BUSINESS OUTLOOK As fiscal 2009 began, domestic and international markets continued to reflect a difficult market environment due to a downturn in the global economy.
Illiquid capital markets, lack of financing and forced deleveraging have resulted in extreme price declines across many asset classes.
The U. S.  housing market and credit markets continue to be ongoing concerns, and revelations of a massive alleged hedge fund fraud (in which none of BlackRock’s funds of funds were invested) have contributed to investors, industry-wide, seeking to redeem hedge fund and fund of funds holdings in record numbers.
The timing and direction of volatile markets, investment performance and new client asset flows will continue to impact the revenue the Company recognizes.
The direction of markets, particularly real estate and private equity, will also affect the valuation of the assets on the Company’s balance sheet.
The Company notes that the global recession, declining asset values, the liquidity crunch and associated market disruption have impacted our business, including the value and mix of AUM and associated base fees.
AUM and base fees may be affected by further market changes during the remainder of 2009.  ?
The build-up of institutional liquidity assets experienced since the fourth quarter of 2007 may be temporary, as these assets are expected to be redeployed to longerdated strategies as market conditions stabilize.
The Company’s strategic focus on performance, globalization and product diversification, client service and independent advice may enable it to retain a portion of these assets.  ?
The liquidity crunch and associated market disruption have given rise to greater demand for our advisory services, marrying our extensive capital markets and structuring expertise with rigorous modeling and analytical capabilities.
While we anticipate demand for these services to remain high through the volatile markets, demand may return to historical levels should market concerns ease.
A meaningful percentage of BlackRock Solutions and advisory revenues in 2008 was composed of one-time advisory and portfolio structuring fees.
Because this type of revenue is nonrecurring, it is dependent on new assignments which may or may not continue, particularly at the same pace.  ?
Alternative investment products with performance fee hurdles based on absolute performance measures and high water marks may not contribute performance fee revenue at levels that the Company has earned in prior periods.  ?
The value of the Company’s co-investments in alternative products may continue to decline as the underlying value in certain asset classes, particularly real estate and private equity, continue to decline.  ?
In early 2009, returns on many major equity indices have continued to decline from year-end 2008, which may impact the Company’s revenue in future periods.  ?
The Company will continue to assess the appropriateness of its cost structure relative to the external environment.
The Company may decide to take additional measures to reduce costs.
While any measure would be expected to lower the cost base over time, certain measures may or may not have upfront implementation costs.  ?
Given the severity of the market-driven revenue impacts mentioned above, the operating margins of the Company would be expected to decline, even in the face of cost saving measures.  ?
There may be certain circumstances in which the Company may consider temporarily waiving fees on certain products.
If these circumstances were to occur and fee waivers were to be granted, the revenues of the Company would be adversely affected.  ?
The effective tax rate of the Company is affected, among other things, by the geographic distribution of earnings and global changes in tax legislation.
The effective tax rate may vary from period to period as a result of these factors.
OPERATING RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008, AS COMPARED WITH THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007
## Table 0 ##
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company is a registered life insurance company that maintains separate account assets, representing segregated funds held for purposes of funding individual and group pension contracts, and equal and offsetting separate account liabilities.
At Decem - ber 31, 2008 and 2007, the Level 3 separate account assets were approximately $4 and $12, respectively.
The changes in Level 3 assets primarily relate to purchases, sales and gains/(losses).
The net investment income and net gains and losses attributable to separate account assets accrue directly to the contract owner and are not reported as non-operating income (expense) on the consolidated statements of income.
Level 3 assets, which includes equity method investments or consolidated investments of real estate funds, private equity funds and funds of private equity funds are valued based upon valuations received from internal as well as third party fund managers.
Fair valuations at the underlying funds are based on a combination of methods which may include third-party independent appraisals and discounted cash flow techniques.
Direct investments in private equity companies held by funds of private equity funds are valued based on an assessment of each under - lying investment, incorporating evaluation of additional significant third party financing, changes in valuations of comparable peer companies and the business environment of the companies, among other factors.
See Note 2 for further detail on the fair value policies by the underlying funds.
Changes in Level 3 Assets Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis for the Year Ended December 31, 2008
## Table 1 ##
Realized and unrealized gains and losses recorded for Level 3 assets are reported in non-operating income (expense) on the consolidated statements of income.
Non-controlling interest expense is recorded for consolidated investments to reflect the portion of gains and losses not attributable to the Company.
The Company transfers assets in and/or out of Level 3 as significant inputs, including performance attributes, used for the fair value measurement become observable.6.
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES In the normal course of business, the Company is the manager of various types of sponsored investment vehicles, including collateralized debt obligations and sponsored investment funds, that may be considered VIEs.
The Company receives management fees or other incentive related fees for its services and may from time to time own equity or debt securities or enter into derivatives with the vehicles, each of which are considered variable interests.
The Company engages in these variable interests principally to address client needs through the launch of such investment vehicles.
The VIEs are primarily financed via capital contributed by equity and debt holders.
The Company’s involvement in financing the operations of the VIEs is limited to its equity interests, unfunded capital commitments for certain sponsored investment funds and its capital support agreements for two enhanced cash funds.
The primary beneficiary of a VIE is the party that absorbs a majority of the entity’s expected losses, receives a major - ity of the entity’s expected residual returns or both as a result of holding variable interests.
In order to determine whether the Company is the primary beneficiary of a VIE, management must make significant estimates and assumptions of probable future cash flows and assign probabilities to different cash flow scenarios.
Assumptions made in such analyses include, but are not limited to, market prices of securities, market interest rates, potential credit defaults on individual securities or default rates on a portfolio of securities, gain realization, liquidity or marketability of certain securities, discount rates and the probability of certain other outcomes.
VIEs in which BlackRock is the Primary Beneficiary At December 31, 2008, the Company was the primary beneficiary of three VIEs, which resulted in consolidation of three sponsored investment funds (including two cash management funds and one private equity fund of funds).
Creditors of the VIEs do not have recourse to the credit of the Company.
During 2008, the Company determined it became the primary beneficiary of two enhanced cash management funds as a result of concluding that under various cash
PART II Item 7?
?Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations measures, to evaluate our operating results.
Free cash flow should be considered supplemental to, and not a substitute for, our reported financial results prepared in accordance with U. S.  GAAP.
Reconciliations between net cash provided by operating activities (the most comparable U. S.  GAAP measure) and free cash flow are as follows:
## Table 2 ##
Debt and Capital Our capital structure consists of equity and interest-bearing debt.
We use a combination of bank borrowings and commercial paper issuances to fund our short-term financing needs.
Current debt, including the current portion of our long-term debt and capital lease obligations, at April 27, 2018 was $2.1 billion as compared to $7.5 billion at April 28, 2017.
Historically, we have issued Senior Notes to meet our long-term financing needs.
Long-term debt at April 27, 2018 was $23.7 billion as compared to $25.9 billion at April?28, 2017.
Total debt at April 27, 2018 was $25.8 billion, as compared to $33.4 billion at April 28, 2017.
The decrease in total debt was primarily driven by the repayment of our senior unsecured term loan and senior notes detailed below, along with a reduction in our commercial paper borrowings of $203 million.
During fiscal year 2018, we repaid our senior unsecured term loan, including accrued interest, for $3.0 billion, our 6.000 percent ten-year 2008 CIFSA senior notes, including accrued interest, for $1.2?billion, our 3.500 percent seven-year 2010 HTWR senior notes, including interest, for $43 million, our 1.500 percent threeyear 2015 senior notes, including accrued interest, for $1.0 billion, our 1.375 percent five-year 2013 senior notes, including accrued interest, for $1.0 billion, our 4.450 percent ten-year 2010 senior notes, including accrued interest and early redemption premium, for $795 million, and our 5.600 percent ten-year 2009 senior notes, including accrued interest and early redemption premium, for $413?million.
We maintain a commercial paper program for short-term financing, which allows us to issue unsecured commercial paper notes on a private placement basis up to a maximum aggregate amount outstanding at any time of $3.5 billion.
At April 27, 2018, we had $698 million of commercial paper outstanding as compared to $901 million at April 28, 2017.
During fiscal years 2018 and 2017, the weighted average original maturity of the commercial paper outstanding was approximately 28 and 39 days, respectively, and the weighted average interest rate was 1.46 percent and 0.89?percent, respectively.
The issuance of commercial paper reduces the amount of credit available under our existing line of credit, as explained below.
We also have a $3.5 billion syndicated line of credit facility (Credit Facility) which expires in January 2020.
The Credit Facility provides backup funding for the commercial paper program and may also be used for general corporate purposes.
The Credit Facility provides us with the ability to increase our borrowing capacity by an additional $500 million at any time during the term of the agreement.
At each anniversary date of the Credit Facility, but not more than twice prior to the maturity date, we could also request a one-year extension of the maturity date.
At April 27, 2018 and April?28, 2017, no amounts were outstanding on the committed line of?credit.
Interest rates on advances of our Credit Facility are determined by a pricing matrix, based on our long-term debt ratings assigned by S&P and Moody’s.
For additional information on our credit ratings status by S&P and Moody's, refer to the "Liquidity" section of this Management's Discussion and Analysis.
Facility fees are payable on the credit facility and are determined in the same manner as the interest rates.
The agreements also contain customary covenants, all of which we were in compliance with at April 27, 2018.
We repurchase our ordinary shares from time to time as part of our focus on returning value to our shareholders.
In June 2015, our Board of Directors authorized, subject to the ongoing existence of sufficient distributable reserves, the repurchase of 80 million of our ordinary shares.
At April 28, 2017, we had used 51 million of the 80?million shares authorized under the June 2015 share repurchase program.
In June 2017, our Board of Directors authorized the expenditure of up to $5.0 billion for new share repurchases, replacing the previous 2015 repurchase authorization to redeem up to an aggregate number of ordinary shares.
During fiscal years 2018 and 2017, we repurchased a total of 25 million and 43 million shares, respectively, under these programs at an average price of $83.71 and $83.03, respectively.
At April 27, 2018, we had approximately $4.0 billion remaining under the share repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors.
For more information on credit arrangements, see Note 8 of the consolidated financial statements in “Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2"> Year ended  December 31,</td><td colspan="2">Variance</td></tr><tr><td> <i>(Dollar amounts in millions)</i></td><td> 2008</td><td> 2007</td><td>Amount%</td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Investment advisory and administration fees:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Fixed income</td><td>$892</td><td>$901</td><td>$-9</td><td>-1%</td></tr><tr><td>Equity and balanced</td><td>2,101</td><td>2,218</td><td>-117</td><td>-5%</td></tr><tr><td>Cash management</td><td>708</td><td>520</td><td>188</td><td>36%</td></tr><tr><td>Alternative investment products</td><td>531</td><td>371</td><td>160</td><td>43%</td></tr><tr><td>Investment advisory and administration base fees</td><td>4,232</td><td>4,010</td><td>222</td><td>6%</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed income</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>—</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>Equity and balanced</td><td>95</td><td>107</td><td>-12</td><td>-11%</td></tr><tr><td>Alternative investment products</td><td>78</td><td>239</td><td>-161</td><td>-67%</td></tr><tr><td>Investment advisory performance fees</td><td>177</td><td>350</td><td>-173</td><td>-49%</td></tr><tr><td>Total investment advisory and administration fees</td><td>4,409</td><td>4,360</td><td>49</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td><i>BlackRock Solutions</i>and advisory</td><td>406</td><td>198</td><td>208</td><td>105%</td></tr><tr><td>Distribution fees</td><td>139</td><td>123</td><td>16</td><td>13%</td></tr><tr><td>Other revenue</td><td>110</td><td>164</td><td>-54</td><td>-32%</td></tr><tr><td>Total revenue</td><td>$5,064</td><td>$4,845</td><td>$219</td><td>5%</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>Investments</td><td>Other Assets</td></tr><tr><td>December 31, 2007</td><td>$1,240</td><td>$—</td></tr><tr><td>Realized and unrealized gains / (losses), net</td><td>-409</td><td>-16</td></tr><tr><td>Purchases, sales, other settlements and issuances, net</td><td>11</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Net transfers in and/or out of Level 3</td><td>-29</td><td>78</td></tr><tr><td>December 31, 2008</td><td>$813</td><td>$64</td></tr><tr><td>Total net (losses) for the period included in earnings attributable to the change in unrealized gains or (losses) relating to assets stillheld at the reporting date</td><td>$-366</td><td>$-17</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">Fiscal Year</td></tr><tr><td>(in millions)</td><td>2018</td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by operating activities</td><td>$4,684</td><td>$6,880</td><td>$5,218</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities</td><td>5,858</td><td>-1,571</td><td>2,245</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash used in financing activities</td><td>-11,954</td><td>-3,283</td><td>-9,543</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by operating activities</td><td>4,684</td><td>6,880</td><td>5,218</td></tr><tr><td>Additions to property, plant, and equipment</td><td>-1,068</td><td>-1,254</td><td>-1,046</td></tr><tr><td>Free cash flow</td><td>$3,616</td><td>$5,626</td><td>$4,172</td></tr><tr><td>Dividends to shareholders</td><td>$2,494</td><td>$2,376</td><td>$2,139</td></tr><tr><td>Repurchase of ordinary shares</td><td>2,171</td><td>3,544</td><td>2,830</td></tr><tr><td>Issuances of ordinary shares</td><td>-403</td><td>-428</td><td>-491</td></tr><tr><td>Return to shareholders</td><td>$4,262</td><td>$5,492</td><td>$4,478</td></tr><tr><td>Return of operating cash flow percentage</td><td>91%</td><td>80%</td><td>86%</td></tr><tr><td>Return of free cash flow percentage</td><td>118%</td><td>98%</td><td>107%</td></tr></table>

Question: what is the percentage change in the balance of level 3 investments assets from 2007 to 2008?
Answer: -0.34435