million of asset write-offs, $2 million of other costs, and $1 million of accelerated depreciation in relation to the closure of the Lane Cove, Australia production facility. The Company expects to incur $2 million of additional restructuring costs during the remainder of 2020 related to the Lane Cove production facility closure. During the six months ended June 30, 2020, the Company also recorded $4 million of accelerated depreciation, $1 million of employee-related severance, and $1 million of other costs, primarily in North America.
Additionally, the Company recorded pre-tax restructuring charges of $5 million and $10 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, for its Cost Smart selling, general and administrative expense (“SG&A”) program. During the three months ended June 30, 2020, the Company recorded $5 million of pre-tax restructuring charges, consisting primarily of other costs, including professional services, in North America. During the six months ended June 30, 2020, the Company recorded pre-tax restructuring costs of $10 million primarily in North America, consisting of $8 million of other costs, including professional services, and $2 million of employee-related severance.
For the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recorded $9 million and $13 million of pre-tax restructuring charges, respectively. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recorded $6 million and $9 million, respectively, of other costs, including professional services, and employee-related severance in the North America and South America segments as part of its Cost Smart SG&A program. This included $1 million and $2 million of other costs associated with the Finance Transformation initiative in Latin America for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. Additionally, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recorded $3 million and $4 million, respectively, of other costs, including professional services, as part of the Cost Smart cost of sales program, including $1 million and $2 million, respectively, in relation to the prior year cessation of wet-milling at the Stockton, California plant.
A summary of the Company’s employee-related severance accrual as of June 30, 2020 is as follows (in millions):
| | | | |
Balance in severance accrual as of December 31, 2019 | | $ | 15 | |
Cost Smart cost of sales and SG&A | | | 3 | |
Payments made to terminated employees | | | (9) | |
Foreign exchange translation | | | (1) | |
Balance in severance accrual as of June 30, 2020 | | $ | 8 | |
Of the $8 million severance accrual as of June 30, 2020, $7 million is expected to be paid in the next 12 months.
As of June 30, 2020, the Company identified certain assets within the Stockton, California and Lane Cove, Australia locations that met the held for sale criteria. The Company expects to sell these assets at a fair value equal to or greater than the carrying value as of June 30, 2020, and did not record a gain or loss associated with the reclassification of these assets to held for sale for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The assets classified as held for sale are reflected in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as follows:
| | | | | | | |
(in millions) | | | June 30, 2020 | | December 31, 2019 | |
Other assets | | $ | 13 | | $ | — | |
6. Financial Instruments, Derivatives and Hedging Activities
The Company is exposed to market risk stemming from changes in commodity prices (primarily corn and natural gas), foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. In the normal course of business, the Company actively manages its exposure to these market risks by entering into various hedging transactions, authorized under established policies that place controls on these activities. These transactions utilize exchange-traded derivatives or over-the-counter derivatives with investment grade counterparties. Derivative financial instruments currently used by the Company consist of commodity-related futures, options and swap contracts, foreign currency-related forward contracts, interest rate swaps, and treasury locks (“T-Locks”).
Commodity price hedging: The Company’s principal use of derivative financial instruments is to manage commodity price risk relating to anticipated purchases of corn and natural gas to be used in the manufacturing process, generally over the next 12 to 24 months. The Company maintains a commodity-price risk management strategy that uses derivative instruments to minimize significant, unanticipated earnings fluctuations caused by commodity-price volatility.