Share-Based Compensation

As of March 31, 2017, there were two share-based compensation plans under which the Company has outstanding awards, the CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. 2012 Stock Incentive Plan ("the 2012 Plan") and the CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. Second Amended and Restated Stock Incentive Plan ("the 1993 Plan"). The Company can only make new awards under the 2012 Plan, which was approved by the Company's shareholders in May 2012. The 2012 Plan permits the Company to issue stock options and common stock to selected officers, employees and non-employee directors of the Company up to a total of 10,400,000 shares. The Company did not issue any new awards under the 1993 Plan, which was approved by the Company's shareholders in May 2003, between the adoption of the 2012 Plan to replace the 1993 Plan in May 2012 and the termination of the 1993 Plan (as to new awards) on May 5, 2013. As the primary operating subsidiary of the Company, the Operating Partnership participates in and bears the compensation expense associated with the Company's share-based compensation plans.

The Company adopted ASU 2016-09 effective January 1, 2017 as described in Note 2. In accordance with the provisions of ASU 2016-09, which are designed to simplify the accounting for share-based payments transactions, the Company elected to account for forfeitures of share-based payments as they occur rather than continuing to estimate them in advance. The Company elected not to record a cumulative effect adjustment as the impact of estimated forfeitures on the Company's cumulative share-based compensation expense recorded through December 31, 2016 was nominal.

Restricted Stock Awards

The Company may make restricted stock awards to independent directors, officers and its employees under the 2012 Plan. These awards are generally granted based on the performance of the Company and its employees. None of these awards have performance requirements other than a service condition of continued employment, unless otherwise provided. Compensation expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period.

Share-based compensation expense related to the restricted stock awards was $1,430 and $1,544 for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Share-based compensation cost capitalized as part of real estate assets was $129 and $114 for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

A summary of the status of the Company’s nonvested restricted stock awards as of March 31, 2017, and changes during the three months ended March 31, 2017, is presented below:



	Shares		Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Nonvested at January 1, 2017	602,162		$	15.41
Granted	326,424		$	10.75
Vested	(228,634	)	$	14.83
Forfeited	(2,110	)	$	13.96
Nonvested at March 31, 2017	697,842		$	13.43

As of March 31, 2017, there was $8,755 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested stock awards granted under the plans, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.1 years.

Long-Term Incentive Program

In 2015, the Company adopted a long-term incentive program ("LTIP") for its named executive officers, which consists of performance stock unit ("PSU") awards and annual restricted stock awards, that may be issued under the 2012 Plan. The number of shares related to the PSU awards that each named executive officer may receive upon the conclusion of a three-year performance period is determined based on the Company's achievement of specified levels of long-term total stockholder return ("TSR") performance relative to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") Retail Index, provided that at least a "Threshold" level must be attained for any shares to be earned.

Annual Restricted Stock Awards

Under the LTIP, annual restricted stock awards consist of shares of time-vested restricted stock awarded based on a qualitative evaluation of the performance of the Company and the named executive officer during the fiscal year. Annual restricted stock awards under the LTIP vest 20% on the date of grant with the remainder vesting in four equal annual installments.

Performance Stock Units

In the first quarter of 2017, the Company granted 277,376 PSUs at a grant-date weighted-average fair value of $6.86 per PSU. In the first quarter of 2016, the Company granted 282,995 PSUs at a grant-date fair value of $4.98 per PSU (the "2016 PSUs"). In the first quarter of 2015, the Company granted 138,680 PSUs at a grant-date fair value of $15.52 per PSU (the "2015 PSUs"). Shares earned pursuant to the PSU awards vest 60% at the conclusion of the performance period while the remaining 40% of the PSU award vests 20% on each of the first two anniversaries thereafter.

Compensation cost is recognized on a tranche-by-tranche basis using the accelerated attribution method. The resulting expense is recorded regardless of whether any PSU awards are earned as long as the required service period is met. Share-based compensation expense related to the PSUs was $344 and $258 for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Unrecognized compensation costs related to the PSUs was $3,564 as of March 31, 2017.

The following table summarizes the assumptions used in the Monte Carlo simulation pricing model related to the 2017 PSUs and the 2016 PSUs:



	2017 PSUs			2016 PSUs
Grant date	February 7, 2017			February 10, 2016
Fair value per share on valuation date ⁽¹⁾	$	6.86		$	4.98
Risk-free interest rate ⁽²⁾	1.53		%	0.92		%
Expected share price volatility⁽³⁾	32.85		%	30.95		%

(1)

The value of the PSU awards are estimated on the date of grant using a Monte Carlo Simulation model. The valuation consisted of computing the fair value using CBL's simulated stock price as well as TSR over a three-year performance period. The award is modeled as a contingent claim in that the expected return on the underlying shares is risk-free and the rate of discounting the payoff of the award is also risk-free. The weighted-average fair value per share related to the 2017 PSUs consists of 115,082 shares at a fair value of $5.62 per share and 162,294 shares at a fair value of $7.74 per share.


(2)	The risk-free interest rate was based on the yield curve on zero-coupon U.S. Treasury securities in effect as of the valuation date.


(3)	The computation of expected volatility was based on a blend of the historical volatility of CBL's shares of common stock based on annualized daily total continuous returns over a three-year period and implied volatility data based on the trailing month average of daily implied volatilities implied by stock call option contracts that were both closest to the terms shown and closest to the money.