The number of company employees was 116 at the end of the first quarter, compared to 118 at the end of the year. Net interest expense for the quarter was $1.7 million, including $1.2 million on our two trust preferred debt instruments, $127,000 on our senior notes; $19,000 on our credit line and $359,000 on our redeemable financial instrument. Income from equity method affiliates during the first quarter totaled $29 million. This amount included $32.7 million of income from our equity method investments in the sponsors of six SPACs that closed their business combinations during the quarter, which resulted in an increase in the value of the founder’s shares to which we are entitled to an allocation from those sponsors. During the quarter, there was also an offsetting charge of $16.7 million related to these six SPAC closings recorded in the net income loss attributable to the non-convertible, non-controlling interest.
These non-convertible, non-controlling interests represent ownership in certain of our consolidated subsidiaries by the portfolio managers of our current SPAC series funds. The charge is generally an offset to the amounts we record in our net income from equity method affiliates. In terms of our balance sheet, at the end of the quarter, total equity was $113.3 million, compared to $91.8 million as of December 31. The non-convertible, non-controlling interest component of total equity was $25.9 million at the end of the quarter and $9.6 million at the end of the year. Thus, the total enterprise equity excluding this non-convertible, non-controlling interest component was $87.4 million at the end of the quarter, a $5.2 million increase from the $82 million at the end of the quarter.
At quarter-end consolidated indebtedness was carried at $29.7 million, and our redeemable financial instruments were carried at $7.9 million. As Lester mentioned, we have declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share payable on June 5 to stockholders of record as of May 20. The Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the dividend policy each quarter and future decisions regarding dividends may be impacted by quarterly operating results and the company’s other capital needs. With that, I’ll turn it back over to Lester.
Lester Brafman: Thanks, Joe. Please direct any offline investor questions to Joe Pooler at 215-701-8952 or via email to investorrelations@cohenandcompany.com. The contact information can also be found at the bottom of our earnings release. Operator, you can now open the call lines for questions, and thank you all for joining us today.
Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] It appears that there are no questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Lester Brafman for closing comments.
Lester Brafman: Thanks, Maria. I am proud of our results in the first quarter and I want to thank all our members and team members for the dedication, especially as we continue to face a challenging market environment. With strong performance over the last two quarters, we have great momentum across the business and are well positioned for the year ahead. Thanks again for enjoying the call and have a good day.
Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
