16. Commitments and Contingencies |
16. Commitments and Contingencies
The Company is subject to various claims and contingencies related to lawsuits, taxes, insurance, regulatory and other matters arising out of the normal course of business. Actions filed against the Company from time to time include commercial, tort, intellectual property, customer, employment, data privacy, securities and other claims, including purported class action lawsuits. Management believes that the ultimate liability arising from such claims and contingencies, if any, is not likely to have a material adverse effect on the Companys results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
Guarantees
In connection with the disposition of certain businesses, the Company has remaining guarantees of approximately $166 million related to lease payments of Express, Limited Stores, Abercrombie Fitch, Tween Brands (formerly Limited Too and Too, Inc.), Dicks Sporting Goods (formerly Galyans), Lane Bryant, New York Company and Anne.x under the current terms of noncancelable leases expiring at various dates through 2017. These guarantees include minimum rent and additional payments covering taxes, common area costs and certain other expenses and relate to leases that commenced prior to the disposition of the businesses. In certain instances, the Companys guarantee may remain in effect if the term of a lease is extended.
In April 2008, the Company received an irrevocable standby letter of credit from Express of $34 million issued by a third-party bank to mitigate a portion of the Companys contingent liability for guaranteed future lease payments of Express. The Company can draw from the irrevocable standby letter of credit if Express were to default on any of the guaranteed leases. The irrevocable standby letter of credit is reduced through the September30, 2010 expiration date consistent with the overall reduction in guaranteed lease payments. The outstanding balance of the irrevocable standby letter of credit from Express was $12 million as of August1, 2009, $19 million as of January31, 2009 and $33 million as of August2, 2008.
The Companys guarantees related to Express, Limited Stores and New York Company are subject to the provisions of SFAS 145, Rescission, Amendment and Technical Correction of Certain Accounting Standards, which requires fair value accounting for these guarantee obligations. The guaranteed lease payments related to Express (net of the irrevocable standby letter of credit), Limited Stores and New York Company totaled $92 million as of August1, 2009, $94 million as of January31, 2009 and $102 million as of August2, 2008. The estimated fair value of these guarantee obligations was $16 million as of August1, 2009, $15 million as of January31, 2009 and $6 million as of August2, 2008, and is included in Other Long-term Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.
The Companys guarantees related to Abercrombie Fitch, Tween Brands (formerly Limited Too and Too, Inc.), Dicks Sporting Goods (formerly Galyans), Lane Bryant and Anne.x are not subject to the fair value provisions of SFAS 145 because they were executed prior to the effective date of SFAS 145. These guarantees are subjec |