Fair Value of Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Fair Value of Financial Instruments [Abstract]

Note 12. Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Fair value is an exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The Company utilizes market data or assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The Company follows a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. These tiers include: Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets; Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs about which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.

Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are based on one or more of three valuation techniques. The three valuation techniques are as follows:

●	Market approach - prices and other relevant information generated by market transactions involving identical or comparable assets or liabilities.

●	Cost approach - amount that would be required to replace the service capacity of an asset or replacement cost.

●	Income approach - techniques to convert future amounts to a single present amount based on market expectations, including present value techniques, option-pricing and other models.

The Company primarily applies the income approach for foreign exchange derivatives for recurring fair value measurements and attempts to utilize valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs.

The following table sets forth by level within the fair value hierarchy the Company's financial assets and liabilities accounted for at fair value on a recurring basis at the end of each of the past two years. Assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company's assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment, and may affect the valuation of fair value assets and liabilities and their placement within the fair value hierarchy levels.

				Fair Value Measurements Using
Description	Asset / (Liability) Balance at 12/31/2014			Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)			Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
	(millions of dollars)
Forward exchange contracts	$	0.5		$	-	$	0.5		$	-

Forward exchange contracts		(0.3	)				(0.3	)		-

Deferred compensation plan assets		12.6			-		12.6			-

Supplementary pension plan assets		9.9			-		9.9			-

	Fair Value Measurements Using
Description	Asset / (Liability) Balance at 12/31/2013		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)			Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)			Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
	(milliions of dollars)
Money market funds	$	203.2		$	203.2		$	3-		$	3-

The fair value of investment in the money market funds is determined by quoted prices in active markets and is categorized as Level 1.

The fair value of foreign exchange contracts is determined based on inputs that are readily available in public markets or can be derived from information available in publicly quoted markets and are categorized as Level 2. Deferred compensation and supplementary pension plan assets related to the acquisition of AMCOL businesses and are valued using quoted prices for similar assets in active markets.

The Company does not have any financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis categorized as Level 3, except for pension assets discussed in Note 15, and there were no transfers in or out of Level 3 during the year ended December 31, 2014 and 2013. There were also no changes to the Company's valuation techniques used to measure asset and liability fair values on a recurring basis.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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