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Long-Term Financing Receivables
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
FINANCING RECEIVABLES

6. LONG-TERM FINANCING RECEIVABLES

Long-term financing receivables represent receivables from certain Latin American governmental bodies, primarily in Argentina, that have contractual maturities of greater than one year pursuant to amended agreements or government resolutions. These financing receivables are included in “Noncurrent assets – other” in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Argentina―As a result of energy market reforms in 2004 and consistent with contractual arrangements, our subsidiaries entered into three agreements with the Argentine government called Fondos de inversion Mercado Electrico Mayorista (“Foninvemem Agreements”) to contribute a portion of their accounts receivable into a fund for financing the construction of combined cycle and gas-fired plants. These financing receivables accrue interest and are collected in monthly installments over 10 years once the related plant begins operations. In addition, the Company also receives an ownership interest in these newly built plants once the receivables have been fully repaid. The financing receivables under the first two Foninvemem Agreements are being actively collected since the related plants commenced operations in 2010. However, the financing receivables related to the third Foninvemem Agreement are not currently due as commercial operations of the related gas-fired turbine have not been achieved. Collection of these financing receivables is subject to various business risks and uncertainties including timely payment of principal and interest, completion and operation of power plants which generate cash for payments of these receivables, regulatory changes that could impact the timing and amount of collections and economic conditions in Argentina. The Company periodically analyzes each of these factors and assesses collectability of the related financing receivables. The Company's collection estimates are based on assumptions that it believes to be reasonable but are inherently uncertain. Actual future cash flows could differ from these estimates.

Additionally, our subsidiaries are currently working with the Argentine government to include outstanding receivables of $122 million covered under government resolutions into the third Foninvemem Agreement. On March 26, 2013, the Argentine government passed a resolution to develop a new energy regulatory framework that would apply to all generation companies with certain exceptions. However, as of March 31, 2013 the resolution was not legally binding for our subsidiaries given that certain conditions precedent had not been met. The new regulatory framework will remunerate fixed and variable costs plus a margin that will depend on both the technology and fuel used to generate the electricity. The Company is currently analyzing the impact that this resolution will have on its subsidiaries in future periods, once it is effective.

The following table sets forth the breakdown of financing receivables by country as of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012. The decrease in the long-term financing receivables from December 31, 2012 is primarily related to the impact of foreign currency translation.

   March 31, December 31,
   2013 2012
        
   (in millions)
 Argentina(1) $ 187 $ 196
 Dominican Republic   31   35
 Brazil   8   8
 Total long-term financing receivables $ 226 $ 239

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  • Excludes noncurrent receivables of $122 million and $120 million, respectively, as of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, which have not been converted into long-term financing receivables and currently have no due date.