15.

POST-EMPLOYMENT AND OTHER LONG-TERM EMPLOYEES BENEFITS

The Company and its subsidiaries have a number of defined benefit pension plans, mainly unfunded, and other long-term employees’ benefits covering employees in various countries. The defined benefit plans provide pension benefits based on years of service and employee compensation levels. The other long-term employees’ plans provide benefits due during the employees’ period of service after certain seniority levels. The Company uses a December 31 measurement date for its plans. Eligibility is generally determined in accordance with local statutory requirements. For Italian termination indemnity plan (“TFR”), generated before July 1, 2007, the Company continues to measure the vested benefits to which Italian employees are entitled as if they left the company immediately as of December 31, 2017, in compliance with U.S. GAAP guidance on determining vested benefit obligations for defined benefit pension plans.

The changes in benefit obligation and plan assets were as follows:


	Pension Benefits						Other Long-Term Benefits
	December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016			December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
Change in benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year		825			816			52			54
Service cost		27			27			3			3
Interest cost		23			25			2			2
Employee contributions		4			7			—			—
Benefits paid		(16	)		(27	)		(2	)		(5	)
Effect of curtailment		—			(6	)		—			(1	)
Effect of settlement		(10	)		(10	)		—			—
Actuarial (gain) loss		25			36			3			—
Foreign currency translation adjustment		58			(43	)		7			(1	)

Benefit obligation at end of year		936			825			65			52

Change in plan assets:

Plan assets at fair value at beginning of year		477			473			—			—
Actual return on plan assets		40			31			—			—
Employer contributions		27			27			—			—
Employee contributions		4			7			—			—
Benefits paid		(7	)		(18	)		—			—
Effect of settlement		(10	)		(10	)		—			—
Foreign currency translation adjustments		21			(33	)		—			—

Plan assets at fair value at end of year		552			477			—			—

Funded status		(384	)		(348	)		(65	)		(52	)

Net amount recognized in the balance sheet consisted of the following:


	Pension Benefits						Other Long-Term Benefits
	December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016			December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
Non-current assets		1			—			—			—
Current liabilities		(9	)		(9	)		(4	)		(3	)
Long-term liabilities		(376	)		(339	)		(61	)		(49	)

Net amount recognized		(384	)		(348	)		(65	)		(52	)

The components of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) before tax effects were as follows:


	Actuarial (gains)/losses			Prior service cost			Total
Other comprehensive loss as at December 31, 2015		137			3			140
Net amount generated/arising in current year		25			—			25
Amortization		(14	)		(1	)		(15	)
Foreign currency translation adjustment		(9	)		—			(9	)

Other comprehensive loss as at December 31, 2016		139			2			141

Net amount generated/arising in current year		6			—			6
Amortization		(10	)		—			(10	)
Foreign currency translation adjustment		9			—			9

Other comprehensive loss as at December 31, 2017		144			2			146

In 2018, the Company expects to amortize $9 million of actuarial losses.

The accumulated benefit obligations were as follows:

Pension Benefits

Other Long-Term Benefits

December 31,
2017

December 31,
2016

December 31,
2017

December 31,
2016

Accumulated benefit obligations

828

762

For pension plans and other long-term benefits with accumulated benefit obligations in excess of plan assets, the accumulated benefit obligation and fair value of plan assets were $853 million and $511 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2017 and $738 million and $443 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2016. For pension plans and other long-term benefits with benefit obligations in excess of plan assets, the benefit obligation and fair value of plan assets were $961 million and $511 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2017 and $811 million and $464 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2016.

The components of the net periodic benefit cost included the following:


	Pension Benefits									Other Long-term Benefits
	Year ended December 31, 2017			Year ended December 31, 2016			Year ended December 31, 2015			Year ended December 31, 2017		Year ended December 31, 2016			Year ended December 31, 2015
Service cost		27			27			28			3		3			5
Interest cost		23			25			25			2		2			2
Expected return on plan assets		(21	)		(20	)		(22	)		—		—			—
Amortization of actuarial net loss (gain)		9			8			7			3		—			—
Amortization of prior service cost		—			1			1			—		—			—
Effect of settlement		1			—			1			—		—			—
Effect of curtailment		—			—			—			—		(1	)		(1	)

Net periodic benefit cost		39			41			40			8		4			6

The weighted average assumptions used in the determination of the benefit obligation and the plan assets for the pension plans and the other long-term benefits were as follows:


Assumptions	2017			2016
Discount rate		2.54	%		2.57	%
Salary increase rate		2.37	%		2.74	%
Expected long-term rate of return on funds for the pension expense of the following year		4.23	%		4.24	%

The weighted average assumptions used in the determination of the net periodic benefit cost for the pension plans and the other long-term benefits were as follows:


Assumptions	2017			2016			2015
Discount rate		2.57	%		3.19	%		3.03	%
Salary increase rate		2.74	%		3.07	%		2.65	%
Expected long-term rate of return on funds for the pension expense of the year		4.24	%		4.44	%		4.76	%

The discount rate was determined by reference to market yields on high quality long-term corporate bonds applicable to the respective country of each plan, with terms consistent with the term of the benefit obligations concerned. In developing the expected long-term rate of return on assets, the Company modelled the expected long-term rates of return for broad categories of investments held by the plan against a number of various potential economic scenarios.

The Company’s pension plan asset allocation at December 31, 2017 and at December 31, 2016 is as follows:


	Percentage of Plan Assets at December
Asset Category	2017			2016
Cash and cash equivalents		3	%		2	%
Equity securities		30	%		29	%
Government debt securities		3	%		3	%
Corporate debt securities		26	%		26	%
Investments in funds^(a)		17	%		18	%
Real estate		2	%		2	%
Other (mainly insurance assets — contracts and reserves)		19	%		20	%

Total		100	%		100	%

(a)

Investment in funds are composed approximately of one half in commingled funds mainly invested in corporate bonds (55%) and treasury bonds and notes (45%) and for the other half in multi-strategy funds invested in broadly diversified portfolios of corporate and government bonds, equity and derivative instruments.

As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s plan asset allocation is in line with the target fixed for each plan.

The Company’s detailed pension plan asset allocation including the fair-value measurements of those plan assets as at December 31, 2017 is as follows:


	Total		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Cash and cash equivalents		14		14		—		—
Equity securities		167		8		159		—
Government debt securities		18		17		1		—
Corporate debt securities		141		5		136		—
Investment funds		93		2		91		—
Real estate		12		—		12		—
Other (mainly insurance assets — contracts and reserves)		107		—		—		107

TOTAL		552		46		399		107

The Company’s detailed pension plan asset allocation including the fair-value measurements of those plan assets as at December 31, 2016 is as follows:


	Total		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Cash and cash equivalents		11		11		—		—
Equity securities		137		6		131		—
Government debt securities		13		12		1		—
Corporate debt securities		125		4		121		—
Investment funds		84		6		78		—
Real estate		12		—		11		1
Other (mainly insurance assets — contracts and reserves)		95		—		—		95

TOTAL		477		39		342		96

The fair value of insurance contracts is based on the value of the assets held by the provider. The approach is consistent with prior years.

For plan assets measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3), the reconciliation between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017 is presented as follows:


	Fair Value Measurements using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
January 1, 2017		96
Contributions (employer and employee)		12
Actual return on plan assets		(2	)
Net benefit payments^(b)		4
Settlements		(8	)
Foreign currency translation adjustment		5

December 31, 2017		107

(b)	Net cash flows between benefits paid from the insurance contracts and benefits transferred into the insurance contracts by employees.

For plan assets measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3), the reconciliation between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 is presented as follows:


	Fair Value Measurements using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
January 1, 2016		102
Contributions (employer and employee)		16
Actual return on plan assets		(3	)
Net benefit payments^(b)		(6	)
Settlements		(10	)
Foreign currency translation adjustment		(3	)

December 31, 2016		96

(b)	Net cash flows between benefits paid from the insurance contracts and benefits transferred into the insurance contracts by employees.

The Company’s investment strategy for its pension plans is to optimize the long-term investment return on plan assets in relation to the liability structure to maintain an acceptable level of risk while minimizing the cost of providing pension benefits and maintaining adequate funding levels in accordance with applicable rules in each jurisdiction. The Company’s practice is to periodically conduct a review in each subsidiary of its asset allocation strategy, in such a way that the asset allocation is in line with the targeted asset allocation with reasonable boundaries. The Company’s asset portfolios are managed in such a way as to achieve adapted diversity and in certain jurisdictions they are entirely managed by the multi-employer funds. The Company does not manage any assets internally.

After considering the funded status of the Company’s defined benefit plans, movements in the discount rate, investment performance and related tax consequences, the Company may choose to make contributions to its pension plans in any given year in excess of required amounts. The Company’s contributions to plan assets were $27 million in both 2017 and 2016 and the Company expects to contribute cash of $26 million in 2018.

The Company’s estimated future benefit payments as of December 31, 2017 are as follows:


Years	Pension Benefits		Other Long-term Benefits
2018		32		4
2019		31		5
2020		26		8
2021		36		3
2022		35		4
From 2023 to 2026		264		30

The Company has certain defined contribution plans, which accrue benefits for employees on a pro-rata basis during their employment period based on their individual salaries. The Company accrued benefits related to defined contribution pension plans of $19 million as of December 31, 2017 and $16 million as of December 31, 2016. The annual cost of these plans amounted to approximately $74 million in 2017 and approximately $70 million in both 2016 and 2015.