Fair Value Measurements

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]

Fair Value Measurements

Fair Value Measurements

The fair value hierarchal disclosure framework prioritizes and ranks the level of market price observability used in measuring assets and liabilities at fair value. Market price observability is impacted by a number of factors, including the type of investment and the characteristics specific to the asset or liability. Assets or liabilities with readily available active quoted prices or for which fair value can be measured from actively quoted prices generally will have a higher degree of market price observability and a lesser degree of judgment used in measuring fair value.

Assets and liabilities measured and reported at fair value are classified and disclosed in one of the following categories:

• Level 1 — Quoted prices are available in active markets for identical assets and/or liabilities as of the reporting date. The type of assets and/or liabilities included in Level 1 include listed equities and listed derivatives. The Company does not adjust the quoted price for these assets and/or liabilities, even in situations where they hold a large position and a sale could reasonably impact the quoted price.

• Level 2 — Pricing inputs are other than quoted prices in active markets, which are either directly or indirectly observable as of the reporting date, and fair value is determined through the use of models or other valuation methodologies. Assets and/or liabilities that are generally included in this category include corporate bonds and loans, less liquid and restricted equity securities and certain over-the-counter derivatives.

• Level 3 — Pricing inputs are unobservable for the assets and/or liabilities and include situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the assets and/or liabilities. The inputs into the determination of fair value require significant management judgment or estimation.

In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, an investment’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. ARI’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment and considers factors specific to the investment.

For the fair value of the Company’s short-term investments, outstanding debt, and share-based compensation refer to Notes 4, 11, and 15, respectively.