LEASE COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

LEASE COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

14.    LEASE COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Commitments

The Company has a non-cancelable lease for office space which commenced in May 2002 and expires in December 2015.  Merganser has a non-cancelable lease for office space, which commenced on May 2003 and expires in May 2014.  Merganser subleases a portion of its leased space to a subtenant.  FIDAC has a lease for office space which commenced in October 2010 and expires in February 2016. The Company’s aggregate future minimum lease payments total $8.6 million.   The following table details the lease payments.

Year Ending December	Lease Commitment		Sublease Income		Net Amount
	(dollars in thousands)
2012	$	3,003	$	70	$	2,933
2013		3,004		-		3,004
2014		2,522		-		2,522
2015		161		-		161
2016		27		-		27
Later years		-		-		-
	$	8,717	$	70	$	8,647

Contingencies

From time to time, the Company is involved in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business.  In the opinion of management, the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and therefore no accrual is required as of December 31, 2011 and 2010.