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 $7,090, $4,387 and $1,576 during 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, related to restricted stock and RSU vesting.

The following table summarizes the grants, exchanges and forfeitures of restricted common stock and RSUs during 2016, 2015 and 2014:



	Type	Date	Restricted Stock	RSUs		Estimate Fair Value on Grant Date ($)	Initial Vesting	Final Vesting
Outstanding at January 1, 2014			208,416	503,750
	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
	Canceled upon delivery	January 2016	—	(318,160	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Forfeiture	January 2016	—	(1,667	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	February 2016	—	47,028		729	(1)	(1)
	Grant	March 2016	—	5,095		81	December 2016	December 2017
	Grant	April 2016	17,056	—		275	July 2016	April 2019
	Forfeiture	June 2016	—	(14,972	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Canceled upon delivery	July 2016	—	(543	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Forfeiture	July 2016	—	(12,792	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	July 2016	—	1,528		25	September 2016	September 2016
	Forfeiture	August 2016	—	(15,642	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	September 2016	—	6,146		101	October 2016	October 2016
	Canceled upon delivery	September 2016	—	(41,281	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Canceled upon delivery	October 2016	—	(30,900	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Canceled upon delivery	November 2016	—	(6,146	)	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Grant	December 2016	75,000	—		1,251	December 2017	December 2019
	Grant	December 2016	—	843,271		14,015	December 2017	December 2019
Outstanding at December 31, 2016			432,120	1,703,775

(1) These awards vest based upon the achievement of certain conditions.

Below is a summary of restricted stock and RSU vesting dates as of December 31, 2016.



Vesting Date	Shares Vesting	RSU Vesting	Total Awards
January 2017	5,161	—	5,161
April 2017	5,164	—	5,164
June 2017	—	544	544
July 2017	4,004	—	4,004
October 2017	3,997	—	3,997
December 2017	53,923	603,189	657,112
January 2018	2,749	—	2,749
April 2018	2,755	—	2,755
June 2018	—	544	544
July 2018	1,420	—	1,420
October 2018	1,424	—	1,424
December 2018	41,670	486,037	527,707
January 2019	1,419	—	1,419
April 2019	1,424	—	1,424
December 2019	25,000	281,112	306,112
	150,110	1,371,426	1,521,536

At December 31, 2016, the Company had unrecognized compensation expense of approximately $2,439 and $23,279, respectively, related to the vesting of restricted stock awards and RSUs noted in the table above.

RSU Deliveries

During 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, the Company delivered 236,782, 12,763 and 240,277 shares of common stock for 397,030, 20,000 and 283,750 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 $2,626, $122, and $876 in 2016, 2015 and 2014, 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.