(2) Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities

The Company regularly performs a review of its container fund arrangements with investors to determine whether or not it has a variable interest in the fund and if the fund is a variable interest entity (VIE). If it is determined that the Company does not have a variable interest in the fund, further analysis is not required and the Company does not consolidate the fund. If it is determined that the Company does have a variable interest in the fund and the fund is a VIE, a further analysis is performed to determine if the Company is a primary beneficiary of the VIE and meets both of the following criteria under FASB ASC Topic 810, Consolidation:

it has power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance; and

it has the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE that could be potentially significant to the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE.

If in the Company’s judgment both of the above criteria are met, the VIE’s financial statements are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements as required under FASB ASC Topic 810, Consolidation.

The Company currently enters into two types of container fund arrangements with investors which are reviewed under FASB ASC Topic 810, Consolidation. These arrangements include container funds that the Company manages for investors and container funds that have entered into financing arrangements with investors. All of the funds under financing arrangements are Japanese container funds that were established under separate investment agreements allowed under Japanese commercial laws. Each of the funds is financed by unrelated Japanese third-party investors.

Managed Container Funds

The fees earned by the Company for arranging, managing and establishing container funds are commensurate with the level of effort required to provide those services, and the arrangements include only terms and conditions that are customarily present in arrangements for similar services. As such, the Company does not have a variable interest in the managed containers funds, and does not consolidate those funds. No container portfolios were sold to the funds during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019.

Collateralized Financing Obligations

The Company has transferred containers to Japanese investor funds while concurrently entering into lease agreements for the same containers, under which the Company leases the containers back from the Japanese investors. The Company concluded these were financing transactions under which sale-leaseback accounting was not applicable.

The terms of the transactions with container funds under financing arrangements include options for the Company to purchase the containers from the funds at a fixed price. As a result of the residual interest resulting from the fixed price call option, the Company concluded that it may absorb a significant amount of the variability associated with the funds’ anticipated economic performance and, as a result, the Company has a variable interest in the funds. The funds are considered VIEs under FASB ASC Topic 810, Consolidation, because, as lessee of the funds, the Company has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact each entity’s economic performance, including the leasing and managing of containers owned by the funds. As the Company has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of the VIEs and the variable interest provides the Company with the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the funds, the Company determined that it is the primary beneficiary of these VIEs and included the VIEs’ assets and liabilities as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, and the results of the VIEs’ operations and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, in the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

The containers that were transferred to the Japanese investor funds had a net book value of $103.4 million as of March 31, 2020. The container equipment, together with $21.0 million of cash held by the investor funds that can only be used to settle the liabilities of the VIEs, has been included on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets with the related liability presented in the debt section of the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as collateralized financing obligations of $82.2 million and term loans held by VIE of $35.2 million. No gain or loss was recognized by the Company on the initial consolidation of the VIEs. No containers were sold to the Japanese investor during the three months ended March 31, 2020. Containers sold to the Japanese investor funds during the three months ended March 31, 2019 had a net book value of $65.0 million.