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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies

Cash Tender

At the time of the Company's initial public offering and acquisition of its partnership interest in TRG in 1992, the Company entered into an agreement (the Cash Tender Agreement) with the Revocable Trust and TRA Partners (now Taubman Ventures Group LLC or TVG), each of whom owned an interest in TRG, whereby each of the Revocable Trust and TVG has the right to tender to the Company TRG Units (provided that the aggregate value is at least $50 million) and cause the Company to purchase the tendered interests at a purchase price based on its market valuation on the trading date immediately preceding the date of the tender (except as otherwise provided below). TVG is controlled by a majority-in-interest among the Revocable Trust and entities affiliated with the children of A. Alfred Taubman (Robert S. Taubman, William S. Taubman, and Gayle Taubman Kalisman). At the election of the tendering party, TRG Units held by members of A. Alfred Taubman’s family and TRG Units held by entities in which his family members hold interests may be included in such a tender.

The Company will have the option to pay for tendered interests from available cash, borrowed funds, or from the proceeds of an offering of the Company's common stock. Generally, the Company expects to finance these purchases through the sale of new shares of its stock. The tendering partner will bear all market risk if the market price at closing is less than the purchase price and will bear the costs of sale. Any proceeds of the offering in excess of the purchase price will be for the sole benefit of the Company. The Company accounts for the Cash Tender Agreement as a freestanding written put option. As the option put price is defined by the current market price of the Company's stock at the time of tender, the fair value of the written option defined by the Cash Tender Agreement is considered to be zero.

Based on a market value at December 31, 2016 of $73.93 per common share, the aggregate value of interests in TRG that may be tendered under the Cash Tender Agreement was $1.8 billion. The purchase of these interests at December 31, 2016 would have resulted in the Company owning an additional 28% interest in the Operating Partnership.

Continuing Offer

The Company has made a continuing, irrevocable offer to all present holders (other than a certain excluded holder, currently TVG), permitted assignees of all present holders, those future holders of partnership interests in the Operating Partnership as the Company may, in its sole discretion, agree to include in the continuing offer, all existing optionees under the previous option plan, and all existing and future optionees under the 2008 Omnibus Plan to exchange shares of common stock for partnership interests in the Operating Partnership (the Continuing Offer). Under the Continuing Offer agreement, one unit of the Operating Partnership interest is exchangeable for one share of the Company's common stock. Upon a tender of Operating Partnership units, the corresponding shares of Series B Preferred Stock, if any, will automatically be converted into the Company’s common stock at a ratio of 14,000 shares of Series B Preferred Stock for one share of common stock.

Insurance

The Company carries liability insurance to mitigate its exposure to certain losses, including those relating to personal injury claims. We believe the Company's insurance policy terms and conditions and limits are appropriate and adequate given the relative risk of loss and industry practice. However, there are certain types of losses, such as punitive damage awards, that may not be covered by insurance, and not all potential losses are insured against.

Other

See Note 8 for the Operating Partnership's guarantees of certain notes payable, including guarantees relating to Unconsolidated Joint Ventures, Note 9 for contingent features relating to certain joint venture agreements, Note 10 for contingent features relating to derivative instruments, and Note 13 for obligations under existing share-based compensation plans.