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Commitments and Contingencies | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2019
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Guarantees and Letters of Credit The Company has various bank guarantees and letters of credit which are available for use to support its ongoing business operations and to satisfy governmental requirements associated with pending litigation in various jurisdictions. At June 30, 2019, the Company had total bank guarantees and standby letters of credit of $58.7 million with various financial institutions. Included in the above aggregate amount was a total of $17.7 million for other assessments in Brazil for various income tax and indirect tax disputes related to fiscal years 1998-2011. There were no material amounts utilized under the standby letters of credit as of June 30, 2019. In order to challenge the assessments in these cases in Brazil, the Company has been required to, and has separately pledged assets, principally property, plant and equipment, to cover assessments in the amount of $10.1 million as of June 30, 2019. Lines of Credit The Company has various lines of credit which are available to support its ongoing business operations. As of June 30, 2019, the Company had available lines of credit of $107.6 million with various financial institutions, in addition to the $1.0 billion of capacity under the Amended Credit Facility. There were no material amounts drawn down pursuant to these lines of credit as of June 30, 2019. Litigation The Company assesses contingencies related to litigation and/or other matters to determine the degree of probability and range of possible loss. A loss contingency is accrued in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements if it is probable that a liability will be incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Because litigation is inherently unpredictable and unfavorable resolutions could occur, assessing contingencies is highly sensitive and requires judgments about future events. On at least a quarterly basis, the Company reviews contingencies related to litigation to determine the adequacy of accruals. The amount of ultimate loss may differ from these estimates and further events may require the Company to increase or decrease the amounts it has accrued on any matter. Periodically, the Company assesses its insurance coverage for all known claims, where applicable, taking into account aggregate coverage by occurrence, limits of coverage, self-insured retentions and deductibles, historical claims experience and claims experience with its insurance carriers. The liabilities are recorded at management’s best estimate of the probable outcome of the lawsuits and claims, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the individual matters as well as past experience on similar matters. At each balance sheet date, the key issues that management assesses are whether it is probable that a loss as to asserted or unasserted claims will be incurred and if so, whether the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. The Company records the expected liability with respect to claims in Other liabilities and expected recoveries from its insurance carriers in Other assets. The Company recognizes a receivable when it believes that realization of the insurance receivable is probable under the terms of the insurance policies and its payment experience to date. Environmental Over the past 20 years, various federal and state authorities and private parties have claimed that the Company is a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) as a generator of waste materials for alleged pollution at a number of waste sites operated by third parties located principally in New Jersey and have sought to recover costs incurred and to be incurred to clean up the sites. The Company has been identified as a PRP at seven facilities operated by third parties at which investigation and/or remediation activities may be ongoing. The Company analyzes potential liability on at least a quarterly basis and accrues for environmental liabilities when they are probable and estimable. The Company estimates its share of the total future cost for these sites to be less than $3 million. While joint and several liability is authorized under federal and state environmental laws, the Company believes the amounts it has paid and anticipates paying in the future for clean-up costs and damages at all sites are not and will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. This assessment is based upon, among other things, the involvement of other PRPs at most of the sites, the status of the proceedings, including various settlement agreements and consent decrees, and the extended time period over which payments will likely be made. There can be no assurance, however, that future events will not require the Company to materially increase the amounts it anticipates paying for clean-up costs and damages at these sites, and that such increased amounts will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. China Facilities Guangzhou Taste plant During the fourth quarter of 2016, the Company was notified that certain governmental authorities have begun to evaluate a change in the zoning of the Guangzhou Taste plant. The zoning, if changed, would prevent the Company from continuing to manufacture product at the existing plant. The ultimate outcome of any change that the governmental authorities may propose, the timing of such a change, and the nature of any compensation arrangements that might be provided to the Company are uncertain. To address the governmental authorities' requirements, the Company has begun to move production from the Guangzhou Taste plant to a newly built facility in Zhangjiagang. The net book value of the plant in Guangzhou was approximately $64 million as of June 30, 2019. Guangzhou Scent plant During the second quarter of 2019, the Company was notified that certain governmental authorities had changed the zoning where the Guangzhou Scent plant is located. The zoning change did not affect the current operations but prevents expansions or other increases in the operating capacity of the plant. The Company believes that it is possible that the zoning may change in the future such that it would not be able to continue manufacturing at the existing site. The ultimate outcome of any change that the governmental authorities may propose, the timing of such a change, and the nature of any compensation arrangements that might be provided to the Company are uncertain. The net book value of the existing plant was approximately $9 million as of June 30, 2019. Zhejiang Ingredients plant In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company concluded discussions with the government regarding the relocation of its Fragrance Ingredients plant in Zhejiang and, based on the agreements reached, expects to receive total compensation payments up to approximately $50 million. The relocation compensation will be paid to the Company over the period of the relocation which is expected to be through the end of 2021. The Company received the first payment of $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. No additional amounts have been received since the fourth quarter of 2017. The net book value of the current plant was approximately $19 million as of June 30, 2019. The Company relocated approximately half of the production capacity of the facility during the first half of 2019 and the remainder of the production capacity is expected to be relocated by the end of 2019. Total China Operations The total net book value of all eight plants in China was approximately $200 million as of June 30, 2019. If the Company is required to close a plant, or operate one at significantly reduced production levels on a permanent basis, the Company may be required to record charges that could have a material impact on its consolidated financial results of operations, financial position and cash flows in future periods. Other Contingencies The Company has contingencies involving third parties (such as labor, contract, technology or product-related claims or litigation) as well as government-related items in various jurisdictions in which it operates pertaining to such items as value-added taxes, other indirect taxes, customs and duties and sales and use taxes. It is possible that cash flows or results of operations, in any period, could be materially affected by the unfavorable resolution of one or more of these contingencies. The most significant government-related contingencies exist in Brazil. With regard to the Brazilian matters, the Company believes it has valid defenses for the underlying positions under dispute; however, in order to pursue these defenses, the Company is required to, and has provided, bank guarantees and pledged assets in the aggregate amount of $27.8 million. The Brazilian matters take an extended period of time to proceed through the judicial process and there are a limited number of rulings to date. During 2018, the Company received an unfavorable ruling with respect to a claim related to potentially unpaid excise taxes from 1993. Based on the revised ruling, the Company has determined that it is now probable that it will have to pay the original claim in addition to penalties and interest. The total amount of the claim that has been recorded is $4.8 million. Ongoing Investigations During the integration of Frutarom, IFF was made aware of allegations that two Frutarom businesses operating principally in Russia and Ukraine made certain improper payments, including to representatives of a number of customers. IFF promptly commenced investigations of such allegations with the assistance of outside legal and accounting firms. IFF’s investigations are not yet complete, but preliminary results indicate that improper payments to representatives of customers were made and that key members of Frutarom’s senior management at the time were aware of such payments. IFF has not uncovered any evidence suggesting that such payments had any connection to the United States. Based on the results of the investigations to date, IFF believes that such improper customer payments are no longer being made and the estimated affected sales represented less than 1% of IFF’s and Frutarom’s combined net sales for 2018. IFF does not believe the impact from these matters is or will be material to IFF’s results of operations or financial condition. The costs arising from these matters, however, could be material in a particular fiscal quarter. Although the investigations are continuing, based on the results to date and other compliance-related integration activities IFF is not currently aware of similar instances of misconduct. FDA-Mandated Product Recall The Company periodically incurs product liability claims based on product that is sold to customers that may be defective or otherwise not in accordance with the customer’s requirements. In the first quarter of 2017, the Company was made aware of a claim for product that was subject to an FDA-mandated product recall. As of June 30, 2019, the Company had recorded total charges of $17.5 million with respect to this claim, of which $5.0 million was recorded in the three months ended March 31, 2018. The Company settled the claim with the customer in the first quarter of 2018 for a total of $16.0 million, of which $3.0 million was paid in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $13.0 million was paid during the three months ended March 31, 2018. The Company does not believe that the ultimate settlement of the claim will have a material impact on its financial condition. In the third quarter of 2018, the Company received $13.1 million for the full and final settlement of its claim from the supplier and insurer for the affected product. Other The Company determines estimates of reasonably possible losses or ranges of reasonably possible losses in excess of related accrued liabilities, if any, when it has determined that either a loss is reasonably possible or a loss in excess of accrued amounts is reasonably possible and the amount of losses or range of losses is determinable. For all third party contingencies (including labor, contract, technology, tax, product-related claims and business litigation), the Company currently estimates that the aggregate range of reasonably possible losses in excess of any accrued liabilities is $0 to approximately $10 million. The estimates included in this amount are based on the Company’s analysis of currently available information and, as new information is obtained, these estimates may change. Due to the inherent subjectivity of the assessments and the unpredictability of outcomes of legal proceedings, any amounts accrued or included in this aggregate amount may not represent the ultimate loss to the Company from the matters in question. Thus, the Company’s exposure and ultimate losses may be higher or lower, and possibly significantly so, than the amounts accrued or the range disclosed above.

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