Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale. The amortized costs and fair values follow:

	June 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Amortized costs	Fair values	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	70,253	73,492	70,300	72,008
Corporate	334,085	351,069	303,870	309,461
Foreign	158,265	164,255	149,914	153,221
U.S. Treasury Bonds	12,793	12,946	13,803	13,906
Equity securities	28,046	34,286	27,497	31,253
	603,442	636,048	565,384	579,849

Foreign debt securities consist primarily of Canadian government and corporate bonds, United Kingdom treasury bonds, and Mexican government bonds. Equity securities consist of common stocks and master limited partnerships.

Gross unrealized gains and losses were:

	June 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Gains	Losses	Gains	Losses
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	3,239	—	1,720	12
Corporate	16,994	10	7,700	2,109
Foreign	6,032	42	3,789	482
U.S. Treasury Bonds	153	—	128	25
Equity securities	7,024	784	4,842	1,086
	33,442	836	18,179	3,714

Debt securities as of June 30, 2016 mature, according to their contractual terms, as follows (actual maturities may differ due to call or prepayment rights):

	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
In one year or less	45,817	45,949
After one year through five years	246,846	256,384
After five years through ten years	214,939	225,377
After ten years	67,794	74,052
	575,396	601,762

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at June 30, 2016, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Corporate	10	3,901	—	—	10	3,901
Foreign	42	32,547	—	—	42	32,547
Equity securities	454	2,671	330	2,217	784	4,888
	506	39,119	330	2,217	836	41,336

The number of investment securities in an unrealized loss position as of June 30, 2016 was 44, 3 securities of which were in unrealized loss positions for more than 12 months. Since the Company does not intend to sell and will more-likely-than-not maintain each investment security until its maturity or anticipated recovery, and no significant credit risk is deemed to exist, these investments are not considered other-than-temporarily impaired.

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2015, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	9	2,230	3	1,615	12	3,845
Corporate	1,461	83,565	648	32,871	2,109	116,436
Foreign	322	35,008	160	3,155	482	38,163
U.S. Treasury Bonds	6	1,195	19	3,583	25	4,778
Equity securities	720	4,440	366	3,224	1,086	7,664
	2,518	126,438	1,196	44,448	3,714	170,886

The Company believes its investment portfolio is diversified and expects no material loss to result from the failure to perform by issuers of the debt securities it holds. Investments made by the Company are not collateralized.