Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (ACRE) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Welcome to Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation's first quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. I will now turn the call over to Mr. John Stilmar, Partner of Public Markets Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

午安.歡迎參加 Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation 第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議將於 2025 年 5 月 7 日星期三錄製。現在我將把電話轉給公開市場投資者關係合夥人約翰‧史蒂爾馬先生。先生，請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call. In addition to our press release and the 10-Q that we filed with the SEC, we've posted an earnings presentation under the Investor Resources section of our website at www.arescre.com.

下午好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。除了我們的新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-Q 表之外，我們還在網站 www.arescre.com 的投資者資源部分下發布了收益報告。

Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that comments made during the course of this conference call and webcast as well as the accompanying documents contain forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，在本次電話會議和網路廣播以及隨附文件中發表的評論包含前瞻性陳述，並受風險和不確定性的影響。

Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as anticipates, believes, expects, intend, will, should, may and similar such expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and market conditions and management segment.

許多前瞻性陳述可以透過預期、相信、期望、打算、將、應該、可能等詞語及類似的表達來識別。這些前瞻性陳述是基於管理階層目前的預期以及市場狀況和管理部門。

These statements are not guaranteed of future performance, conditions or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and as a result of a number of factors, including those listed in its SEC filings. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

這些聲明並不能保證未來的表現、條件或結果，並且涉及許多風險和不確定性。該公司的實際結果可能與前瞻性聲明中表達的結果有重大差異，並且是由於多種因素造成的，包括其美國證券交易委員會文件中列出的因素。Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation 不承擔更新任何此類前瞻性聲明的義務。

During this conference call, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. We use these as measures of operating performance, and these measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. These measures may not be comparable to like titled measures used by other companies.

在本次電話會議中，我們參考了某些非公認會計準則財務指標。我們將這些作為經營績效的衡量標準，這些標準不應孤立地看待或取代根據公認會計原則編制的指標。這些措施可能無法與其他公司使用的類似措施相比。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Bryan Donohoe. Bryan?

現在我想將電話轉給我們的執行長布萊恩·多諾霍 (Bryan Donohoe)。布萊恩？

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm also joined today by Jeff Gonzales, our Chief Financial Officer; Tae-Sik Yoon, our Chief Operating Officer; as well as other members of the management and Investor Relations teams.

謝謝你，約翰。大家下午好，感謝大家的參與。今天與我一起出席的還有我們的財務長 Jeff Gonzales、我們的營運長 Tae-Sik Yoon，以及管理和投資者關係團隊的其他成員。

I'm pleased to report that we had a very successful quarter, achieved one of our primary objectives by building liquidity to a level which we believe will allow us to accelerate resolutions of our risk-weighted 4 and 5 loans, reduce our office loan concentration and maximize our REO investments. Each of these will advance our collective goal of demonstrating book value, further supported by the improved underlying fundamentals of our portfolio.

我很高興地報告，我們度過了一個非常成功的季度，透過將流動性建立到一定水平，我們實現了我們的主要目標之一，我們相信這將使我們能夠加快解決風險加權 4 和 5 筆貸款，降低辦公室貸款集中度並最大化我們的 REO 投資。上述每一項都將推動我們實現帳面價值的共同目標，並得到我們投資組合基本面改善的進一步支持。

Importantly, our current balance sheet positions us to evaluate a number of opportunities for investing our additional capital, including into new loans. Let me start by underscoring some of our recent accomplishments that led to our strong balance sheet positioning.

重要的是，我們目前的資產負債表使我們能夠評估投資額外資本的多種機會，包括投資新貸款。首先，我想強調我們最近取得的一些成就，這些成就使我們的資產負債表狀況良好。

First, we collected the $307 million of repayments across 9 loans double the amount of repayments we received in the prior quarter and the highest amount of repayments for a quarter as a percentage of outstanding principal balance in the company's history.

首先，我們收回了 9 筆貸款的 3.07 億美元還款，是上一季還款額的兩倍，也是公司歷史上單季還款額佔未償還本金餘額百分比最高的一個季度。

Second, with the acceleration of repayments and additional liquidity, we reduced our outstanding borrowings by $228 million to $946 million and lowered the net debt-to-equity ratio, excluding CECL, to 1.2 times compared to 1.9 times at the end of the first quarter of 2024.

其次，隨著還款速度的加速和流動性的增加，我們將未償還借款減少了 2.28 億美元，降至 9.46 億美元，並將不包括 CECL 的淨負債權益比率從 2024 年第一季末的 1.9 倍降至 1.2 倍。

Third, as Jeff will touch on in more detail, through the redemption of our FL3 securitization and the renewal of our $450 million Wells Fargo secured funding facility, we reduced our borrowing costs locked in attractive terms on the underlying assets moved from our FL3 securitization and extended the term of our secured funding facilities.

第三，正如 Jeff 將會更詳細地談到的，透過贖回我們的 FL3 證券化和續約我們的 4.5 億美元富國銀行擔保融資工具，我們降低了從我們的 FL3 證券化轉移的底層資產的借貸成本，並以優惠的條款鎖定這些資產，並延長了我們的擔保融資工具的期限。

Collectively, these steps increased our available capital to $147 million as of May 2, 2025, representing an increase of 15% since December 31, 2024. While we still have more work to do, we made solid progress against this objective in the quarter. We continue making strides in reducing our office loan portfolio.

總的來說，這些措施使我們的可用資本截至 2025 年 5 月 2 日增加到 1.47 億美元，自 2024 年 12 月 31 日以來增加了 15%。雖然我們還有很多工作要做，但我們在本季度朝著這一目標取得了堅實的進展。我們繼續努力減少辦公室貸款組合。

We've reduced our office loans by 25% since March 31, 2024, decreasing the total outstanding balance to $585 million. We also had no new migrations to risk rated 4 or 5 loans in the first quarter and witnessed improved fundamentals in each asset class across our portfolio.

自 2024 年 3 月 31 日起，我們已將辦公室貸款減少了 25%，未償還餘額總額降至 5.85 億美元。第一季度，我們也沒有新的貸款轉向風險評級為 4 或 5 的貸款，並且我們投資組合中每個資產類別的基本面都有所改善。

As of March 31, 2025, we had 1 risk rated 5 loan and 4 risk-weighted 4 loans for which we believe we are properly reserved. While we did not resolve any risk-weighted 4 or 5 loans in the quarter, we believe we have made meaningful progress in improving the overall quality of the portfolio.

截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們有 1 筆風險評級為 5 的貸款和 4 筆風險加權為 4 的貸款，我們認為對這些貸款進行了適當的準備。雖然我們本季沒有解決任何風險加權 4 或 5 筆貸款，但我們相信我們在提高投資組合整體品質方面取得了有意義的進展。

Evidence in these trends, our largest office loan saw positive leasing momentum. This is a risk-related 5 loan with a carrying value of approximately $148 million and is collateralized by an office property in downtown Chicago. This property now has a weighted average lease term of eight years and occupancy in excess of 90%.

這些趨勢的證據是，我們最大的辦公室貸款呈現出積極的租賃勢頭。這是一筆風險相關的 5 筆貸款，帳面價值約為 1.48 億美元，由芝加哥市中心的辦公物業作為抵押。該物業目前的加權平均租賃期限為八年，入住率超過 90%。

We also saw positive momentum in our second largest risk-weighted 4 or 5 loan, which is an unlevered risk-weighted 4 loan with a carrying value of approximately $106 million and is collateralized by a 71-unit residential condominium development in Brooklyn, New York.

我們還看到了第二大風險加權 4 或 5 貸款的積極勢頭，這是一筆無槓桿風險加權 4 貸款，賬面價值約為 1.06 億美元，由紐約布魯克林的 71 個單元的住宅公寓開發項目作為抵押。

During the quarter, the borrower largely completed the exterior work and procured nearly all of the remaining necessary materials to complete construction, which mitigates supply chain and known tariff risks. We expect marketing of the property to begin in the second half of this year, and expect to begin sales by year-end 2025 and into 2026.

在本季度，借款人基本上完成了外部工程，並採購了完成施工所需的幾乎所有剩餘材料，從而減輕了供應鏈和已知的關稅風險。我們預計該房產的營銷將於今年下半年開始，並預計將於 2025 年底和 2026 年開始銷售。

Collectively, these 2 loans are the largest risk-weighted 4 and 5 loans and account for approximately 80% of our risk-weighted 4 and 5 loans based on outstanding principal balance. Given the state of our portfolio and ACRE's balance sheet strength, the company is now in a position to accelerate the timing of our remaining underperforming assets and evaluate the best use of our additional liquidity.

總的來說，這兩筆貸款是最大的風險加權 4 類和 5 類貸款，以未償還本金餘額計算，約占我們風險加權 4 類和 5 類貸款的 80%。鑑於我們的投資組合狀況和 ACRE 的資產負債表實力，公司現在可以加快我們剩餘表現不佳的資產的時機，並評估我們額外流動資金的最佳利用方式。

Specifically, this additional liquidity offers opportunities to selectively originate new loans, opportunistically by common shares, further repay debt. distribute a common dividend and/or fund other strategic initiatives. Our book value of $9.88 per share includes $140 million of CECL reserve, but our current stock price implies an additional $300 million discount that is currently trading at 40% of this book value. Given this, our strategic goal remains to better demonstrate our book value.

具體來說，這種額外的流動性提供了機會，可以選擇性地透過普通股發放新貸款，進一步償還債務，分配普通股股息和/或資助其他戰略計劃。我們的每股 9.88 美元的帳面價值包括 1.4 億美元的 CECL 儲備，但我們目前的股價意味著額外的 3 億美元折扣，目前的交易價格為該帳面價值的 40%。有鑑於此，我們的策略目標仍然是更好地展示我們的帳面價值。

In closing, we believe the capabilities of our Ares real estate team, coupled with our healthier more flexible balance sheet, will allow us to better mitigate risk, navigate through uncertain markets, take advantage of future opportunities and drive greater shareholder value in the long run.

最後，我們相信，Ares 房地產團隊的能力，加上我們更健康、更靈活的資產負債表，將使我們能夠更好地降低風險、應對不確定的市場、利用未來機遇，並從長遠來看創造更大的股東價值。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff, who will provide more details on our first quarter results.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給傑夫，他將提供有關我們第一季業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Bryan. For the first quarter of 2025, we reported GAAP net income of approximately $9.3 million or $0.17 per common share. Our distributable earnings for the first quarter of 2025 was approximately $7.2 million or $0.13 per common share, and there were no realized losses incurred in the first quarter.

謝謝你，布萊恩。2025 年第一季度，我們報告的 GAAP 淨收入約為 930 萬美元或每股 0.17 美元。我們 2025 年第一季的可分配收益約為 720 萬美元，即每股 0.13 美元，第一季沒有發生任何已實現損失。

We also collected $2.9 million or $0.05 per common share of cash interest on loans that were on non-accrual and during the quarter and was accounted for as a reduction in our loan basis. Our portfolio also exhibited stable credit quality as compared to the prior quarter with no new risk-weighted 4 or 5 loans and book value per share of $988, which was consistent with the $990 book value per share at December 31, 2024.

我們還在本季收取了 290 萬美元或每股普通股 0.05 美元的非應計貸款現金利息，併計入我們的貸款基礎減少。與上一季相比，我們的投資組合也表現出穩定的信用質量，沒有新的風險加權 4 或 5 筆貸款，每股帳面價值為 988 美元，與 2024 年 12 月 31 日的每股帳面價值 990 美元一致。

The acceleration of repayments that began in the second half of 2024, continued into the first quarter with $307 million in repayments, which is more than double the amount of repayments received last quarter. While these repayments will have an impact on our near-term earnings until we are able to reinvest our available capital, they further our objective of proving out book value.

還款加速趨勢始於 2024 年下半年，並持續到第一季度，還款金額達 3.07 億美元，是上一季收到的還款金額的兩倍多。雖然這些償還款項將對我們的近期收益產生影響，直到我們能夠重新投資我們的可用資本，但它們進一步促進了我們證明帳面價值的目標。

Reinforced by the strong repayments in the first quarter, we continued to drive further financial flexibility by reducing our outstanding borrowings even further to $946 million at the end of the quarter, a decrease of 19% quarter-over-quarter and 36% year-over-year. Our net debt equity ratio, excluding CECL, declined to 1.2 times at the end of the first quarter, down from 1.6 times at the end of the fourth quarter and 1.9 times at the end of the first quarter of 2024.

在第一季強勁還款的推動下，我們持續提高財務彈性，將未償還借款進一步減少至本季末的 9.46 億美元，季減 19%，年減 36%。我們的淨負債權益比率（不包括 CECL）在第一季末下降至 1.2 倍，低於第四季末的 1.6 倍和 2024 年第一季末的 1.9 倍。

As Bryan mentioned, during the first quarter, we took proactive steps to further enhance the financing of our loan portfolio. First, we opportunistically redeemed our FL3 securitization, replacing it with more efficient financing provided by our existing secured funding facilities.

正如布萊恩所提到的，在第一季度，我們採取了積極措施，進一步加強了我們的貸款組合的融資。首先，我們抓住機會贖回了我們的 FL3 證券化，並用我們現有的擔保融資工具提供的更有效的融資來取而代之。

As is the case when the securitization exits its reinvestment period, all proceeds from loan repayments are directed to first repay the lowest cost senior notes, resulting in a reduction of the advance rate and an increase in the overall borrowing cost as loan repayments occur.

就像證券化退出再投資期的情況一樣，所有貸款償還所得都將首先用於償還成本最低的優先票據，從而導致貸款償還時預付利率降低，總借貸成本增加。

Driven by the acceleration of repayment activity starting in the back half of 2024, the securitization had amortized down over time. This transaction allowed us to set both a higher advance rate and pricing that was 86 basis points lower at the outset for the back leverage on the remaining loans and the securitization.

受 2024 年下半年開始的還款活動加速的推動，證券化隨著時間的推移而攤銷。這筆交易使我們能夠設定更高的預付利率，並且對於剩餘貸款和證券化的後備槓桿，一開始就設定了低 86 個基點的定價。

Additionally, during the first quarter, we extended the maturity date of our $450 million Wells Fargo funding facility by three years, pushing out the initial maturity to February of 2028 and the final maturity to February of 2030, further bolstering our financing structure.

此外，在第一季度，我們將 4.5 億美元富國銀行融資工具的到期日延長了三年，將初始到期日推遲至 2028 年 2 月，將最終到期日推遲至 2030 年 2 月，從而進一步增強了我們的融資結構。

Given these discrete steps, we are proud to have achieved our balance sheet goals. Our liquidity position, as measured by available capital, was $147 million as of May 2, 2025. This includes $113 million of cash, which equates to more than $2 per share or nearly 50% of our market capitalization on May 5. Collectively, these actions have supported us achieving a level of liquidity that we believe will allow us to enhance and improve the outcomes of the risk rated 4 and 5 loans, office loans and REO investments.

鑑於這些獨立的步驟，我們很自豪能夠實現我們的資產負債表目標。截至 2025 年 5 月 2 日，我們的流動資金狀況（以可用資本衡量）為 1.47 億美元。其中包括 1.13 億美元現金，相當於每股 2 美元以上，或 5 月 5 日我們市值的近 50%。總的來說，這些行動支持我們實現了一定的流動性水平，我們相信這將使我們能夠提高和改善風險評級為 4 和 5 的貸款、辦公室貸款和 REO 投資的結果。

Turning to our CECL reserve. The total CECL reserve declined to $140 million as of March 31, 2025, a decrease of approximately $5 million from the CECL reserve as of December 31, 2024. This reduction was mainly driven by the reversal of CECL reserves on repaid loans and a decrease in reserves on existing loans in our portfolio. The total CECL reserve at the end of the first quarter of $140 million represents approximately 9.9% of the total outstanding principal balance of our loans held for investment.

轉向我們的 CECL 儲備。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，CECL 儲備總額下降至 1.4 億美元，較 2024 年 12 月 31 日的 CECL 儲備減少約 500 萬美元。減少的主要原因是已償還貸款的 CECL 準備金的逆轉以及我們投資組合中現有貸款準備金的減少。第一季末的 CECL 儲備總額為 1.4 億美元，約占我們持有的投資貸款未償還本金總額的 9.9%。

To conclude, the Board declared a regular cash dividend of $0.15 per common share for the second quarter of 2025. The second quarter dividend will be payable on July 15, 2025, to common stockholders of record as of June 30, 2025. At our current stock price on May 5, the annualized dividend yield on our second quarter dividend is over 14%.

最後，董事會宣布 2025 年第二季每股普通股發放 0.15 美元的定期現金股利。第二季股利將於 2025 年 7 月 15 日支付給截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日登記在冊的普通股股東。以我們 5 月 5 日的當前股價計算，我們第二季股息的年化股息殖利率超過 14%。

With that, I will turn the call back over to Bryan for some closing remarks.

說完這些，我將把電話轉回給布萊恩，請他發表一些結束語。

Thank you, Joe. We've made meaningful progress on many of our previously stated goals and continue to build upon our solid foundation at ACRE. Our platform is supported by the experience and capabilities of the greater Ares real estate team, which more than doubled in size with Ares acquisition of GCP in March. This added scale further enhances our ability to execute on our strategy with the goal of delivering strong shareholder returns in the long run.

謝謝你，喬。我們在之前提出的許多目標上都取得了有意義的進展，並且ACRE將繼續鞏固我們堅實的基礎。我們的平台得到了 Ares 房地產團隊的經驗和能力的支持，隨著 Ares 於 3 月收購 GCP，該團隊的規模擴大了一倍多。規模的擴大進一步增強了我們執行策略的能力，目標是長期為股東帶來豐厚的回報。

We are proud of the progress we have made. However, our near-term earnings may vary quarter-to-quarter as we continue to execute our strategy in an uncertain economic environment. In the long term, we believe the capabilities of our team and the strength of our balance sheet positions us to build shareholder value. As always, we appreciate you joining our call today, and we'd be happy to open the line for questions.

我們為所取得的進步感到自豪。然而，由於我們繼續在不確定的經濟環境中執行我們的策略，我們的近期收益可能會逐季度變化。從長遠來看，我們相信我們團隊的能力和資產負債表的實力使我們能夠創造股東價值。像往常一樣，我們感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議，我們很樂意為您解答問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Rick Shane, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的里克·沙恩。

Hey, guys, thanks for taking my questions this morning. Look, it sounds like there's been some progress on the Chicago office loan. It's still held as a rated 5 loan. I guess what I'm really trying to understand is you've got a building that's 90% occupied, it's got a weighted average lease term of eight years.

嘿，夥計們，感謝你們今天早上回答我的問題。聽著，聽起來芝加哥辦公室貸款已經取得了一些進展。該筆貸款仍被評為 5 級貸款。我想我真正想了解的是，你有一棟佔用率為 90% 的建築，它的加權平均租賃期限為八年。

On face value, that sounds pretty compelling. Is the issue here, the implied cap rate suggests that you guys are underwater in the loan? Is it that the lease rates are so far below what was intended that the cash flow is not covering or is it an interest rate issue? And given the progress, is there any potential that either the reserve is overly conservative or we could see this loan migrate to a four over time?

從表面上看，這聽起來相當引人注目。這裡的問題是，隱含的資本化率顯示你們的貸款處於負值狀態嗎？是因為租賃利率遠低於預期，現金流無法覆蓋，還是利率問題？鑑於這一進展，是否存在這樣的可能性：要么儲備過於保守，要么我們可能會看到這筆貸款隨著時間的推移轉變為四筆？

Yes, it's a good question. And obviously, we did try to give the facts around this with transparency. I think if you think about the vintage of origination here, you've clearly seen a couple of things go and well publicized and that against office assets and against Chicago and rates being one of them.

是的，這是個好問題。顯然，我們確實試圖透明地提供有關這一事實的資訊。我認為，如果您考慮這裡的起源，您會清楚地看到一些事情被廣為宣傳，其中之一就是針對辦公資產和芝加哥的利率。

So I think it's reflective of an overall shift in risk premium associated with office generally and more specifically around Chicago. So we've -- as always, tried to be forthcoming with our views, and it is kind of a culmination, I would say, of all of those factors that have impacted office values even when the headline fundamentals are positive. So this is a good asset, but one in which a market and different dynamics have gone against it. So we maintain a reserve that's reflective of the asset.

所以我認為這反映了與辦公室相關的風險溢價的整體轉變，尤其是芝加哥週邊的風險溢價。因此，我們一如既往地試圖公開表達我們的觀點，我想說，這是所有影響辦公室價值的因素的綜合結果，即使總體基本面是積極的。因此，這是一項優質資產，但市場和不同的動態對它不利。因此，我們維持的儲備能夠反映資產的情況。

Got it. And look, obviously, the objective is -- and you guys have been clear in terms of resolving non-accruing loans and REO. What should we anticipate as a potential cadence as we move through the year. We took a pretty conservative view into the first quarter and there were less realized losses in the quarter than we necessarily anticipated and that may just be you guys continuing to work through and potentially enhance value as you resolve outcomes. But how should we think about the migration of those non-performing loans over the next, call it, three or four quarters?

知道了。顯然，目標是——你們在解決非累積貸款和 REO 問題方面已經很明確了。隨著這一年的推進，我們應該預期潛在的節奏是如何的。我們對第一季持相當保守的看法，本季的實際損失低於我們的預期，這可能只是你們在解決結果時繼續努力並可能提升價值。但是，我們應該如何看待未來三到四個季度內這些不良貸款的轉移呢？

Yes, it's a great question and one in which with everything going on in the market, the average does not necessarily tell the full story, right? So we've seen a relatively regular cadence of resolutions and repayments throughout the first quarter. But we've also seen a good bit of volatility uptick that we've all collectively shared in the industry and beyond since the end of the quarter.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，而且考慮到市場上發生的一切，平均值並不一定能說明全部情況，對嗎？因此，我們在第一季看到了解決和償還的相對規律的節奏。但自本季末以來，我們也看到業內乃至整個產業都出現了相當大的波動性上升。

So predicting the cadence is difficult. You can have transparency in line of sight to certain events, but as has occurred over the last couple of years, so you can clearly still find some surprises out there. I think that it will be measured.

因此預測節奏很困難。你可以透明地看到某些事件，但正如過去幾年發生的那樣，你顯然仍然可以發現一些驚喜。我認為這將會被衡量。

And given the scale of our portfolio and the individual assets performing as such, it will be a little bit more difficult to predict, which is why we've maintained this balance sheet positioning to be able to accelerate those resolutions when it makes sense and withstand those that don't necessarily come in as expected.

考慮到我們投資組合的規模和個別資產的表現，預測起來會更加困難，這就是為什麼我們保持這種資產負債表定位，以便能夠在合理的情況下加速這些解決方案，並承受那些不一定按預期實現的解決方案。

Got it. Okay. I appreciate the time. Thank you, guys.

知道了。好的。我很感激你抽出時間。謝謝你們。

Appreciate it.

非常感謝。

Steve Delaney, Citizens JMP.

史蒂夫·德萊尼 (Steve Delaney)，公民 JMP。

Hello, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. The loan portfolio shrunk about $300 million. So you're down to [$1.35 billion]. Your comments, Bryan, that you certainly have the balance sheet it sits today allows for new lending. But I'm getting a sense, as you were talking that, well, one, you're going to be very selective, which we would certainly understand and appreciate but it sounds a little bit like you're not in a hurry.

大家好。感謝您回答這些問題。貸款組合縮水約3億美元。所以你得[13.5億美元]。布萊恩，你的評論是，你目前的資產負債表確實允許進行新的貸款。但我感覺，正如您所說，首先，您會非常挑剔，我們當然會理解和讚賞這一點，但聽起來您似乎並不著急。

And I'm curious whether you're waiting for the market to settle down a little bit, whether that's the tariff thing or just trying to run with a more conservative balance sheet. Just trying to kind of understand the mix there of your focus and if we can expect at some point, maybe by the middle of the year, that you would begin to regrow the loan portfolio? Thanks.

我很好奇您是否在等待市場稍微穩定下來，無論是關稅問題還是只是想採用更保守的資產負債表。只是想了解您的關注點組合，以及我們是否可以預期在某個時候，也許是在今年年中，您會開始重新增加貸款組合？謝謝。

Yes, Steve, it's a great question. I think the word you chose on the mix is spot on, right? I think we positioned ourselves with this balance sheet flexibility such that we can evaluate all of the opportunities that we mentioned in the prepared remarks, including being selectively opportunistic around new investments when they arise.

是的，史蒂夫，這是一個很好的問題。我認為您在混音中選擇的單字是正確的，對嗎？我認為，我們透過這種資產負債表靈活性來定位自己，以便我們能夠評估我們在準備好的評論中提到的所有機會，包括在出現新投資時有選擇地抓住機會。

The tariff announcement has clearly interrupted at least the acquisition side of our industry over the past few weeks going to a month, but we also see the refinancing opportunities that are out there as a credit provider.

關稅公告顯然至少在過去幾週到一個月的時間內中斷了我們行業的收購方面，但我們作為信貸提供者也看到了存在的再融資機會。

So I think we're going to balance all of those things and the flexibility that we've created with these repayments and the expectation for further will allow us to do so. I think especially in the second half of the year, as the world is able to digest the tariffs and get rid of some of this volatility and get to whatever that new normal is will provide us a more stable operating background to make those decisions more firmly. So we're going to continue to watch and evaluate the opportunities, both from a lending standpoint across the world.

因此，我認為我們將平衡所有這些因素，我們透過這些還款方式創造的靈活性以及對進一步還款的預期將使我們能夠做到這一點。我認為，特別是在今年下半年，隨著世界能夠消化關稅並擺脫部分波動並進入新常態，這將為我們提供更穩定的營運背景，以便更堅定地做出這些決定。因此，我們將繼續從全球貸款的角度觀察和評估這些機會。

That's helpful color. It helps for modeling purposes that you are being patient. My assumption looking at the balance sheet and the changes in your comments would lead me to that, but I appreciate you for emphasizing it.

這是很有幫助的顏色。保持耐心有助於達到建模的目的。透過查看資產負債表和您評論中的變化，我的假設會讓我得出這樣的結論，但我感謝您強調這一點。

Look, the stock is up -- (inaudible) even before that, I was thinking last night, we had it at about 42% of book or something in that ballpark. [Remind me], do you have a buyback authorization? And is that one of the capital allocation choices that you and the Board will have here over the next several months?

你看，股價上漲了──（聽不清楚）甚至在那之前，我昨晚就想，它的本益比大概是帳面價值的42%左右。 （提醒我）你有回購授權嗎？這是您和董事會在未來幾個月內將做出的資本配置選項之一嗎？

Yes. We do have a $50 million authorization in place through July of this year. It is absolutely one of the items that we are evaluating whether for to use our additional capital to buy back stock. It is important for us to maintain a certain capital base that we feel that's important for our company going forward, but it is something that we'll continue to evaluate.

是的。截至今年 7 月，我們確實已獲得 5,000 萬美元的授權。這絕對是我們正在評估是否使用額外資本回購股票的項目之一。對我們來說，維持一定的資本基礎非常重要，我們認為這對我們公司的未來發展很重要，但我們會繼續評估這一點。

Thank you for the comments.

感謝您的評論。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Jade Rahmani, KBW.

傑德·拉赫馬尼（Jade Rahmani），KBW。

Thank you very much. Can you give an update on the Life Science Boston project?

非常感謝。您能介紹一下波士頓生命科學計畫的最新進展嗎？

Yes, Jade, thanks for the question. I think clearly, that market has struggled. We're in discussions with that sponsor. I think we've got a little over a year left on that turn. We've seen some migration or negative supply growth in Life Sciences as some assets in that overall market have been considered or thought about or converted back to traditional office use, which a few years ago would have been fairly contrarian. So I think there's still a story to be told there. But I'd say the reserve approach that we've taken across the portfolio, we feel has been appropriate. But more to come on that asset, certainly.

是的，Jade，謝謝你的提問。我認為，很明顯，這個市場已經陷入困境。我們正在與該贊助商進行討論。我認為我們還有一年多的時間來實現這一目標。我們看到生命科學領域出現了一些遷移或供應負成長，因為整個市場中的一些資產已被考慮或考慮過或轉換回傳統的辦公室用途，而這在幾年前還是相當相反的。所以我認為那裡還有一個故事要說。但我想說，我們認為我們在整個投資組合中採取的儲備方法是合適的。但關於該資產，肯定會有更多進展。

Okay. You mentioned strategic initiatives in your remarks. I was wondering what that refers to.

好的。您在發言中提到了策略性舉措。我想知道那指的是什麼。

I wouldn't take it as much more than we are constantly evaluating strategy. Jeff talked about share buybacks and deployment into new investments. And I really wouldn't consider it much beyond that.

我不會認為這比我們不斷評估戰略更重要。傑夫談到了股票回購和新投資的部署。除此之外我真的不會想太多。

Okay. There's been a number of things going on at Ares, including the GCP acquisition that you mentioned and real estate, growing the real estate footprint there, whether it be on the equity or the debt side remains a priority. So that's why I asked.

好的。Ares 正在發生很多事情，包括您提到的 GCP 收購和房地產，擴大那裡的房地產足跡，無論是股權還是債務方面仍然是優先事項。這就是我問的原因。

Yes. No, absolutely. I think the GCP acquisition, obviously, we're still in the digestion phase there, but it's been great to welcome those colleagues to the team. And I think one of the key takeaways from that, Jade, has been expanding our areas of vertical integration similar to what we got with the Black Creek acquisition two years, three years ago with the logistics sector.

是的。不，絕對不是。我認為 GCP 收購顯然我們仍處於消化階段，但很高興歡迎這些同事加入團隊。我認為，Jade 從中得到的一個重要啟示就是擴大我們的垂直整合領域，類似於我們兩年、三年前收購 Black Creek 時在物流領域所取得的成就。

We've expanded some of those expertise globally, added data center self-storage, a few other asset classes where that expertise is -- I think I mentioned at the tail end of the prepared remarks. We think we [enter] to the benefit of certainly the Ares shareholders and the ACRE as well.

我們在全球範圍內擴展了其中一些專業知識，增加了數據中心自助存儲，以及其他一些需要這些專業知識的資產類別——我想我在準備好的發言的最後提到過。我們認為，我們進入該市場無疑對 Ares 股東和 ACRE 有利。

Sounds good. Thanks a lot.

聽起來不錯。多謝。

Thanks, Jade. Appreciate the question.

謝謝，Jade。感謝你的提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

And Mr. Donohoe, it appears we have no further questions this afternoon. I'd like to turn the conference back to you for any closing comments.

多諾霍先生，看來我們今天下午沒有其他問題了。我想將會議交還給各位，請大家發表最後評論。

That's great. I just want to thank everybody for the time today. I appreciate the continued support of Ares Commercial Real Estate. And as always, we look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call in about 90 days. Thanks, everybody.

那太棒了。我只是想感謝大家今天抽出時間。我感謝 Ares Commercial Real Estate 的持續支持。像往常一樣，我們期待在大約 90 天後的下一次收益電話會議上與您交談。謝謝大家。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our conference call for today. If you missed any part of today's call, an archived replay of this conference call will be available approximately one hour after the end of this call through June 7, 2025, to domestic callers by dialing 1800-695-0715 and to international callers by dialing (402) 220-1423. An archived replay will also be available on a webcast link located on the homepage of the Investor Resources section of our website. Again, thanks so much for joining us, everyone. We wish you all a great day. Goodbye.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。如果您錯過了今天電話會議的任何部分，您可以在本次電話會議結束後約一小時至 2025 年 6 月 7 日期間收聽本次電話會議的存檔重播，國內用戶請撥打 1800-695-0715 收聽，國際用戶請撥打 (402) 220-1423 收聽。我們網站投資者資源部分主頁上的網路廣播連結也將提供存檔重播。再次感謝大家的參與。我們祝福大家有個愉快的一天。再見。