Investment and other gains (losses) - net (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Gross realized investment and other gains and losses

Investments and other gains (losses) are detailed as follows:

	Three Months Ended   September 30,				Nine Months Ended   September 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
	($000 omitted)
Investment and other gains	1,597		548		2,763		1,392
Investment and other losses	(151	)	(1,595	)	(220	)	(2,828	)
Net unrealized investment gains (losses) recognized on equity securities held	2,177		—		1,802		—
	3,623		(1,047	)	4,345		(1,436	)

Investments in equity securities still held

The total fair values of the Company's investments in debt and equity securities are detailed below:

	September 30, 2018	December 31, 2017
	($000 omitted)
Investments in:
Debt securities	624,422	671,441
Equity securities	37,667	37,914
	662,089	709,355

Following the adoption of ASU 2016-01, as discussed in Notes 1 and 3, net investment gains recognized during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 related to investments in equity securities still held as of September 30, 2018 are calculated as follows ($000 omitted):

	September 30, 2018
	Three Months Ended	Nine Months Ended
	($000 omitted)
Total net investment gains recognized on equity securities during the period	2,775	2,161
Less: Net realized gains on equity securities sold during the period	598	359
Net unrealized investment gains recognized on equity securities still held	2,177	1,802

Proceeds from sale of investments available-for-sale

Proceeds from sales of investments in securities are as follows:

	Three Months Ended   September 30,		Nine Months Ended   September 30,
	2018	2017	2018	2017
	($000 omitted)
Proceeds from sales of debt securities	6,326	1,419	27,475	50,245
Proceeds from sales of equity securities	452	4,459	5,025	5,288
Total proceeds from sales of investment in securities	6,778	5,878	32,500	55,533