Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Warranties and guarantees

In connection with our disposition of businesses, product lines and assets, we often provide representations, warranties and indemnities to cover purchasers for various potential liabilities relating to the sold businesses, product lines and assets, such as unknown damages or liabilities relating to the assets and pre-closing tax, product liability, warranty, environmental, or other obligations. The subject matter, amounts and duration of any such indemnification obligations vary for each type of liability indemnified and may vary widely from transaction to transaction.

Generally, the maximum obligations under such indemnifications are not explicitly stated and as a result, the overall amount of these obligations cannot be reasonably estimated due to their inchoate and unknown nature. Historically, we have not made significant payments for these indemnifications. We believe that if we were to incur a loss in any of these matters, the loss would not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

We recognize, at the inception of a guarantee, a liability for the fair value of the obligation undertaken in issuing the guarantee.

We provide service and warranty policies on our products. Liability under service and warranty policies is based upon a review of historical warranty and service claim experience. Adjustments are made to accruals as claim data and historical experience warrant.

The changes in the carrying amount of service and product warranties of continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 were as follows:


In millions	September 30, 2020
Beginning balance	$	32.1
Service and product warranty provision	42.2
Payments	(38.3)

Foreign currency translation	0.2
Ending balance	$	36.2

Stand-by letters of credit, bank guarantees and bonds

In certain situations, Tyco International Ltd., Pentair Ltd.’s former parent company (“Tyco”), guaranteed performance by the flow control business of Pentair Ltd. (“Flow Control”) to third parties or provided financial guarantees for financial commitments of Flow Control. In situations where Flow Control and Tyco were unable to obtain a release from these guarantees in connection with the spin-off of Flow Control from Tyco, we will indemnify Tyco for any losses it suffers as a result of such guarantees.

In the ordinary course of business, we are required to commit to bonds, letters of credit and bank guarantees that require payments to our customers for any non-performance. The outstanding face value of these instruments fluctuates with the value of our projects in process and in our backlog. In addition, we issue financial stand-by letters of credit primarily to secure our performance to third parties under self-insurance programs.

As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the outstanding value of bonds, letters of credit and bank guarantees totaled $97.3 million and $91.3 million, respectively.