items that may affect our tax rate in future years. 

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Financial Position 

We believe our ability to generate cash from operating activities is one of our fundamental financial strengths. The near-term outlook for our business remains strong and we expect to generate substantial cash flows from operations in 2009. As a result of our expected strong cash flows from operations, we have significant flexibility to meet our financial commitments. We typically fund a significant portion of our dividends, capital expenditures, contractual obligations, share repurchases and acquisitions with cash generated from operating activities. We rely on external funding for additional cash requirements. The Company does not typically raise capital through the issuance of stock, instead, we use debt financing to lower our overall cost of capital and increase our return on shareowners' equity. Refer to the heading "Cash Flows from Financing Activities—Debt Financing," below. Our debt financing includes the use of an extensive commercial paper program as part of our overall cash management strategy. Despite the recent disruption to the general credit markets, our liquidity remains strong, and our commercial paper program continues to function each day. We are able to access 60- to 90-day terms and have not had a material change to our spreads to benchmark rates; however, there is no assurance that this will not change in the future. The Company is reviewing its optimal mix of short-term and long-term debt. We may replace a certain amount of commercial paper and short-term debt with longer-term debt in the future. 

On September 3, 2008, we announced our intention to make cash offers to purchase China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited, a Hong Kong listed company which owns the Huiyuan juice business throughout China ("Huiyuan"). Assuming full acceptance of the offers, the transaction is valued at approximately $2.4 billion. Refer to the heading "Additional Information." Due to this pending transaction, the Company curtailed its share repurchase program during the fourth quarter of 2008, and does not anticipate repurchasing shares during 2009. 

The significant decline in the equity markets precipitated by the recent credit crisis and financial system instability has negatively affected the value of our pension plan assets. As a result of the decline in fair value of our pension plan assets, we have made and will consider making additional contributions to our U.S. and international pension plans in 2009. Refer to the heading "Aggregate Contractual Obligations" and Note 16 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion. 

The majority of the Company's cash is held by our international subsidiaries. We have reviewed our contingency plans and would be able to access cash held by our international subsidiaries on short notice. Our approximate $4.7 billion cash balance as of December 31, 2008, is available and held in liquid, high-quality cash equivalent investments. However, in the event that we required the use of cash held by our international subsidiaries for an extended period of time in the United States, we would