ITEM 1A.  RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Conditions in the global political and economic environment, including the global capital and credit markets, can adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial position.

A significant or prolonged downturn in the general economic environment may affect the Company’s sales and profitability. The Company has exposure to counterparties with which it routinely executes transactions. Such counterparties include commercial banks,

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insurance companies and other financial institutions, some of which may be exposed to bankruptcy or liquidity risks. A bankruptcy or illiquidity event by one of its significant counterparties may materially and adversely affect the Company’s access to capital, future business and results of operations. In addition, the Company’s customers and suppliers may be adversely affected by severe economic conditions. This could result in reduced demand for its products or its inability to obtain necessary supplies at reasonable costs,   or at all.

The Company may be negatively impacted by political issues or crisis in individual countries or regions, including sovereign risk related to a default by or deterioration in the credit worthiness of local governments. For example, on June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum in which a majority of voters voted to exit the European Union (“Brexit”). The effects of Brexit will depend on any agreements the United Kingdom makes to retain access to European Union markets either during a transitional period or more permanently. Brexit could adversely affect European and global economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global financial markets. Any of these effects of Brexit, and others the Company cannot anticipate, may have a negative effect and may adversely affect the Company’s business.

Certain countries in Europe provide medicare coverage for adult incontinence products. The governments of these countries may decide to no longer reimburse part or all of the costs of adult incontinence products, and this may have a negative impact on the Company’s operating results  in the future.

The Company faces intense competition in its markets, and the failure to compete effectively could have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.

The Company competes with U.S., Canadian and European producers and, for many of its product lines with global producers, some of which may have greater financial resources and lower production costs than the Company. The principal basis for competition is selling price. The Company’s ability to maintain satisfactory margins depends largely on its ability to control its costs. Our industries also are particularly sensitive to other factors including innovation, design, quality and service, with varying emphasis on these factors depending on the product line. The Company cannot provide assurance that it will compete effectively and maintain current levels of sales and profitability. If the Company cannot compete effectively, such failure could have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.

Failure to successfully implement the Company’s business diversification initiatives could have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations and financial position.

The Company is pursuing strategic initiatives that management considers important to our long-term success. The most recent initiatives include, but are not limited to, the integration of adult incontinence and baby diaper businesses acquired during the past five years and the recent conversion of a paper machine to produce fluff pulp. The intent of these initiatives is to help grow the business and counteract the secular decline in our North American paper business. These initiatives may involve organic growth, select joint ventures and strategic acquisitions. The success of these initiatives will depend on, among other things, our ability to identify potential strategic initiatives, understand the key trends and principal drivers affecting those businesses and to execute the initiatives in a cost effective manner. There are significant risks involved with the execution of these initiatives, including significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, many of which are outside the Company’s control.

Strategic acquisitions may expose the Company to additional risks. The Company may have to compete for acquisition targets and any acquisition it makes may fail to accomplish our strategic objectives or may not perform as expected. In addition, the costs of integrating an acquired business may exceed our estimates and may require significant time and attention from senior management. Accordingly, the Company cannot predict whether it will succeed in implementing these strategic initiatives. If it fails to successfully diversify our business, it may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s competitive position, financial condition and operating results.

The Company’s paper products are vulnerable to long-term declines in demand due to competing technologies or materials.

The Company’s paper business competes with electronic transmission and document storage alternatives, as well as with paper grades it does not produce, such as uncoated groundwood. As a result of such competition, the Company is experiencing ongoing decreasing demand for most of its existing paper products. As the use of these alternatives grows, demand for paper products is likely to decline further. Declines in demand for our paper products may adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial position.

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The pulp and paper industry is highly cyclical. Fluctuations in the prices of and the demand for the Company’s pulp and paper products could result in lower sales volumes and smaller profit margins.

The pulp and paper industry is highly cyclical. Historically, economic and market shifts, fluctuations in capacity and changes in foreign currency exchange rates have created cyclical changes in prices, sales volume and margins for the Company’s pulp and paper products. The length and magnitude of industry cycles have varied over time and by product, but generally reflect changes in macroeconomic conditions and levels of industry capacity. Most of the Company’s paper products are commodities that are widely available from other producers. Because commodity products have few distinguishing qualities from producer to producer, competition for these products is based primarily on price, which is determined by supply relative to demand.

The overall levels of demand for the pulp and paper products that the Company manufactures and distributes, and consequently its sales and profitability, reflect fluctuations in levels of end-user demand, which depend in part on general macroeconomic conditions in North America and worldwide, the continuation of the current level of service and cost of postal services, as well as competition from electronic substitution. See “Conditions in the global and political economic environment, including the global capital and credit markets, and the economy generally, can adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial position” and “The Company’s paper products are vulnerable to long-term declines in demand due to competing technologies or materials”.

Industry supply of pulp and paper products is also subject to fluctuation, as changing industry conditions can influence producers to idle or permanently close individual machines or entire mills. Such closures can result in significant cash and/or non-cash charges. In addition, to avoid substantial cash costs in connection with idling or closing a mill, some producers will choose to continue to operate at a loss, sometimes even a cash loss, which could prolong weak pricing environments due to oversupply. Oversupply can also result from producers introducing new capacity in response to favorable pricing trends.

Industry supply of pulp and paper products is also influenced by overseas production capacity, which has grown in recent years and is expected to continue to grow.

As a result, prices for all of the Company’s pulp and paper products are driven by many factors outside of its control, and the Company has little influence over the timing and extent of price changes, which are often volatile. Because market conditions beyond the Company’s control determine the prices for its commodity products, the price for any one or more of these products may fall below its cash production costs, requiring the Company to either incur cash losses on product sales or cease production at one or more of its pulp and paper manufacturing facilities. The Company continuously evaluates potential adjustments to its production capacity, which may include additional closures of machines or entire mills, and the Company could recognize significant cash and/or non-cash charges relating to any such closures in future periods. See Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Note 16 “Closure and restructuring costs and liability”. Therefore, the Company’s profitability with respect to these products depends on managing its cost structure, particularly wood fiber, chemical, transportation and energy costs, which represent the largest components of its operating costs and can fluctuate based upon factors beyond its control. If the prices or demand for its pulp and paper products decline, or if its wood fiber, chemical, transportation or energy costs increase, or both, its sales and profitability could be materially and adversely affected.

The Company is affected by changes in currency exchange rates.

The Company has manufacturing operations in the United States, Canada, Sweden and Spain. As a result, it is exposed to movements in foreign currency exchange rates in Canada and Europe. Moreover, certain assets and liabilities are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and are exposed to foreign currency movements. As a result, the Company’s earnings are affected by increases or decreases in the value of the Canadian dollar and of other European currencies relative to the U.S. dollar. The Company’s European subsidiaries are exposed to movements in foreign currency exchange rates on transactions denominated in a different currency than their Euro functional currency. Additionally, there has been, and may continue to be, volatility in currency exchange rates as a result of Brexit. The Company’s risk management policy allows it to hedge a significant portion of its exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates for periods up to three years. The Company may use derivative instruments (currency options and foreign exchange forward contracts) to mitigate its exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates or to designate them as hedging instruments in order to hedge the subsidiary’s cash flow risk for purposes of the Consolidated Financial Statements. There can be no assurance that the Company will be protected against substantial foreign currency fluctuations. This factor could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial position.

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The Company relies heavily on a small number of significant customers, including one customer that represented approximately 11% of the Company’s sales in 2016. A significant change in customer relationships or in customer demand for our products could materially adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.

The Company heavily relies on a small number of significant customers. The Company’s largest customer, Staples, represented approximately 11% of the Company’s sales in 2016. A significant reduction in sales to any of the Company’s key customers, which could be due to factors outside its control, such as purchasing diversification or financial difficulties experienced by these customers, could materially adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. Consolidation among its customers could also create significant cost margin pressure and lead to more complexity across broader geographic boundaries for both the Company and its key retailers.

The Company’s operations require substantial capital, and it may not have adequate capital resources to provide for all of its capital requirements.

The Company’s businesses are capital intensive and require ongoing capital expenditures in order to maintain its equipment, increase its operating efficiency and comply with environmental laws. In 2016, the Company’s total capital expenditures were $347 million.

If the Company’s available cash resources and cash generated from operations are not sufficient to fund its operating needs and capital expenditures, the Company would have to obtain additional funds from borrowings or other available sources or reduce or delay its capital expenditures. The Company may not be able to obtain additional funds on favorable terms, or at all. In addition, the Company’s debt service obligations will reduce its available cash flows. If the Company cannot maintain or upgrade its equipment as it requires or allocate funds to ensure environmental compliance, it could be required to curtail or cease some of its manufacturing operations, or it may become unable to manufacture products that compete effectively in one or more of its product lines.

The Company and its subsidiaries may incur substantially more debt. This could increase risks associated with its leverage.

The Company and its subsidiaries may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. Although the revolving credit facility contains restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, including secured indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. Refer to Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Note 19 “Long-term debt” for more details.

The Company’s ability to generate the significant amount of cash needed to pay interest and principal on the Company’s unsecured long-term notes and service its other debt and financial obligations and its ability to refinance all or a portion of its indebtedness or obtain additional financing depends on many factors beyond the Company’s control.

In 2016, the Company paid approximately $106 million in required interest and principal payments. The Company’s ability to make payments on and refinance its debt, including the Company’s unsecured long-term notes and amounts borrowed under its revolving credit facility and term loan, if any, and other financial obligations and to fund its operations will depend on its ability to generate substantial operating cash flow. The Company’s cash flow generation will depend on its future performance, which will be subject to prevailing economic conditions and to financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond its control.

The Company’s business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations and future borrowings may not be available to the Company under its revolving credit facility or otherwise in amounts sufficient to enable the Company to service its indebtedness, including the Company’s unsecured long-term notes, and borrowings, if any, under its revolving credit facility or to fund its other liquidity needs. If the Company cannot service its debt, the Company will have to take actions such as reducing or delaying capital investments, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing its debt or seek additional equity capital. Any of these remedies may not be executed on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and may impede the implementation of its business strategy. Furthermore, the revolving credit facility may restrict the Company from adopting any of these alternatives. Because of these and other factors that may be beyond its control, the Company may be unable to service its indebtedness.

The Company could incur substantial costs as a result of compliance with, violations of or liabilities under applicable environmental laws and regulations. It could also incur costs as a result of asbestos-related personal injury litigation.

The Company is subject to a wide range of general and industry-specific laws and regulations in the United States and other countries where we have operations, relating to the protection of the environment and natural resources, including those governing air emissions, greenhouse gases and climate change, wastewater discharges, harvesting, silvicultural activities, storage, management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites, landfill operation and closure obligations, forestry operations and endangered species habitat, and health and safety matters. In particular, the pulp and paper industry in the United States is subject to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Cluster Rules.

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The Company has incurred, and expects that it will continue to incur, significant capital, operating and other expenditures complying with applicable environmental laws and regulations as a result of remedial obligations. The Company incurred $65 million of operating expenses and $4 million of capital expenditures in connection with environmental compliance and remediation in 2016. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had a provision of $50 million for environmental expenditures, including certain asset retirement obligations (such as for landfill capping).

The Company could also incur substantial costs, such as civil or criminal fines, sanctions and enforcement actions (including orders limiting its operations or requiring corrective measures, installation of pollution control equipment or other remedial actions), cleanup and closure costs, and third-party claims for property damage and personal injury as a result of violations of, or liabilities under, environmental laws and regulations. The Company’s ongoing efforts to identify potential environmental concerns that may be associated with its past and present properties may lead to future environmental investigations. Those efforts may result in the determination of additional environmental costs and liabilities which cannot be reasonably estimated at this time.

As the owner and operator of real estate, the Company may be liable under environmental laws for cleanup, closure and other damages resulting from the presence and release of hazardous substances, including asbestos, on or from its properties or operations, including properties that it no longer owns. The amount and timing of environmental expenditures is difficult to predict, and, in some cases, the Company’s liability may be imposed without regard to contribution or to whether it knew of, or caused, the release of hazardous substances and may exceed forecasted amounts or the value of the property itself. The discovery of additional contamination or the imposition of additional cleanup obligations at the Company’s or third-party sites may result in significant additional costs. Any material liability the Company incurs could adversely impact its financial condition or preclude it from making capital expenditures that would otherwise benefit its business.

In addition, the Company may be subject to asbestos-related personal injury litigation arising out of exposure to asbestos on or from its properties or operations, and may incur substantial costs as a result of any defense, settlement, or adverse judgment in such litigation. The Company may not have access to insurance proceeds to cover costs associated with asbestos-related personal injury litigation.

Enactment of new environmental laws or regulations or changes in existing laws or regulations (such as changes in climate change regulation), or interpretation thereof, might require significant expenditures. For additional information, refer to Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Note 22 “Commitments and Contingencies” under the caption “Industrial Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology Standard”. The Company may be unable to generate funds or other sources of liquidity and capital to fund environmental liabilities or expenditures.

Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial results or condition.

In addition to environmental laws, the Company’s business and operations are subject to a broad range of other laws and regulations in the United States and Canada as well as other jurisdictions in which the Company operates, including antitrust and competition laws, occupational health and safety laws, healthcare reimbursement laws, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and employment laws. Many of these laws and regulations are complex and subject to evolving and differing interpretation. If the Company is determined to have violated any such laws or regulations, whether inadvertently or willfully, it may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, including substantial fines, loss of authorizations to participate in or exclusion from government programs, claims for damages by third parties or fines or monetary penalties which may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. For additional information, refer to Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Note 22 “Commitments and Contingencies” under the caption “Spanish Competition Investigation”.

The Company’s financial results could be affected by changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws or in the mix of our U.S. and foreign earnings, as well as adjustments to our estimates of uncertain tax issues or results from audits by U.S. or foreign tax authorities.

The Company is subject to U.S. and foreign tax laws and regulations. Recently, international tax norms governing each country’s jurisdiction to tax cross-border international trade have evolved partly due to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and supported by the G20. Changes in these laws and regulations, or any change in the position of tax authorities regarding their application, administration or interpretation could adversely affect the Company’s financial results.

The Company’s effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates or changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities. The Company is also subject to the examination of its tax returns and other matters by tax authorities and governmental bodies. The Company regularly assesses the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of its provision for taxes and as of December 31, 2016, has a reserve for

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liabilities relating to uncertain tax positions of $43 million. Taxing authorities may disagree with the positions the Company has taken regarding the tax treatment or characterization of its transactions. If any tax authorities were successful in challenging the tax treatment or characterization of any of our transactions, it could also adversely affect its financial results.

The Company’s Pulp and Paper business may have difficulty obtaining wood fiber at favorable prices, or at all.

Wood fiber is the principal raw material used by the Company’s Pulp and Paper business, comprising approximately 21% of the consolidated cost of sales during 2016. Wood fiber is a commodity, and prices historically have been cyclical. The primary source for wood fiber is timber. Environmental litigation and regulatory developments, alternative use for energy production and reduction in harvesting related to the housing market, have caused, and may cause in the future, significant reductions in the amount of timber available for commercial harvest in the United States and Canada. In addition, future domestic or foreign legislation and litigation concerning the use of timberlands, the protection of endangered species, the promotion of forest health and the response to and prevention of catastrophic wildfires could also affect timber supplies. Availability of harvested timber may be further limited by adverse weather, fire, insect infestation, disease, ice storms, wind storms, flooding and other natural and man-made causes, thereby reducing supply and increasing prices. Wood fiber pricing is subject to regional market influences, and the Company’s cost of wood fiber may increase in particular regions due to market shifts in those regions. Any sustained increase in wood fiber prices would increase the Company’s operating costs, and the Company may be unable to increase prices for its products in response to increased wood fiber costs due to additional factors affecting the demand or supply of these products.

The Company currently meets its wood fiber requirements by purchasing wood fiber from third parties and by harvesting timber pursuant to its forest licenses and forest management agreements. If the Company’s cutting rights, pursuant to its forest licenses or forest management agreements are reduced, or any third-party supplier of wood fiber stops selling or is unable to sell wood fiber to the Company, its financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

An increase in the cost of the Company’s purchased energy or other raw materials would lead to higher manufacturing costs, thereby reducing its margins.

The Company’s operations consume substantial amounts of energy such as electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, coal and hog fuel. Energy prices, particularly for electricity, natural gas and fuel oil, have been volatile in recent years. As a result, fluctuations in energy prices will impact the Company’s manufacturing costs and contribute to earnings volatility. While the Company purchases substantial portions of its energy under supply contracts, most of these contracts are based on market pricing.

Other raw materials the Company uses include various chemical compounds, such as precipitated calcium carbonate, sodium chlorate, sulfuric acid, dyes, peroxide, methanol and aluminum sulfate, super absorbent polymers and nonwovens. The costs of these other raw materials have been volatile historically, and they are influenced by capacity utilization, energy prices and other factors beyond the Company’s control.

Due to the commodity nature of the Company’s products, the relationship between industry supply and demand for these products, rather than solely changes in the cost of raw materials, will determine the Company’s ability to increase prices. Consequently, the Company may be unable to pass on increases in its operating costs to its customers. Any sustained increase in other raw materials or energy prices without any corresponding increase in product pricing would reduce the Company’s operating margins and may have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.

The Company depends on third parties for transportation services.

The Company relies primarily on third parties for transportation of the products it manufactures and/or distributes, as well as delivery of its raw materials. In particular, a significant portion of the goods it manufactures and raw materials it uses are transported by railroad or trucks, which are highly regulated. If any of its third-party transportation providers were to fail to deliver the goods that the Company manufactures or distributes in a timely manner, the Company may be unable to sell those products at full value, or at all. Similarly, if any of these providers were to fail to deliver raw materials to the Company in a timely manner, it may be unable to manufacture its products in response to customer demand. In addition, if any of these third parties were to cease operations or cease doing business with the Company, it may be unable to replace them at reasonable cost. Any failure of a third-party transportation provider to deliver raw materials or finished products in a timely manner could harm the Company’s reputation, negatively impact its customer relationships and may have a material adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.

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The Company could experience disruptions in operations and/or increased labor costs due to labor disputes or restructuring activities.

Employees at 18 of the Company’s facilities, representing approximately half of the Company’s employees, are represented by unions through collective bargaining agreements generally on a facility-by-facility basis. Certain of these agreements will expire in 2017 and others will expire between 2018 and 2020. As of December 31, 2016, eight collective bargaining agreements in the U.S., representing 1,050 employees, are up for renegotiation. All unionized employees in Canada and Europe were covered by ratified agreements as of December 31, 2016. In the future, the Company may not be able to negotiate acceptable new collective bargaining agreements, which could result in strikes or work stoppages or other labor disputes by affected workers. Renewal of collective bargaining agreements could also result in higher wages or benefits paid to union members. In addition, labor organizing activities could occur at any of the Company’s facilities. Therefore, the Company could experience a disruption of its operations or higher ongoing labor costs, which could have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.

The Company continues to evaluate potential adjustments to its production capacity, which may include additional closures of machines or entire mills, and the Company could recognize significant cash and/or non-cash charges relating to any such closures in the future.

A material disruption at one or more of the Company’s manufacturing facilities could prevent it from meeting customer demand, reduce its sales and/or negatively impact its results of operations.

Any of the Company’s manufacturing facilities, or any of its machines within an otherwise operational facility, could cease operations unexpectedly due to a number of events, including:

Events such as those listed above have resulted in operating losses in the past. Future events may cause shutdowns, which may result in additional downtime and/or cause additional damage to the Company’s facilities. Any such downtime or facility damage could prevent the Company from meeting customer demand for its products and/or require it to make unplanned capital expenditures. If one or more of these machines or facilities were to incur significant downtime, it may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s  results of operations and financial position.

The efficiency of our operations could be adversely affected by disruptions to our Information Technology (IT) Services.

The Company’s information technology systems, some of which are dependent on services provided by third parties, serve an important role in the efficient operation of its business. The protection of customers, employees and company data is critical to the Company’s business. This role includes ordering and managing materials from suppliers, managing its inventory, converting materials to finished products, facilitating order entry and fulfillment and processing of transactions, summarizing and reporting its financial results, facilitating internal and external communications, administering human resources functions, retaining certain personal information and providing other processes necessary to manage its business. The Company is exposed to the risk of cyber incidents in the normal course of business. Cyber incidents may be deliberate attacks for the theft of intellectual property or other sensitive information or may be the result of unintentional events. Like most companies, the Company's information technology systems may be vulnerable to interruption due to a variety of events beyond the Company's control, including, but not limited to, natural disasters,

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terrorist attacks, power and/or telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hackers and other security issues. The Company has technology security initiatives and disaster recovery plans in place to mitigate the Company's risk to these vulnerabilities, including protection of confidential or personal information, but these measures may not be adequate or implemented properly to ensure that the Company's operations are not disrupted. The Company’s IT systems have been, and will likely continue to be, subject to computer viruses or other malicious codes, unauthorized access attempts, phishing and other cyber-incidents. The Company cannot guarantee that its security efforts will prevent breaches or breakdowns to its IT systems or those of its third party providers. Potential consequences of a material cyber incident, which could result in confidential or personal information being accessed, obtained, damaged or used by unauthorized or improper persons, include damage to the Company’s reputation, litigation, inefficiencies or production downtimes and increased cyber security protection and remediation costs. Such consequences could have a negative impact on the Company’s ability to meet customers’ orders, resulting in a delay or decrease to its revenue and a reduction to its operating margins.

The Company could encounter difficulties restructuring operations or closing or disposing of facilities.

The Company is continuously seeking the most cost-effective means and structure to serve our customers and to respond to changes in our markets. Accordingly, from time to time, the Company has, and is likely to again close facilities, sell non-core assets and otherwise restructure operations in an effort to improve cost competitiveness and profitability. As a result, restructuring and divesture costs have been, and are expected to be, a recurring component of our operating costs, and may vary significantly from year to year depending on the scope of such activities. Divestures and restructuring may also result in significant financial charges for the impairment of assets, including goodwill and other intangible assets. Furthermore, such activities may divert the attention of management, disrupt our ordinary operations, or result in a reduction in the volume of products produced and sold. In 2016, the Company’s results include a $26 million of unabsorbed fixed costs related to the fluff pulp conversion outage at its Ashdown mill. There is no guarantee that any such activities will achieve its goal, and if the Company cannot successfully manage the associated risks, its financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The Company has liabilities with respect to its pension plans and the actual cost of its pension plan obligations could exceed current provisions. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s defined benefit plans had a surplus of $103 million on certain plans and a deficit of $141 million on others.

The Company does not expect any potential short-term liquidity issues to affect the pension funds since pension fund obligations are primarily long-term in nature. Losses in pension fund investments, if any, would result in future increased contributions by the Company. Additional contributions to these pension funds would be required to be paid over 5 year or 10 year periods, depending upon the applicable legislation for funding pension deficits. Losses, if any, would also impact  results of operations over a longer period of time and immediately increase liabilities and reduce equity.

The Company’s future funding obligations for its defined benefit pension plans depend upon changes to the level of benefits provided by the plans, the future performance of assets set aside in trusts for these plans, the level of interest rates used to determine minimum funding levels, actuarial data and experience, and any changes in government laws and regulations. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s defined benefit pension plans held assets with a fair value of $1,546 million.

The Company’s intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of its products and its brands.

The Company relies on patent, trademark and other intellectual property laws of the United States and other countries to protect its intellectual property rights. However, the Company may be unable to prevent third parties from using its intellectual property without its authorization, which may reduce any competitive advantage it has developed. If the Company had to litigate to protect these rights, any proceedings could be costly, and it may not prevail. The Company cannot guarantee that any United States or foreign patents, issued or pending, will provide it with any competitive advantage or will not be challenged by third parties. Additionally, the Company has obtained and applied for United States and foreign trademark registrations, and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional service marks and trademarks, as appropriate. The Company cannot guarantee that any of its pending patent or trademark applications will be approved by the applicable governmental authorities and, even if the applications are approved, third parties may seek to oppose or otherwise challenge these registrations. The failure to secure any pending patent or trademark applications may limit the Company’s ability to protect the intellectual property rights that these applications were intended to cover.

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If the Company is unable to successfully retain and develop executive leadership and other key personnel, it may be unable to fully realize critical organizational strategies, goals and objectives.

The success of the Company is substantially dependent on the efforts and abilities of its key personnel, including its executive management team, to develop and implement its business strategies and manage its operations. The failure to retain key personnel or to develop successors with appropriate skills and experience for key positions in the Company could adversely affect the development and achievement of critical organizational strategies, goals and objectives. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to retain or develop the key personnel it needs and the failure to do so may adversely affect its financial condition and results of operations.

The Company’s balance sheet includes a significant amount of goodwill and intangible assets. The Company may be required to record a material charge to earnings due to impairment of goodwill and/or intangible assets carried on its balance sheet.

As a result of business acquisitions in the past years, mostly in the Personal Care segment, the Company carries on its balance sheet goodwill and intangible assets. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of each of our acquisitions over the fair value of identifiable tangible and intangible assets of the acquired business. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s balance sheet included goodwill of $550 million, all of which was attributable to our Personal Care segment, and intangible assets of $608 million, of which $337 million related to intangible assets subject to amortization and $271 million related to indefinite-lived intangible assets. The Company performs annual evaluations or more frequently if impairment indicators arise, for potential impairment of the carrying value of goodwill for each of its reporting units and of its intangible assets.

Impairment assessments inherently involve management judgment as to the assumptions used to estimate fair value of the reporting units or intangible asset being tested. Changes in assumptions or estimates can materially affect the determination of fair value. The major factors that influence the analysis of fair value are the Company's estimates for above-market future sales growth, driven by significant capital investments in new production lines, and the discount rate associated with the reporting unit or asset being tested.  In connection with the Company's annual impairment testing performed in 2016, the first step of such testing indicated that the fair values of our reporting unit and indefinite-lived intangible assets exceeded its carrying amount. The estimated fair value of the Personal Care reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 24%. If assumed significant revenue growth is not achieved in future periods and/or there is an increase to the rate used to discount the estimated cash flows, there is the potential for partial or full goodwill impairment related to the reporting unit and/or related indefinite-lived intangible assets. As of December 31, 2016, the goodwill balance attributable to the Personal Care reporting unit was $550 million and the carrying value of related intangible assets for Personal Care was $593 million. If we are required to impair all or a significant amount of the goodwill attributable to the Personal Care reporting unit, and/or the carrying value of related intangible assets, and consequently record a non-cash impairment charge, the Company’s results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.