Transactions with Related Parties

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Notes to Financial Statements

Transactions with Related Parties

Note 19. Transactions with Related Parties

We earn base management and incentive fees in our capacity as investment manager for multiple vehicles which we have sponsored. Due to the nature of our relationship with these vehicles, all management fees are considered revenue from related parties under GAAP. In addition, we have investments which are senior, junior, or pari passu to investments in our investment management vehicles, which could produce conflicts of interest between our direct portfolio and those of our managed accounts.

On November 9, 2006, we commenced our CT High Grade MezzanineSM, or CT High Grade I, investment management initiative and entered into three separate account agreements with affiliates of W. R. Berkley Corporation, or WRBC, with an aggregate commitment of $250 million, which was subsequently increased to $350 million in July 2007. Subsequent to the expiration of the CT High Grade I investment period, we continued to invest on behalf of WRBC under the CT High Grade I platform on a non-discretionary basis, bringing WRBC’s total allocated capital to $422 million as of December 31, 2011. Pursuant to these agreements, we invested capital on behalf of WRBC in commercial real estate mortgages, mezzanine loans and participations therein. The separate accounts are entirely funded with committed capital from WRBC and are managed by a subsidiary of CTIMCO. CTIMCO earns a management fee equal to 0.25% per annum on invested assets.

WRBC beneficially owned common stock representing approximately 16.9% of our outstanding common stock and stock units as of February 7, 2012, and a member of our board of directors is an employee of WRBC. In addition, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WRBC is an investor in Five Mile and certain private funds under its management. As discussed in Notes 1 and 10, Five Mile provided an $83.0 million mezzanine loan to CT Legacy REIT in connection with our March 2011 restructuring, and holds a significant interest in the common equity of CT Legacy REIT.

In July 2008, CTOPI, a private equity fund that we manage, held its final closing completing its capital raise with $540 million total equity commitments. EGI-Private Equity II, L.L.C., an affiliate under common control of the chairman of our board of directors, owns a 3.7% limited partner interest in CTOPI. During the year ended December 31, 2011, we recorded $2.9 million of fees from CTOPI, $117,000 of which were attributable to EGI- Private Equity II, L.L.C.

CTOPI has purchased $75.5 million face value of our CT CDO notes in the open market for $40.4 million. These purchases were from third parties, and were not sold by us.

Effective December 1, 2009, John R. Klopp retired as our chief executive officer. In conjunction with his departure, Mr. Klopp was retained as a consultant to the company through November 2010, for which he was paid $83,333 per month over the twelve-month term. We recognized 100% of this consulting fee in 2009 as a component of general and administrative expense.