The second alternative considered was a $10-million, three year private placement at a fixed rate of 12 percent. The debt would be placed with an insurance company that had an appetite for high yielding, noninvestment-grade bonds. The 12 percent coupon represented a 125-basis-point premium over an A rated private placement and a 75-basis-point premium over a BBB placement. Interest would be paid quarterly and the principal would be repaid at the end of three years. Because the institutional investor would be matching the transaction with similar term liabilities, there would be no option for Merit to prepay the commitment. This option would leave the commercial-paper debt available to support working-capital needs and would allow Merit to enter into an interest-rate swap if additional interest payments needed to be fixed.