Investments

Investments consist of:



	December 31,
	2016		2015
	(in thousands)
Available-for-sale	$	45	$	364
Trading:
Long-term incentive compensation-related	50,935		59,150
U.S. Treasury Bills	28,937		24,942
Seed capital	211,279		406,322
Equities	6,602		43,584
Exchange-traded options	3,106		5,910
Investments in limited partnership hedge funds:
Long-term incentive compensation-related	16,826		19,004
Seed capital	23,704		20,082
Consolidated private equity fund	—		23,897
Private equity	45,278		48,761
Investments held by consolidated VIEs	550,850		—
Time deposits	70,097		9,906
Other	7,522		7,878
Total investments	$	1,015,181	$	669,800

Total investments related to long-term incentive compensation obligations of $67.8 million and $78.2 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, consist of company-sponsored mutual funds and hedge funds. For long-term incentive compensation awards granted before 2009, we typically made investments in our services that were notionally elected by plan participants and maintained them (and continue to maintain them) in a consolidated rabbi trust or separate custodial account. The rabbi trust and custodial account enable us to hold such investments separate from our other assets for the purpose of settling our obligations to participants. The investments held in the rabbi trust and custodial account remain available to the general creditors of AB.

The underlying investments of hedge funds in which we invest include long and short positions in equity securities, fixed income securities (including various agency and non-agency asset-based securities), currencies, commodities and derivatives (including various swaps and forward contracts). These investments are valued at quoted market prices or, where quoted market prices are not available, are fair valued based on the pricing policies and procedures of the underlying funds.

U.S. Treasury Bills, the majority of which are pledged as collateral with clearing organizations, are held in our investment account. These clearing organizations have the ability by contract or custom to sell or re-pledge this collateral.

We allocate seed capital to our investment teams to help develop new products and services for our clients. The seed capital trading investments are equity and fixed income products, primarily in the form of separately-managed account portfolios, U.S. mutual funds, Luxembourg funds, Japanese investment trust management funds or Delaware business trusts. We also may allocate seed capital to investments in private equity funds, such as our consolidated venture capital fund, which holds technology, media, telecommunications, healthcare and clean-tech investments, and a third-party venture capital fund that invests in communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare and information technology markets. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, our seed capital investments were $500.0 million and $478.0 million, respectively.

During the first quarter of 2016, we sold a private equity investment in which we owned a 7.6% equity interest. We expect to receive a total of $85.5 million in cash, subject to final transaction costs and working capital adjustments. During March 2016, the transaction closed and we received $74.8 million in cash, recorded a $10.7 million receivable for the balance retained in escrow for 18 months and recorded an investment gain of $75.3 million.

Our consolidated venture capital fund, previously consolidated under the voting interest entity model, is considered a consolidated VIE effective January 1, 2016 upon the adoption of ASU 2015-02.

Trading securities also include long positions in corporate equities, an exchange-traded fund and long exchange-traded options traded through our options desk.

The cost and fair value of available-for-sale investments held as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 were as follows:



	Amortized Cost		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses			Fair Value
	(in thousands)
December 31, 2016:
Equity investments	$	23	$	—	$	—		$	23
Fixed income investments	22		2		(2		)	22
	$	45	$	2	$	(2	)	$	45

December 31, 2015:
Equity investments	$	188	$	2	$	(9	)	$	181
Fixed income investments	197		2		(16		)	183
	$	385	$	4	$	(25	)	$	364

Proceeds from sales of available-for-sale investments were approximately $0.4 million, $4.2 million and $0.1 million in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Realized gains from our sales of available-for-sale investments were zero in 2016, $1.3 million in 2015 and zero in 2014. Realized losses from our sales of available-for-sale investments were zero in each of 2016, 2015 and 2014. We assess valuation declines to determine the extent to which such declines are fundamental to the underlying investment or attributable to temporary market-related factors. Based on our assessment as of December 31, 2016, we do not believe the declines are other than temporary.

The portion of trading gains (losses) related to trading securities held as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 were as follows:



	December 31,
	2016			2015
	(in thousands)
Net gains (losses) recognized during the period	$	7,030		$	(27,246	)
Less: net (losses) gains recognized during the period on trading securities sold during the period	(11,294		)	5,812
Unrealized gains (losses) recognized during the period on trading securities held	$	18,324		$	(33,058	)