Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Discontinued Operations

Discontinued Operations

21.  Discontinued Operations

On April 4, 2016, the annulment committee formed by the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) ruled that a subsidiary of the Company is free to pursue the enforcement of a prior arbitration award against Venezuela. That award amounts to more than $485 million after including interest from the date of the expropriation by Venezuela (October 26, 2010).  Venezuela’s application to annul the award is still pending, although the annulment proceedings were suspended in October 2016 because Venezuela has not paid its fees owed to ICSID.  If the proceeding is stayed for non-payment for a consecutive period in excess of six months, ICSID’s Secretary General could move that the committee discontinue the annulment proceeding altogether.  The Company intends to take appropriate steps to vigorously enforce and collect the award, which is enforceable in approximately 150 member states that are party to the ICSID Convention. However, even with the lifting of the stay of enforcement, the Company recognizes that the collection of the award may present significant practical challenges. Because the award has yet to be satisfied and the annulment proceeding is pending, the Company is unable at this stage to reasonably predict the efforts that will be necessary to successfully enforce collection of the award, the amount of the award or the timing of any such collection efforts. Therefore, the Company has not recognized this award in its financial statements.

A separate arbitration is pending with ICSID to obtain compensation primarily for third-party minority shareholders’ lost interests in the two expropriated plants.

The loss from discontinued operations of $7 million and $4 million, for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, relates to ongoing costs for the Venezuelan expropriation.

The loss from discontinued operations of $23 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 included a settlement of a dispute with a purchaser of a previously disposed business, as well as ongoing costs related to the Venezuelan expropriation.