asset impairments. Refer to the heading "Other Operating Charges" above. 

Interest Income 

Year Ended December 31, 2011, versus Year Ended December 31, 2010 

Interest income was $483 million in 2011, compared to $317 million in 2010, an increase of $166 million, or 52 percent. The increase was primarily due to the impact of higher average cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment balances in addition to higher average interest rates, particularly in international locations. The majority of our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are held by our international locations. 

Year Ended December 31, 2010, versus Year Ended December 31, 2009 

Interest income was $317 million in 2010, compared to $249 million in 2009, an increase of $68 million, or 27 percent. The increase was primarily due to the impact of higher average cash and short-term investment balances, partially offset by lower average interest rates. 

Interest Expense 

Year Ended December 31, 2011, versus Year Ended December 31, 2010 

Interest expense was $417 million in 2011, compared to $733 million in 2010, a decrease of $316 million, or 43 percent. The decrease was primarily due to a $342 million charge recorded in 2010 related to debt assumed in connection with the Company's acquisition of CCE's North American business. See prior year's discussion below for further information related to the charge recorded during 2010. This decrease was partially offset by the full year impact of increased interest expense on long-term debt assumed in connection with the CCE acquisition as well as additional long-term debt issued by the Company in 2011. The Company's interest expense also includes the impact of interest rate swap agreements. Refer to Note 5 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information related to our interest rate swaps. 

During 2011, the Company issued $2,979 million of long-term debt. We used $979 million of this newly issued debt and paid a premium of $208 million to exchange $1,022 million of existing long-term debt that was assumed in connection with our acquisition of CCE's North American business in the fourth quarter of 2010. The remaining cash from the issuance was used to reduce the Company's outstanding commercial paper balance and exchange a certain amount of short-term debt. 

The general terms of the notes issued during 2011 are as follows: 

$1,655 million total principal amount of notes due September 1, 2016, at a fixed interest rate of1.8 percent; and 

$1,324 million total principal amount of notes due September 1, 2021, at a fixed interest rate of3.3 percent. 

During the fourth quarter of 2011, the Company extinguished long-term debt that had a carrying value of $20 million and was not scheduled to mature until 2012. This debt was outstanding prior to the Company's acquisition of CCE's North American business. In addition, the Company repurchased long-term debt during 2011 that was assumed in connection with our acquisition of CCE's North American business. The repurchased debt included $99 million in unamortized fair value adjustments recorded as part of our purchase accounting for the CCE transaction and