Finance Receivables - Narratives (Details) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) property	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) property	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) property	Jan. 31, 2014 USD ($) lease
Finance Receivables
Interest income from direct financing lease		$ 71,200	$ 74,400	$ 78,800
Increase in value of balance sheet item due to foreign currency translation		(92,434)	(125,447)	(117,938)
Financing receivable reclassified to held for sale		26,200
Net investment in direct financing leases		684,059	756,353
Notes receivable, net		10,400	10,700
Proceeds from repayments of note receivable		$ 409	10,441	1,915
Financing receivable credit quality additional information		We generally seek investments in facilities that we believe are critical to a tenant’s business and that we believe have a low risk of tenant default.
Allowance for doubtful accounts receivable		$ 13,300	8,700
Allowance for credit losses		$ 7,100	8,700
Financing receivable credit quality range of dates ratings updated		The credit quality evaluation of our finance receivables was last updated in the fourth quarter of 2016.
B Note
Finance Receivables
Notes receivable, net				10,000
Proceeds from repayments of note receivable	$ 10,000
Real estate
Finance Receivables
Increase in value of balance sheet item due to foreign currency translation		$ (89,800)
Number of properties reclassified | property		31
Reclassification of properties owned		$ (9,700)
Net investment in direct financing leases				$ 3,300
CPA: 16 - Global
Finance Receivables
Number of DFL acquired from Merger | lease					98
Net investment in direct financing leases					$ 538,225
CPA: 16 - Global | Real estate
Finance Receivables
Number of real estate properties | property				225
Fair Value, Measurements, Nonrecurring | Level 3
Finance Receivables
Impairment charges on properties		52,300
Continuing Operations | Fair Value, Measurements, Nonrecurring | Level 3
Finance Receivables
Impairment charges on properties		59,303	29,906	$ 23,802
Continuing Operations | Net investments in direct financing lease | Fair Value, Measurements, Nonrecurring | Level 3
Finance Receivables
Impairment charges on properties		$ 6,987	$ 3,309	$ 1,329
Number of real estate properties | property		1	5	8
Net investments in direct financing leases
Finance Receivables
Increase in value of balance sheet item due to foreign currency translation		$ (18,300)
Number of properties reclassified | property		31
Reclassification of properties owned		$ 9,700		$ 13,700
Impairment charges on properties		$ 7,000