Investments

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

NOTE 3. INVESTMENTS

Investments. Our long-term investment portfolio includes the real estate assets of ALLETE Properties, debt and equity securities consisting primarily of securities held to fund employee benefits and land held-for-sale in Minnesota.

	June 30,	December 31,
Investments	2011	2010
Millions
ALLETE Properties	$92.7	$94.0
Available-for-sale Securities	30.5	25.2
Other	5.8	6.8
Total Investments	$129.0	$126.0

	June 30,	December 31,
ALLETE Properties	2011	2010
Millions
Land Held-for-sale Beginning Balance (January 1, 2011 and 2010, respectively)	$86.0	$74.9
Deeds to Collateralized Property	1.6	9.9
Capitalized Improvements and Other	-	1.2
Cost of Real Estate Sold	(0.3)	-
Land Held-for-sale Ending Balance	87.3	86.0
Long-Term Finance Receivables (net of allowances of $0.9 and $0.8)	2.1	3.7
Other	3.3	4.3
Total Real Estate Assets	$92.7	$94.0

Land Held-for-sale. Land held-for-sale is recorded at the lower of cost or fair value as determined by the evaluation of individual land parcels. Land values are reviewed for impairment on a quarterly basis and no impairments were recorded for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 (none in 2010).

Long-Term Finance Receivables. As of June 30, 2011, long-term finance receivables were $2.1 million net of allowance ($3.7 million net of allowance as of December 31, 2010). The decrease is primarily the result of the transfer of property back to ALLETE Properties by deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, in satisfaction of amounts previously owed under long-term financing receivables. Long-term finance receivables are collateralized by property sold, accrue interest at market-based rates and are net of an allowance for doubtful accounts.

Long-Term Finance Receivables	Real
Allowance Roll-Forward	Estate
Millions
Beginning Balance as of December 31, 2010	$0.8
Additional Reserve	0.1
Ending Balance as of June 30, 2011	$0.9