Share-Based Payments

On September 23, 2009, the Company’s board of directors approved the Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc., 2009 Equity Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”). The LTIP provides for grants of restricted common stock, restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and other equity-based awards up to an aggregate of 7.5% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock (on a fully diluted basis). The LTIP is administered by the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors (the “Compensation Committee”) and all grants under the LTIP must be approved by the Compensation Committee.

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense of $4,387, $1,576 and $3,488 during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, related to restricted stock and RSU vesting. The fair value of restricted stock that vested during 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $547, $445 and $293, respectively. The fair value of RSUs that vested during 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $3,471, $2,729 and $2,854, respectively.

The following table summarizes the grants, exchanges and forfeitures of restricted common stock and RSUs during 2015, 2014 and 2013:



	Type	Date	Restricted Stock	RSUs		Estimate Fair Value on Grant Date	Initial Vesting	Final Vesting
Outstanding at January 1, 2013			172,112	308,750

	Grant	February 2013	20,000	—		352	December 2013	December 2015
	Grant	February 2013	—	180,000		3,166	December 2013	December 2015
	Grant	April 2013	11,304	—		200	July 2013	April 2016
	Grant	May 2013	—	15,000		264	December 2013	December 2015
	Forfeiture	June 2013	—	(5,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Canceled upon delivery	July 2013	—	(5,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	September 2013	—	10,000		154	September 2013	September 2013
	Grant	November 2013	5,000	—		81	December 2013	October 2016
	Canceled upon delivery	January 2014	—	(288,750	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	April 2014	8,931	—		150	July 2014	April 2017
	Grant	April 2014	5,000	—		85	July 2014	April 2017
	Canceled upon delivery	April 2014	—	(5,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	June 2014	—	10,254		169	December 2014	December 2016
	Grant	December 2014	51,767	—		855	December 2015	December 2017
	Grant	December 2014	—	390,000		6,474	December 2015	December 2017
	Grant	January 2015	—	8,000		132	December 2015	December 2017
	Forfeiture	January 2015	—	(5,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Canceled upon delivery	March 2015	—	(20,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	April 2015	15,950	—		275	July 2015	April 2018
	Forfeiture	June 2015	—	(3,500	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	July 2015	—	1,631		27	June 2016	June 2018
	Forfeiture	August 2015	—	(5,000	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	December 2015	50,000	—		874	December 2016	December 2018
	Grant	December 2015	—	656,425		11,461	December 2016	December 2018

Outstanding at December 31, 2015			340,064	1,242,810

Below is a summary of restricted stock and RSU vesting dates as of December 31, 2015.



Vesting Date	Shares Vesting	RSU Vesting	Total Awards
January 2016	4,629	—	4,629
April 2016	4,627	—	4,627
June 2016	—	543	543
July 2016	4,158	—	4,158
October 2016	4,158	—	4,158
December 2016	28,920	350,379	379,299
January 2017	3,737	—	3,737
April 2017	3,745	—	3,745
June 2017	—	544	544
July 2017	2,580	—	2,580
October 2017	2,577	—	2,577
December 2017	28,923	346,982	375,905
January 2018	1,330	—	1,330
April 2018	1,331	—	1,331
June 2018	—	544	544
December 2018	16,670	218,822	235,492
	107,385	917,814	1,025,199

At December 31, 2015, the Company had unrecognized compensation expense of approximately $1,775 and $15,790, respectively, related to the vesting of restricted stock awards and RSUs noted in the table above.

RSU Deliveries

During 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, the Company delivered 12,763, 240,277 and 3,057 shares of common stock for 20,000, 283,750 and 5,000 vested RSUs. The Company allows RSU participants to settle their tax liabilities with a reduction of their share delivery from the originally granted and vested RSUs. The amount, when agreed to by the participant, results in a cash payment to the Manager related to this tax liability and a corresponding adjustment to additional paid in capital on the consolidated statement of changes in stockholders' equity. The adjustments were $122, $876 and $31 in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and are included as reductions of capital increase related to the Company's equity incentive plan in the consolidated statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.