NOTE 9. DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

As a global supplier of office products and services the Company is exposed to risks associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates, fuel and other commodity prices and interest rates. Depending on the exposure, settlement timeframe and other factors, the Company may enter into derivative transactions to mitigate those risks. Financial instruments authorized under the Company’s established risk management policy include spot trades, swaps, options, caps, collars, forwards and futures. Use of derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes is expressly prohibited by the Company’s policies. The Company may designate and account for such qualifying arrangements as hedges or reflect current mark-to-market impacts of non-qualifying economic hedge arrangements currently in earnings. As of June 25, 2016, the foreign exchange and fuel contracts extended through December 2016 and January 2017, respectively.

The fair values of the Company’s foreign currency contracts and fuel contracts are the amounts receivable or payable to terminate the agreements at the reporting date, taking into account current interest rates, exchange rates and commodity prices. The values are based on market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data. Amounts associated with derivative financial instruments were not significant for the reported periods.

Financial Instruments

The Company measures fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date under current market conditions. In developing its fair value estimates, the Company uses the following hierarchy:


Level 1:		Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2:		Observable market based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data.

Level 3:		Significant unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data. Generally, these fair value measures are model-based valuation techniques such as discounted cash flows or option pricing models using the Company’s own estimates and assumptions or those expected to be used by market participants.

The fair values of cash and cash equivalents, receivables, trade accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities approximate their carrying values because of their short-term nature.

The following table presents information about financial instruments at the balance sheet dates indicated.


	June 25, 2016				December 26, 2015
(In millions)	Carrying Value		Fair Value		Carrying Value		Fair Value
Financial assets
Timber notes receivable	$	895	$	919	$	905	$	909
Company-owned life insurance		86		86		88		88
Financial liabilities
Recourse debt
9.75% senior secured notes, due 2019		250		264		250		265
7.35% debentures, due 2016		—		—		18		18
Revenue bonds, due in varying amounts periodically through 2029		186		186		186		186
American & Foreign Power Company, Inc. 5% debentures, due 2030		14		11		14		13
Non-recourse debt		808		831		819		825

The following methods and assumptions were used to estimate the fair value of each class of financial instruments:

•

Timber notes receivable: Fair value is determined as the present value of expected future cash flows discounted at the current interest rate for loans of similar terms with comparable credit risk (Level 2 measure).

•

Company-owned life insurance: In connection with the Merger, the Company acquired company owned life insurance policies on certain former employees. The fair value of the company-owned life insurance policies is derived using determinable net cash surrender value (Level 2 measure).

•

Recourse debt: Recourse debt for which there were no transactions on the measurement date was valued based on quoted market prices near the measurement date when available or by discounting the future cash flows of each instrument using rates based on the most recently observable trade or using rates currently offered to the Company for similar debt instruments of comparable maturities (Level 2 measure).

•

Non-recourse debt: Fair value is estimated by discounting the future cash flows of the instrument at rates currently available to the Company for similar instruments of comparable maturities (Level 2 measure).

Fair Value Estimates Used in Impairment Analyses

North American Retail Division

The Company recognized no store asset impairment charges in 2016 and $4 million and $9 million in the second quarter and first half of 2015, respectively. The first half of 2015 charges include approximately $1 million impairment of favorable lease intangible asset values following the identification of closing locations where future intangible asset recovery was considered unlikely.