Writedowns and Other Charges

Writedown of assets and other real estate related charges

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company recorded $15.9 million in writedowns primarily related to goodwill and intangible assets of businesses held for sale. See Footnote 5 ”Discontinued Operations, Assets and Liabilities Held for Sale & Sales of Businesses” and Footnote 12 “Goodwill and Intangible Assets” for further details.

In the second quarter of 2015, the Company adopted a plan to consolidate its metro New York City area real estate, which currently comprises the Company’s Jersey City, NJ and New York, NY locations, through a relocation of its corporate headquarters to lower Manhattan in late 2016. As a result of this plan, the Company expects to abandon the majority of its Jersey City, NJ location on a staggered basis through the end of 2016 and expects to abandon its current New York, NY location by the end of 2016. Upon adopting the relocation plan, the Company prospectively shortened the remaining useful lives of the leasehold improvements and other fixed assets associated with these locations to reflect the projected abandonment dates.

Additionally, the Company completed consolidating its offices in Chicago and abandoned a portion of its Chicago premises in the third quarter of 2015.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company recorded writedowns of fixed assets totaling $17.0 million which comprises accelerated amortization related to leaseholds and furniture on partially vacated properties at its Jersey City and Chicago locations and losses on the sale of certain microwave communication network assets to the JV.

In addition, the Company recorded $23.7 million in charges in 2015 primarily related to the early termination of its Jersey City lease, modification of its New York City lease, and lease loss accruals for its Chicago and Greenwich premises.

For the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, the Company recorded $8.6 million and $7.1 million, respectively, of net lease loss accruals related to excess real estate capacity.

For the year ended December 31, 2013, the Company recorded $7.7 million in writedown of assets primarily related to leasehold improvements and fixed assets.

The activity in the liability accounts related to the Company’s lease losses and lease terminations for its U.S. leases are recorded in Accrued expenses and other liabilities on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition as follows (in thousands):



	December 31, 2015			December 31, 2014
Balance as of beginning of period	$	5,897		$	6,120
Real estate charges incurred	23,186			5,360
Payments made, net	(8,921		)	(4,468		)
Interest accretion	(1,270		)	(1,115		)
Balance as of end of period	$	18,892		$	5,897

Debt extinguishment charges

In 2015, the Company wrote off $8.5 million of capitalized debt costs and paid $16.5 million as a contractual make-whole premium related to the early retirement of the Company's $305.0 million 8.25% Senior Secured Notes. See Footnote 13 "Debt" for further details.

In 2014, the Company made $235.0 million principal repayments under the Credit Agreement. As a result, the Company wrote off $9.6 million in capitalized debt costs.