Investment in Unconsolidated Entities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Investment in Unconsolidated Entities

8. Investment in Unconsolidated Entities

The table below summarizes our investments in unconsolidated entities as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 (dollars in thousands):


	Participation /	Carrying value as of December 31,
	Ownership % (1)	2016		2015
Equity method:
Retail Fund (see Note 16)	33%	$	124,977	$	122,454
Investor entity which owns equity in an online real estate company	50%		21,677		23,972
Equity interests in commercial real estate (2) (3)	16% - 50%		23,297		28,230
Various	25% - 50%		6,640		6,376
			176,591		181,032
Cost method:
Equity interest in a servicing and advisory business (4)	6%		12,234		—
Investment funds which own equity in a loan servicer and other real estate assets	4% - 6%		9,225		9,225
Various	2% - 3%		6,555		8,944
			28,014		18,169
		$	204,605	$	199,201

(1)

None of these investments are publicly traded and therefore quoted market prices are not available.

(2)

During the year ended December 31, 2016, a partnership in which we hold a 50% interest acquired a $28.4 million real estate asset from a CMBS trust for a purchase price of $19.0 million. As of December 31, 2016, our investment in the partnership was $8.1 million.

(3)

During the year ended December 31, 2016, we received a repayment of $13.0 million from an in-substance loan, which was accounted for as an equity method investment.

(4)

During the year ended December 31, 2016, we acquired a non-controlling equity interest in Situs in exchange for the contribution of our European servicing and advisory business. Refer to Note 3 for further discussion.

There were no differences between the carrying value of our equity method investments and the underlying equity in the net assets of the investees as of December 31, 2016.