GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Goodwill And Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

NOTE 9 – GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Goodwill and other identifiable indefinite lived intangibles are not amortized, but are subject to an annual impairment test, or more frequent testing if circumstances indicate that they may be impaired.

Goodwill:

We have two geographical reportable segments, “United States” and “International”, both of which have goodwill. The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill since January 1, 2015, by reportable segment, were as follows:

In thousands
	United States			International			Total
Balance as of January 1, 2015	$	1,838,739		$	580,093		$	2,418,832
Goodwill acquired during the year, net		1,177,431			273,519			1,450,950
Purchase accounting allocation adjustments		(43,895	)		15,618			(28,277	)
Goodwill other changes		—			(440	)		(440	)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations		—			(82,888	)		(82,888	)
Balance as of December 31, 2015		2,972,275			785,902			3,758,177
Goodwill acquired during the year, net		17,390			450			17,840
Purchase accounting allocation adjustments		6,305			1,374			7,679
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations		—			6,320			6,320
Balance at March 31, 2016	$	2,995,970		$	794,046		$	3,790,016

Current year adjustments to goodwill for certain 2015 acquisitions are primarily due to the finalization of intangible asset valuations.

We complete our annual impairment analysis of our goodwill during the quarter ended June 30 of each year, or more frequently, if circumstances indicate that it may be impaired.

Other Intangible Assets:

At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the values of other intangible assets were as follows:

In thousands
	March 31, 2016						December 31, 2015
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Value		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Net Value
Amortizable intangibles:
Customer relationships	$	1,319,782	$	162,831	$	1,156,951	$	1,304,388	$	144,020	$	1,160,368
Covenants not-to-compete		7,630		5,340		2,290		6,878		5,141		1,737
Tradenames		3,935		1,022		2,913		3,819		948		2,871
Other		16,834		1,314		15,520		18,902		916		17,986
Indefinite lived intangibles:
Operating permits		234,888		—		234,888		233,101		—		233,101
Tradenames		428,282		—		428,282		426,498		—		426,498
Total	$	2,011,351	$	170,507	$	1,840,844	$	1,993,586	$	151,025	$	1,842,561

The changes in the carrying amount of intangible assets since January 1, 2015 were as follows:

In thousands
	Total
Balance as of January 1, 2015	$	909,645
Intangible assets acquired during the year, net		1,052,016
Impairments during the year		(4,177	)
Amortization during the year		(45,498	)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations		(69,425	)
Balance as of December 31, 2015		1,842,561
Intangible assets acquired during the year, net		8,436
Amortization during the year		(18,274	)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations		8,121
Balance at March 31, 2016	$	1,840,844

Under generally accepted accounting principles, a fair value must be assigned to all acquired assets based on a theoretical “market participant” regardless of the acquirer's intended use for those assets. This accounting treatment can lead to the recognition of losses when a company disposes of acquired assets. We complete our annual impairment analysis of our indefinite lived intangibles during the quarter ended December 31 of each year, or more frequently, if circumstances indicate that they may be impaired.

Our finite-lived intangible assets are amortized over their useful lives. We have determined that our customer relationships have useful lives from 10 to 40 years based upon the type of customer, with a weighted average remaining useful life of 19.1 years. We have covenants not-to-compete intangibles with useful lives from 5 to 14 years, with a weighted average remaining useful life of 4.4 years. We have tradename intangibles with useful lives from 15 to 40 years, with a weighted average remaining useful life of 16.9 years. Other intangibles mainly consist of landfill air rights with a weighted average remaining useful life of 18.5 years. We have determined that our permits have indefinite lives due to our ability to renew these permits with minimal additional cost, and therefore these are not amortized. We also have a trade name that we have determined has an indefinite life.

During the quarters ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, the aggregate amortization expense was $18.3 million and $8.8 million, respectively.

The estimated amortization expense for each of the next five years, assuming no additional amortizable intangible assets, is as follows for the years ended December 31:

In thousands
2016	$	72,287
2017		72,300
2018		72,252
2019		72,095
2020		71,805

Future amortization expense may fluctuate depending on changes in foreign currency rates, future acquisitions, or changes to the estimated amortizable life of the intangibles. The estimates for amortization expense noted above are based upon foreign exchange rates as of March 31, 2016.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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