our subsidiaries had outstanding approximately $1,140.2 million of total liabilities, including approximately $0.2 million of debt (excluding, in each case, intercompany liabilities).
As a holding company, dividends from our subsidiaries and permitted payments to us under our tax sharing arrangements with our subsidiaries will be our principal sources of cash to pay principal and interest on the notes and meet our other obligations. Our subsidiaries have no obligation to pay any amounts due on the notes.
At March 31, 2023, we had outstanding $5,802.8 million of unsubordinated debt at the parent company level, all of which was unsecured. The indenture does not limit our ability, or that of any of our existing or future subsidiaries, to incur senior, subordinated or secured indebtedness and other liabilities or issue preferred stock.
Optional Redemption
Prior to May 1, 2028 (one month prior to their maturity date) (the “Par Call Date”), we may redeem the notes at our option, in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, at a redemption price (expressed as a percentage of principal amount and rounded to three decimal places) equal to the greater of:
| • | | (a) the sum of the present values of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest thereon discounted to the redemption date (assuming the notes matured on the Par Call Date) on a semi-annual basis (assuming a 360-day year consisting of twelve 30-day months) at the Treasury Rate plus 30 basis points, less (b) interest accrued to the redemption date; and |
| • | | 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed; |
plus, in either case, accrued and unpaid interest thereon to, but excluding, the redemption date.
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