COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

16. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

From time to time, a number of lawsuits and claims have been or may be asserted against the Company relating to the conduct of its business, including litigation relating to commercial, product and employment matters. The outcome of any litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and some lawsuits may be determined adversely to WESCO. However, management does not believe that the ultimate outcome of any such pending matters is likely to have a material adverse effect on WESCO's financial condition or liquidity, although the resolution in any fiscal period of one or more of these matters may have a material adverse effect on WESCO's results of operations for that period.

In an effort to expand the Company's footprint in the Middle East, WESCO has been doing business since 2009 with WESTEC Supplies General Trading (“WESTEC”), an industrial equipment supplier headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. WESTEC has debt facilities comprised of a $5.5 million term loan and a $1.0 million line of credit to support its working capital requirements and joint sales efforts with WESCO. Due to the nature of WESCO’s arrangement with WESTEC, WESCO has provided a standby letter of credit under its revolving credit facility of up to $6.7 million as security for WESTEC’s debt facilities. As of December 31, 2020, WESTEC had outstanding indebtedness totaling $5.8 million. Management currently believes the estimated fair value of the noncontingent guarantee on the outstanding indebtedness is nominal and therefore a liability has not been recorded as of December 31, 2020.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $54.1 million in outstanding letters of credit and guarantees.