Guarantees

12 Months Ended

Dec. 27, 2019



18.	Guarantees

In disposing of assets or businesses, the Company has from time to time provided representations, warranties and indemnities to cover various risks and liabilities, including unknown damage to assets, environmental risks involved in the sale of real estate, liability to investigate and remediate environmental contamination at waste disposal sites and manufacturing facilities, and unidentified tax liabilities related to periods prior to disposition. The Company assesses the probability of potential liabilities related to such representations, warranties and indemnities and adjusts potential liabilities as a result of changes in facts and circumstances. The Company believes, given the information currently available, that the ultimate resolutions will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In connection with the sale of the Specialty Chemical business (formerly known as Mallinckrodt Baker) in fiscal 2010, the Company agreed to indemnify the purchaser with respect to various matters, including certain environmental, health, safety, tax and other matters. The indemnification obligations relating to certain environmental, health and safety matters have a term of 17 years from the sale, while some of the other indemnification obligations have an indefinite term. The amount of the liability relating to all of these indemnification obligations included in other liabilities on the Company's consolidated balance sheets at December 27, 2019 and December 28, 2018 was $15.0 million and $14.6 million, respectively, of which $12.3 million and $11.8 million, respectively, related to environmental, health and safety matters. The value of the environmental, health and safety indemnity was measured based on the probability-weighted present value of the costs expected to be incurred to address environmental, health and safety claims made under the indemnity. The aggregate fair value of these indemnification obligations did not differ significantly from their aggregate carrying value at December 27, 2019 and December 28, 2018. As of December 27, 2019, the maximum future payments the Company could be required to make under these indemnification obligations was $70.2 million. The Company was required to pay $30.0 million into an escrow account as collateral to the purchaser, of which $18.9 million and $18.6 million remained in restricted cash, included in other long-term assets on the consolidated balance sheets at December 27, 2019 and December 28, 2018, respectively.

The Company has recorded liabilities for known indemnification obligations included as part of environmental liabilities, which are discussed in Note 19.

The Company is also liable for product performance; however the Company believes, given the information currently available, that the ultimate resolution of any such claims will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

As of December 27, 2019, the Company had various other letters of credit, guarantees and surety bonds totaling $35.2 million and restricted cash of $12.8 million held in segregated accounts primarily to collateralize surety bonds for the Company's environmental liabilities.