Related Party Transactions

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

Note 8 – Related party transactions:

From time to time, we may have loans and advances outstanding between us and various related parties pursuant to term and demand notes.  We generally enter into these loans and advances for cash management purposes.  When we loan funds to related parties, we are generally able to earn a higher rate of return on the loan than we would earn if we invested the funds in other instruments, and when we borrow from related parties, we are generally able to pay a lower rate of interest than we would pay if we had incurred third-party indebtedness.  While certain of these loans to affiliates may be of a lesser credit quality than cash equivalent instruments otherwise available to us, we believe we have considered the credit risks in the terms of the applicable loans.  In this regard, we have an unsecured revolving demand promissory note with Valhi whereby we agreed to loan Valhi up to $40 million.  Our loan to Valhi, as amended,  bears interest at prime plus 1.00%, payable quarterly, with all principal due on demand, but in any event no earlier than December 31, 2021.  Loans made to Valhi at any time under the agreement are at our discretion.  At June 30, 2020, the outstanding principal balance receivable from Valhi under the promissory note was $30.5 million. Interest income (including unused commitment fees) on our loan to Valhi was $1.2 million and $0.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.