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 (as amended from time to time, 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 $13,314, $7,090 and $4,387 during 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, related to restricted stock and RSU vesting.

The following table summarizes the grants, exchanges and forfeitures of restricted common stock and RSUs during 2017, 2016 and 2015:



	Type	Restricted Stock		RSUs		Grant Date Fair Value ($)
Outstanding at January 1, 2015		73,927		610,254
	Grant	65,950		666,056		$	12,769
	Vested	(32,492	)	(20,000	)	n/a
	Forfeiture	—		(13,500	)	n/a
Outstanding at December 31, 2015		107,385		1,242,810
	Grant	92,056		903,068		16,477
	Vested	(49,331	)	(397,030	)	n/a
	Forfeiture	—		(45,073	)	n/a
Outstanding at December 31, 2016		150,110		1,703,775
	Grant	27,700		912,916		17,496
	Vested	(72,249	)	(938,541	)	n/a
	Forfeiture	—		(45,404	)	n/a
Outstanding at December 31, 2017		105,561		1,632,746

Below is a summary of restricted stock and RSU vesting dates as of December 31, 2017.



Vesting Year	Restricted Stock	RSU	Total Awards
2018	67,934	758,505	826,439
2019	32,733	569,909	602,642
2020	4,894	304,332	309,226
Total	105,561	1,632,746	1,738,307

At December 31, 2017, the Company had unrecognized compensation expense of approximately $1,577 and $30,242, respectively, related to the vesting of restricted stock awards and RSUs noted in the table above.

RSU Deliveries

During 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, the Company delivered 200,859, 236,782 and 12,763 shares of common stock for 938,541, 397,030, and 20,000 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 $2,336, $2,626, and $122 in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and are included as reductions of capital increase related to the Company's equity incentive plan in the consolidated statement of changes in stockholders' equity.