21
Our indebtedness as of December 31, 2016 was approximately
$3.6 billion. We also may borrow up to an additional $749
million under our revolving credit facility.
Our leverage could:
•
reduce funds available to us for operations and general
corporate purposes or for capital expenditures as a result
of the dedication of a substantial portion of our
consolidated cash flow from operations to the payment of
principal and interest on our indebtedness;
•
increase our exposure to a continued downturn in general
economic conditions;
•
place us at a competitive disadvantage compared with our
competitors with less debt; and
•
affect our ability to obtain additional financing in the future
for refinancing indebtedness, acquisitions, working
capital, capital expenditures or other purposes.
In addition, we must comply with the covenants in our credit
facilities. Among other things, these covenants restrict our
ability to grant liens, incur additional indebtedness, pay
dividends, dispose of assets and conduct transactions with
affiliates. Failure to meet any of the covenant terms of our credit
facilities could result in an event of default. If an event of default
occurs, and we are unable to receive a waiver of default, our
lenders may increase our borrowing costs, restrict our ability
to obtain additional borrowings and accelerate all amounts
outstanding. Our credit facilities allow us to pay cash dividends
on our common stock as long as certain leverage ratios are
maintained.
We are subject to litigation risks and other liabilities.
Many aspects of our business potentially involve substantial
liability risks. Although under current law we are immune from
private suits arising from conduct within our regulatory
authority and from acts and forbearances incident to the exercise
of our regulatory authority, this immunity only covers certain
of our activities in the U.S., and we could be exposed to liability
under national and local laws, court decisions and rules and
regulations promulgated by regulatory agencies.
Some of our other liability risks arise under the laws and
regulations relating to the tax, intellectual property, anti-money
laundering, technology export, foreign asset controls and
foreign corrupt practices areas. Liability could also result from
disputes over the terms of a trade, claims that a system failure
or delay cost a customer money, claims we entered into an
unauthorized transaction or claims that we provided materially
false or misleading statements in connection with a securities
transaction. As we intend to defend any such litigation actively,
significant legal expenses could be incurred. Although we carry
insurance that may limit our risk of damages in some cases, we
still may sustain uncovered losses or losses in excess of
available insurance that would affect our financial condition
and results of operations.
We have self-regulatory obligations and also operate for-
profit businesses, and these two roles may create conflicts of
interest.
We have obligations to regulate and monitor activities on our
markets and ensure compliance with applicable law and the
rules of our markets by market participants and listed
companies. In the U.S., some have expressed concern about
potential conflicts of interest of “for-profit” markets performing
the regulatory functions of an SRO. Although our U.S. cash
equity and options exchanges outsource a substantial portion
of their market regulation functions to FINRA, we do perform
regulatory functions and bear regulatory responsibility related
to our listed companies and our markets. Any failure by us to
diligently and fairly regulate our markets or to otherwise fulfill
our regulatory obligations could significantly harm our
reputation, prompt SEC scrutiny and adversely affect our
business and reputation.
Our Nordic and Baltic exchanges also monitor trading and
compliance with listing standards. They monitor the listing of
cash equities and other financial instruments. The prime
objective of such monitoring activities is to promote confidence
in the exchanges among the general public and to ensure fair
and orderly functioning markets. The monitoring functions
within the Nasdaq Nordic and Nasdaq Baltic exchanges are the
responsibility of the surveillance departments or other
surveillance personnel. The surveillance departments or
personnel are intended to strengthen the integrity of and
confidence in these exchanges and to avoid conflicts of interest.
Any failure to diligently and fairly regulate the Nordic and
Baltic exchanges could significantly harm our reputation,
prompt scrutiny from regulators and adversely affect our
business and reputation.
Failure to protect our intellectual property rights, or
allegations that we have infringed on the intellectual property
rights of others, could harm our brand-building efforts and
ability to compete effectively.
To protect our intellectual property rights, we rely on a
combination of trademark laws, copyright laws, patent laws,
trade secret protection, confidentiality agreements and other
contractual arrangements with our affiliates, clients, strategic
partners and others. The protective steps that we take may be
inadequate to deter misappropriation of our proprietary
information. We may be unable to detect the unauthorized use
of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property
rights.
We have registered, or applied to register, our trademarks in the
United States and in over 50 foreign jurisdictions and have
pending U.S. and foreign applications for other trademarks. We
also maintain copyright protection on our branded materials
and pursue patent protection for software products, inventions
and other processes developed by us. We also hold a number
of patents, patent applications and licenses in the United States
and other foreign jurisdictions. Effective trademark, copyright,
patent and trade secret protection may not be available in every
country in which we offer our services. Failure to protect our
Dostları ilə paylaş: |