9. INVESTMENTS

AllDale Minerals

In November 2014, Cavalier Minerals (see Note 8 – Variable Interest Entities), was created to indirectly purchase, through its equity investments in AllDale Minerals, oil and gas mineral interests in various geographic locations within producing basins in the continental U.S. In February 2017, Alliance Minerals, which is included in our Other and Corporate category (see Note 13 – Segment Information), committed to directly (rather than through Cavalier Minerals) invest $30.0 million in AllDale III which was created for similar investment purposes. The ARLP Partnership accounts for its ownership interest in the income or loss of AllDale Minerals and AllDale III (collectively, the "AllDale Partnerships") as equity method investments. The ARLP Partnership records equity income or loss based on the AllDale Partnerships' individual distribution structures. The changes in the ARLP Partnership's aggregate equity method investment in the AllDale Partnerships for each of the periods presented were as follows:


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2017		2016		2017		2016
	(in thousands)
Beginning balance	$	149,592	$	96,670	$	138,817	$	64,509
Contributions		3,900		32,181		16,487		65,367
Equity in income of affiliates		3,798		1,105		10,414		1,041
Distributions received		(12,941)		(1,905)		(21,369)		(2,866)
Ending balance	$	144,349	$	128,051	$	144,349	$	128,051

Kodiak

On July 19, 2017, Alliance Minerals purchased $100 million of Series A-1 Preferred Interests from Kodiak, a privately-held gas compression company providing large-scale, high-utilization compression assets to customers operating primarily in the Permian Basin. This structured investment provides the ARLP Partnership with a quarterly cash or payment-in-kind return. The ARLP Partnership's ownership interests in Kodiak are senior to all other Kodiak equity interests and subordinate only to Kodiak's senior secured debt facility. The ARLP Partnership accounts for its ownership interests in Kodiak as a cost method investment. It is not practicable to estimate the fair value of the ARLP Partnership's investment in Kodiak because of the lack of a quoted market price for its ownership interests. The changes in the ARLP Partnership's investment in Kodiak for the three months ended September 30, 2017 were as follows:


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2017
	(in thousands)
Beginning balance	$	—
Contributions		100,000
Payment-in-kind distributions received		2,800
Ending balance	$	102,800