| |
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
| |
5. Receivables Purchase
Facility
In December 2001, the Company established a $100.0 million receivables
purchase facility with CoBank, ACB (“CoBank”). A wholly-owned,
unconsolidated special purpose entity (“SPE”) was established
to purchase certain receivables from the Company. CoBank has been
granted an interest in the pool of receivables owned by the SPE. The
transfers of the receivables from the Company to the SPE are structured
as sales and, accordingly, the receivables transferred to the SPE
are not reflected in the consolidated balance sheets. However, the
Company retains credit risk related to the repayment of the notes
receivable with the SPE, which, in turn, is dependent upon the credit
risk of the SPE’s receivables pool. Accordingly, the Company
has retained reserves for estimated losses. The Company expects no
significant gains or losses from the facility. At December 31, 2003,
$20.0 million was outstanding under this facility. The total accounts
receivable sold were $2,630.0 million and $2,653.0 million in 2003
and 2002, respectively.
|
|
|
