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Investments
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2021
Investments [Abstract]  
Investments Investments
Private Education Loan Investment
In December of 2020, Wells Fargo announced the sale of its approximately $10.0 billion portfolio of private education loans representing approximately 445,000 borrowers. The Company has entered into a joint venture with other investors to acquire the loans, and under the joint venture the Company has an approximately 8 percent interest in the loans. In conjunction with the sale, the Company was selected as servicer of the portfolio. During March and throughout the second quarter of 2021, the borrowers were converted to the Company's servicing platform. The joint venture established a limited partnership that purchased the private education loans and funded such loans with a temporary warehouse facility. The Company is accounting for its membership interests in this partnership under the equity method of accounting and as of June 30, 2021, such investment was $8.3 million. This investment is included in “venture capital and funds – equity method” in the table below.
On May 20, 2021 and June 30, 2021, the joint venture completed asset-backed securitization transactions to permanently finance a total of $5.8 billion of the private education loans purchased by the joint venture. The Company is accounting for its approximately 8 percent residual interest in these securitizations as held-to-maturity beneficial interest investments. These investments are shown as “beneficial interest in private education loan securitizations” in the table below. On behalf of the joint venture, the Company is the sponsor and administrator for these loan securitizations. As sponsor, the Company is required to provide a certain level of risk retention, and has purchased bonds issued in such securitizations to satisfy this requirement. The bonds purchased to satisfy the risk retention requirement are included in “private education loan asset-backed securities – available for sale” in the table below and as of June 30, 2021, the fair value of these bonds was $307.3 million. The Company must retain these investment securities until the latest of (i) two years from the closing date of the securitization, (ii) the date the aggregate outstanding principal balance of the loans in the securitization is 33% or less of the initial loan balance, and (iii) the date the aggregate outstanding principal balance of the bonds is 33% or less of the aggregate initial outstanding principal balance of the bonds, at which time the Company can sell its investment securities (bonds) to a third party. The Company entered into repurchase agreements with third-parties, the proceeds of which were used to purchase a portion of the asset-backed investments, and such investments serve as collateral on the repurchase obligations. See note 3 for additional information about these repurchase agreements.
A summary of the Company's investments follows:
As of June 30, 2021As of December 31, 2020
Amortized costGross unrealized gainsGross unrealized lossesFair valueAmortized costGross unrealized gainsGross unrealized lossesFair value
Investments (at fair value):
FFELP loan asset-backed securities- available-for-sale (a)$357,935 13,498 — 371,433 338,475 8,040 (13)346,502 
Private education loan asset-backed securities - available-for-sale (b)306,395 898 — 307,293 — — — — 
Other debt securities - available-for-sale2,100 — 2,101 2,103 — 2,105 
Equity securities57,652 15,336 (3,865)69,123 36,227 8,768 (2,954)42,041 
Total investments (at fair value)$724,082 29,733 (3,865)749,950 376,805 16,810 (2,967)390,648 
Other Investments (not measured at fair value):
Venture capital and funds:
Measurement alternative (c)150,857 144,795 
Equity method26,307 14,018 
Other 883 894 
Total venture capital and funds178,047 159,707 
Real estate
Equity method46,748 50,291 
Notes receivable3,500 847 
Total real estate50,248 51,138 
Investment in ALLO:
Voting interest/equity method (d)108,271 129,396 
Preferred membership interest and accrued and unpaid preferred return (e)133,257 228,916 
Total investment in ALLO241,528 358,312 
Solar (f)(60,862)(30,373)
Beneficial interest in private education loan securitizations (g)36,079 — 
Beneficial interest in federally insured loan securitizations (g)27,955 30,377 
Beneficial interest in consumer loan securitizations, net of allowance for credit losses of $4,449 as of December 31, 2020 (g)
40,983 27,954 
Tax liens and affordable housing4,029 5,177 
Total investments (not measured at fair value)518,007 602,292 
Total investments$1,267,957 $992,940 

(a)    As of June 30, 2021, $132.1 million (par value) of FFELP loan asset-backed securities were subject to participation interests held by Union Bank. See note 3 for additional information.
(b)    As of June 30, 2021, a total of $293.9 million (par value) of private education loan asset-backed securities were subject to repurchase agreements with third-parties. See note 3 for additional information.
(c)    The Company has an investment in Agile Sports Technologies, Inc. (doing business as “Hudl”) that is included in “venture capital and funds” in the above table. On May 27, 2021, the Company made an additional equity investment of approximately $5 million in Hudl, as one of the participants in an equity raise completed by Hudl. Prior to the additional 2021 investment, the Company had direct and indirect equity ownership interests in Hudl of less than 20%, which did not materially change as a result of this transaction. The Company accounts for its investment in Hudl using the measurement alternative method, which requires it to adjust its carrying value of the investment for changes resulting from observable market transactions. For accounting purposes, the May 2021 equity raise transaction was not considered an observable market transaction (not orderly) because it was not subject to customary marketing activities and the price was contractually agreed to during Hudl's prior May 2020 equity raise. Accordingly, the Company did not adjust its carrying value of its Hudl investment to the May 2021 transaction value. As of June 30, 2021, the carrying amount of the Company's investment in Hudl is $133.9 million.
David S. Graff, who has served on the Company's Board of Directors since May 2014, is CEO, co-founder, and a director of Hudl.
(d)    The Company accounts for its voting membership interests in ALLO Holdings LLC, a holding company for ALLO Communications LLC (collectively referred to as "ALLO") under the Hypothetical Liquidation at Book Value ("HLBV") method of accounting. The HLBV method of accounting is used by the Company for equity method investments when the liquidation rights and priorities as defined by an equity investment agreement differ from what is reflected by the underlying percentage ownership or voting interests. The Company applies the HLBV method using a balance sheet approach. A calculation is prepared at each balance sheet date to determine the amount that the Company would receive if an equity investment entity were to liquidate its net assets and distribute that cash to the investors based on the contractually defined liquidation priorities. The difference between the calculated liquidation distribution amounts at the beginning and the end of the reporting period, after adjusting for capital contributions and distributions, is the Company’s share of the earnings or losses from the equity investment for the period. Because the Company will be able to utilize certain tax losses related to ALLO’s operations, the equity investment agreements for the Company have liquidation rights and priorities that are sufficiently different from the voting membership interests percentages such that the HLBV method of accounting was deemed appropriate. Accordingly, the recognition of earnings or losses during any reporting period related to the Company’s equity investment in ALLO may or may not reflect its voting membership interests percentage and could vary substantially from those calculated based on the Company’s voting membership interests in ALLO.
During the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, the Company recognized income of $1.1 million and losses of $21.1 million, respectively, under the HLBV method of accounting on its ALLO voting membership interests investment. In the second quarter of 2021, the Company revised its accounting policy to correct for an error in its method of applying the HLBV method of accounting for its investment in ALLO. Previously, the Company calculated Nelnet’s liquidation basis in ALLO under the HLBV method by using Nelnet’s proportionate share of tax losses and amortizing any basis difference using tax methods. The Company has determined that Nelnet’s liquidation basis in ALLO under the HLBV method should equal ALLO’s GAAP losses and amortizing any basis difference using book lives. During the second quarter of 2021, the Company recorded an adjustment to reflect the cumulative net impact on prior periods (since the deconsolidation of ALLO on December 21, 2020) for the correction of this error that resulted in a $14.0 million increase to the Company’s ALLO investment balance and a corresponding pre-tax increase to other income (a $10.6 million after tax, or $0.27 per share, increase to net income). The Company concluded this error had an immaterial impact on 2021 results as well as the results for prior periods.
Assuming ALLO continues its planned growth in existing and new communities, it will continue to invest substantial amounts in property and equipment to build the network and connect customers. The resulting recognition of depreciation and development costs could result in continuing net operating losses by ALLO under GAAP. Applying the HLBV method of accounting, the Company will continue to recognize a significant portion of ALLO’s anticipated losses over the next several years. The Company currently anticipates such losses in the second half of 2021 to approximate the amount of total losses incurred during the first half of 2021. Income and losses from the Company's investment in ALLO are included in "other" in "other income/expense" on the consolidated statements of income.
(e)    As of June 30, 2021, the outstanding preferred membership interests and accrued and unpaid preferred return of ALLO held by the Company was $129.7 million and $3.6 million, respectively. The preferred membership interests of ALLO held by the Company earn a preferred annual return of 6.25 percent. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, the Company recognized income on its ALLO preferred membership interests of $2.0 million and $4.3 million, respectively, that is included in "other" in "other income/expense" on the consolidated statements of income.
On January 19, 2021, ALLO obtained certain private debt financing facilities from unrelated third-party lenders providing for aggregate financing of up to $230.0 million. With proceeds from this transaction, ALLO redeemed a portion of its non-voting preferred membership interests held by the Company in exchange for an aggregate redemption price payment to the Company of $100.0 million. Under October 2020 recapitalization agreements for ALLO, the parties have agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts (which expressly excludes requiring ALLO to raise any additional equity financing or sell any assets) to cause ALLO to redeem, on or before April 2024, the remaining preferred membership interests of ALLO held by the Company, plus the amount of accrued and unpaid preferred return on such interests.
(f)    The Company makes investments in entities that promote renewable energy sources (solar). The Company's investments in these entities generate a return primarily through the realization of federal income tax credits, operating cash flows, and other tax benefits, such as tax deductions from operating losses of the investments, over specified time periods which range from 5 to 6 years. As of June 30, 2021, the Company has funded a total of $162.0 million in solar investments, which includes $19.5 million funded by syndication partners. The carrying value of the Company's solar investments are reduced by tax credits earned when the solar project is placed in service. The solar investment balance at June 30, 2021 represents total tax credits earned on solar projects placed in service through June 30, 2021 being larger than total payments made by the Company on such projects. The Company is committed to fund an additional $68.7 million on these projects, of which $34.9 million will be funded by syndication partners.
The Company accounts for its solar investments using the HLBV method of accounting. For the majority of the Company's solar investments, the HLBV method of accounting results in accelerated losses in the initial years of investment. During the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized pre-tax losses and income of $2.3 million and $2.0 million, respectively, and for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized pre-tax losses of $4.0 million and $0.8 million, respectively, on its solar investments. These losses and income are included in "other" in "other income/expense" on the consolidated statements of income.
(g)    The Company has purchased partial ownership in certain private education, federally insured, and consumer loan securitizations. As of the latest remittance reports filed by the various trusts prior to June 30, 2021, the Company's ownership correlates to approximately $460 million, $495 million, and $280 million of private education, federally insured, and consumer loans, respectively, included in these securitizations.
During the first quarter of 2020, the Company recorded a $26.3 million provision charge related to the Company's beneficial interest in consumer loan securitizations due to distressed economic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to improved economic conditions, the Company has reduced the allowance for credit losses related to the consumer loan beneficial interests, including reducing such allowance by $2.4 million during the first quarter of 2021. As of March 31, 2021, the Company no longer has an allowance for credit losses associated with the consumer loan beneficial interests. The activity related to the allowance for credit losses related to the consumer loan beneficial interests is included in “impairment expense and provision for beneficial interests, net” on the consolidated statements of income.