Acquisitions

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSITIONS [Abstract]

ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSITIONS

2. ACQUISITIONS

Effective November 1, 2005, Legg Mason acquired 80% of the outstanding equity of Permal Group, Ltd. ("Permal") Permal, a leading global funds-of-hedge funds manager. Concurrent with the acquisition, Permal completed a reorganization in which the residual 20% of outstanding equity was converted to preference shares, with Legg Mason owning 100% of the outstanding voting common stock of Permal. During fiscal 2010, Legg Mason paid an aggregate of $170,804 in cash to acquire the remaining 62.5% of the outstanding preference shares. The Company also elected to purchase, for $9,000, the rights of the sellers of the preference shares to receive an earnout payment of up to $149,200 in two years. As a result of this transaction, there will be no further payments for the Permal acquisition. In addition, during fiscal 2010, Legg Mason paid $7,524 in dividends on the preference shares. All payments for preference shares, including dividends, were recognized as addit