Apollo Global Management Inc (APO) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Apollo Global Management's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) This conference call is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加阿波羅全球管理公司2023年第三季業績電話會議。 （接線員指示）本次電話會議正在錄音中。

This call may include forward-looking statements and projections, which do not guarantee future events or performance. Please refer to Apollo's most recent SEC filings for risk factors related to these statements.

本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述和預測，這些陳述和預測不保證未來事件或績效。有關這些陳述的風險因素，請參閱阿波羅最近提交給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 的文件。

Apollo will be discussing certain non-GAAP measures on this call, which management believes are relevant in assessing the financial performance of the business. These non-GAAP measures are reconciled to GAAP figures in Apollo's earnings presentation, which is available on the company's website. Also note that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any Apollo fund.

阿波羅將在本次電話會議上討論一些非公認會計準則指標，管理階層認為這些指標與評估公司財務表現有關。這些非公認會計準則指標已與阿波羅獲利報告中的公認會計準則資料進行核對，該報告可在公司網站上查閱。另請注意，本次電話會議中的任何內容均不構成出售或購買任何阿波羅基金權益的要約。

I will now turn the call over to Noah Gunn, Global Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話轉給全球投資者關係主管Noah Gunn。請您繼續。

Great. Thanks, Donna. And welcome again, everyone, to our call. Earlier this morning, we published our earnings release and financial supplement on the Investor Relations portion of our website. We reported strong third quarter financial results which included record quarterly FRE of $472 million or $0.77 per share and record quarterly SRE of $873 million or $1.43 per share. Together, these two earnings streams totaled $1.3 billion in the third quarter, increasing more than 30% year-over-year and reflecting solid execution from both our asset management and retirement services businesses. Combined with principal investing income, HoldCo financing costs and taxes, we reported adjusted net income of $1 billion or $1.71 per share, up 23% year-over-year.

太好了！謝謝，唐娜。再次歡迎大家參加我們的電話會議。今天早上，我們在網站的「投資者關係」板塊發布了財報和財務補充報告。我們公佈了強勁的第三季財務業績，其中包括創紀錄的4.72億美元（合每股0.77美元）的季度FRE，以及創紀錄的8.73億美元（合每股1.43美元）的季度SRE。這兩項收益在第三季總計13億美元，年增超過30%，反映了我們資產管理和退休服務業務的穩健執行。加上本金投資收益、HoldCo融資成本和稅金，我們公佈的調整後淨利潤為10億美元（合每股1.71美元），年增23%。

Joining me this morning to discuss our results and strong relative positioning in further detail are Marc Rowan, CEO; Scott Kleinman, co-President; and Martin Kelly, CFO. And one quick plug before we proceed. In a couple of weeks on the afternoon of November 14, we will be hosting a deep dive presentation on our platform origination strategy, a top area of investor focus, which will provide insights into various platforms and detail how, in aggregate, we believe they provide a competitive and sustainable advantage to Apollo in sourcing excess spread. A live video cast of the session will be available through our Investor Relations page.

今天上午，執行長馬克·羅文 (Marc Rowan)、聯合總裁斯科特·克萊曼 (Scott Kleinman) 和首席財務官馬丁·凱利 (Martin Kelly) 將與我一起詳細討論我們的業績和強勁的相對定位。在我們繼續之前，先簡單介紹一下。幾週後的 11 月 14 日下午，我們將舉辦一場深入的演講，探討我們的平台發起策略，這是投資者關注的重點領域。演講將深入介紹各種平台，並詳細說明我們認為這些平台如何在整體上為阿波羅在獲取超額利差方面提供競爭優勢和永續優勢。您可以透過我們的投資者關係頁面觀看本次會議的現場視訊直播。

And with that, now back to our regularly scheduled earnings programming. Marc?

現在回到我們定期安排的收入節目。馬克？

Thanks, Noah, and good morning to all. Another great quarter amidst interesting financial markets and certainly a challenging year for many in our industry. Just to highlight performance. Quarterly FRE, up 29% year-over-year. Quarterly SRE, 36% year-over-year. Margin expansion, 3 quarters in a row now. Inflows for the third quarter, $33 billion, $125 billion year-to-date. Deployment, $36 billion, fundamentally momentum on both sides of the business.

謝謝，Noah，大家早安。在金融市場活躍的背景下，我們又迎來了一個精彩的季度，但對我們行業中的許多人來說，這無疑是充滿挑戰的一年。我只想強調一下業績。季度FRE年增29%。季度SRE年增36%。利潤率連續三個季度成長。第三季資金流入330億美元，年初至今已達1,250億美元。部署資金360億美元，從根本上來說，業務的兩端都保持著良好的勢頭。

Our business model is very robust, as I will track for you. We expect another $30 billion plus/minus of inflows for Q4, bringing total inflows for the year to $150 billion. The momentum we see in the business tells me we will have an on track continued good performance heading into Q4. Obviously, quarter is not done yet, but everything we see tells us the momentum will continue.

我們的業務模式非常穩健，我會為您持續追蹤。我們預計第四季將再有300億美元左右的資金流入，使全年總流入量達到1500億美元。我們看到的業務動能告訴我，我們將在第四季繼續保持良好的業績。當然，這個季度還沒有結束，但我們看到的一切都表明，這種勢頭將會持續下去。

In Global Wealth, which I'll just do a quick shout-out to, given how hard the team has been working, there are now seven perpetual wealth products in the market today. Scott will go through this in detail. And just to close out, origination volume tracking, north of the $100 billion on an annualized level.

在 Global Wealth 方面，我只想簡單介紹一下，考慮到團隊的辛勤工作，目前市場上有七種永久性財富產品。 Scott 會詳細介紹這些產品。最後，我們來追蹤年度化交易量，交易額已超過 1000 億美元。

Fundamentally, everything in the business is working, and I believe we're set up appropriately to benefit from the current market. Almost everything in our business works better with higher rates. Credit, as you know, is a much bigger part of our business mix than most of our peer group, something we've built over a long period of time. And to remind you, we are focused on senior secured top of the capital structure. This is a big difference between what people normally think of as private credit and otherwise. But we want a business that lasts, one that has duration, one that is set up for a difficult economy, notwithstanding all the positives happening in the credit market.

從根本上講，我們業務的方方面面都運作良好，我相信我們已經做好了充分的準備，能夠從當前的市場中獲益。我們業務中的幾乎所有方面，在利率提高的情況下都會表現得更好。如您所知，信貸業務在我們業務組合中所佔的比重遠高於大多數同行，這是我們長期累積的。另外，需要提醒您的是，我們專注於資本結構頂端的優先擔保貸款。這與人們通常理解的私人信貸和其他信貸有很大區別。但我們希望業務能夠持久，具有期限，能夠應對經濟困難時期，即使信貸市場出現各種正面因素。

To give you a sense, impairments at Athene, at or below last year's level. We expect for the year and year-to-date, notwithstanding some back and forth quarter-to-quarter. Fundamentally, the book is in very good shape.

簡單來說，Athene 的減損損失與去年持平或低於去年水準。我們預計今年及年初至今的減損損失將保持不變，儘管季度間存在一些波動。從根本上來說，帳面狀況非常好。

On the equity side of our business, purchase price matters, which is our strategy, has really paid off. Many -- there's lots of dry powder in the equity business in private markets. But many people are sitting on the sidelines. They have no idea how much of their existing capital is going to need to be used to solve problems in their existing portfolio, to get refinancings done. Purchase price matter, and being disciplined over the past decade has left us with a very small number of situations that will require fixing. And therefore, we have been on offense, tremendous deployment, which Scott will detail in our private equity business and in our hybrid business.

在我們股權業務方面，我們注重購買價格，這也是我們的策略，這確實取得了成效。私募市場的股權業務中有很多資金。但很多人袖手旁觀。他們不知道需要動用多少現有資金來解決現有投資組合中的問題，完成再融資。購買價格至關重要，過去十年的嚴格自律讓我們只剩下極少數需要解決的情況。因此，我們一直在積極進攻，部署了大量資金，Scott 將在私募股權業務和混合業務中詳細介紹這一點。

If you like something now in the equity business, given all the geopolitical implications, given the concerns over recession, given the high rate environment, given what is generally very difficult financing conditions, you really like it. On the margin deployment into the equity business, I think for all of '23, we'll prove for our industry to be very, very attractive.

如果你現在看好股票業務中的某個領域，考慮到所有地緣政治影響、對經濟衰退的擔憂、高利率環境以及普遍非常困難的融資條件，你一定會喜歡它。至於股票業務的保證金配置，我認為在2023年全年，我們的行業將非常非常具有吸引力。

So what's really happening? Let me step back and give you my view at least on what I think is happening in markets and in private markets. And I'll start -- I look at my career, which is now 39 years, and I think we have benefited from four tailwinds over this period of time. We've had rates generally going from high to low. We have printed a massive amount of money. We have borrowed forward future demand through fiscal stimulus and fiscal borrowing. And we've had the benefit of globalization. It does not surprise me with those four tailwinds that risk assets, equities, growth, real estate, things like that did really well.

那麼，實際情況究竟如何？讓我退一步，至少談談我對市場和私人市場現狀的看法。首先，回顧我39年的職業生涯，我認為這段時間我們受益於四大利好因素。利率整體由高轉低。我們印製了大量貨幣。我們透過財政刺激和財政借貸來滿足未來的需求。此外，我們也受益於全球化。這四大利多因素推動風險資產、股票、成長、房地產等資產表現良好，這並不令我感到驚訝。

But I ask myself, are any of those four things true today? I think there's an argument as to whether there are headwinds or just the absence of tailwinds. But everything that I see tells me that we -- looking backward is not likely to be a good indication of what needs to be done going forward for investment success. In particular, looking backward over the past 10 years, which I view as an absolute aberration, will not be a good guide going forward. And the strategies that performed over the past period of time with these tailwinds are not going to perform in the new environment that we have.

但我捫心自問，這四件事在今天還有真憑實據嗎？我認為，關於是否存在逆風，或只是缺乏順風，存在爭議。但我所看到的一切都告訴我，回顧過去，不太可能預示未來投資成功需要做些什麼。尤其是回顧過去十年，我認為這完全是失常之舉，更不會成為未來的好指引。過去一段時間在順風時期奏效的策略，在我們現在的新環境下，恐怕不會奏效。

I also think there have been fundamental changes that have happened to markets and market structure over the past years as well. The most significant of which happened in 2008. 2008, we came very close to an absolute debacle in our financial system, and the rules of how our financial markets work were fundamentally rewritten. We, not just Apollo, but all of us, we just didn't notice because right after we changed the rules, we printed $8 trillion, and everything went up into the right. Well, now that we are no longer doing that, now that rates are up, now that there are headwinds, we are starting to notice some of these changes. And I'll stick to three, and I'll talk about their implications.

我還認為，過去幾年市場和市場結構也發生了根本性變化。其中最顯著的變化發生在2008年。 2008年，我們的金融體系幾乎徹底崩潰，金融市場運作的規則被徹底改寫。我們，不只是阿波羅，而是我們所有人，只是沒有註意到，因為規則改變後，我們立即印發了8兆美元，一切都上漲了。現在，我們不再這樣做了，利率上升了，逆風也來了，我們開始注意到一些變化。我將重點討論三個變化，並談談它們的影響。

One is liquidity, public market liquidity. By some estimates, dealer capital. Capital that facilitates trading is roughly 10% today of what it was in 2008. Markets are 3x their size. That tells me we have just less liquidity in public markets. We have already seen the first complete breakdown of functioning in market, which was U.K. LDI last year. It will not surprise me going forward to see liquidity challenged, public markets challenged, and investors beginning to understand that liquidity only exists on the way up and does not exist on the way down. We should expect a more volatile, less liquid world in public markets.

一是流動性，公開市場的流動性。據估計，也就是交易商的資本。如今，用於促進交易的資本大約是2008年的10%。市場規模是當時的三倍。這顯示公開市場的流動性正在下降。我們已經見證了市場運作的第一次徹底崩潰，那就是去年英國的LDI事件。未來，如果流動性面臨挑戰，公開市場面臨挑戰，投資人開始明白流動性只存在於上漲過程中，而不是下跌過程中，我對此並不感到意外。我們應該預見到，公開市場將更加動盪，流動性將更加匱乏。

The second is the role of banks, not just in our economy, but in economies around the world. Dodd-Frank, in theory, was targeted at constraining the power of the four big banks in the U.S., following the financial crisis, but the banking system in general. Guess what? It worked. Banks today in the U.S. markets are roughly 20% of debt capital to consumers and businesses. All of you, investors, now supply 80% of debt capital to businesses.

第二是銀行的作用，它不僅在我們經濟中，而且在世界各地的經濟中都發揮作用。理論上，《多德-弗蘭克法案》旨在限制金融危機後美國四大銀行的權力，但實際上它影響的是整個銀行體系。你猜怎麼著？它奏效了。如今，美國市場上的銀行約佔消費者和企業債務資本的20%。而各位投資者，現在卻為企業提供了80%的債務資本。

In addition, the changes that are now proposed to occur following the debacle at SVB and First Republic and Credit Suisse, will further lead to de banking. When regulators ask banks in the U.S. to put up 15% more capital, they're asking the banks to shrink or to shrink lines of business. When Europe moves from Basel III to Basel IV, they're asking banks to shrink. This is happening around the world. Debanking is not something that is periodic. It is that it's very early infancy. It does not mean that banking is a bad business. It does not mean that four big banks don't have amazing businesses. They do. But it means on the margin, they will continue to play less and less as a percentage of the total and you investors will play more and more. That tells me as investors that you will see over the next decade a series of financial products that you've never seen before because they have historically been resident only on the balance sheets of large banks, and they are on their way to you as investment product.

此外，矽谷銀行、第一共和銀行和瑞信銀行破產後，目前提出的改革方案將進一步導致去銀行化。當監管機構要求美國銀行增加15%的資本時，他們實際上是在要求銀行縮減規模或業務線。當歐洲從巴塞爾協議III轉向巴塞爾協議IV時，他們實際上是在要求銀行縮減規模。這種情況正在世界各地發生。去銀行化並非週期性現象，而是處於非常早期的起步階段。這並不意味著銀行業不好。也不代表四大銀行沒有出色的業務。它們確實有。但這意味著，從邊際來看，它們在總資產中所佔的比例將越來越小，而你們投資者所佔的比例將越來越大。這告訴我，身為投資者，你們將在未來十年看到一系列前所未有的金融產品，因為它們過去一直只存在於大型銀行的資產負債表上，而現在它們正作為投資產品走向你們。

And the third that I focus on is this notion of indexation and correlation. 80% of volume today of trading is S&P 500 .60% of our markets are ETFs. 10 stocks make up nearly 35% of the S&P 500. These 10 stocks are responsible for 100% of year-to-date returns. These 10 stocks have traded between 52 and 44 PE over the last few weeks. Not many of you come in every day looking to buy 50 PE stocks, yet we feel really comfortable with a massive portion of our country's retirement system assets and fiduciary assets in 50 PE stocks. We have literally never had so much concentration in so few instruments since the NIFTY 50 going back and predates my career.

我關注的第三點是指數化和相關性的概念。今天80%的交易量來自標普500指數。我們市場60%的交易量來自ETF。這10檔股票構成了標普500指數的近35%。這10檔股票貢獻了今年迄今100%的報酬。過去幾週，這10檔股票的本益比在52到44倍之間。你們中沒有多少人每天都來買市盈率50的股票，但我們對將我國退休金體系資產和信託資產的很大一部分投資於市盈率50的股票感到非常放心。自從NIFTY 50指數出現以來，我們從未如此集中地投資如此少的工具，甚至比我的職業生涯還要早。

But if one looks at the data from that period of time, a decade later, investors lost nearly 90% of their money. I'm not saying that's what's happening here. What I'm pointing out is we had this perception historically that public was safe and private was risky. I ask, is that even the right framework to think about how market structure today? Is public safe and is private risky? Or are both -- public and private, both risky and safe? I do think that, that is the conclusion and that's where investors will move to.

但如果回顧那段時期的數據，十年後，投資人損失了近90%的資金。我的意思並非現在的情況。我想指出的是，我們過去一直認為公募基金安全，私募基金風險高。我想問，這是否是思考當今市場結構的正確框架？公募基金安全，私募基金風險高？還是兩者兼具－公募基金和私募基金，既有風險又安全？我確實認為，這就是結論，投資人將會轉向這種模式。

Let me dig in a little bit on private credit. Private credit is the flavor of the day in our industry. You can look at press mentions. You can look at all the articles. You can look at what our colleagues and peers have had to say on their various calls. Private credit for us has been the mainstay of our business. We are nearly $500 billion in private credit, away from the 2,600 people who work in Apollo Asset Management and the more than 2,000 people who work at Athene. There are 4,000 people at Apollo who do not carry an Apollo business card, who work at 1 of our 16 platforms that Noah referenced, where we will do a deep dive. And their job every single day is to create credit, create private credit, which I'll come to. And that's what they come in and do every day. We've assembled this over the last decade plus or between $6 billion and $8 billion. Truthfully, our ecosystem is second to none in this business.

讓我來深入探討一下私人信貸。私人信貸是我們行業當下的熱門話題。你可以看看媒體報道，看看所有的文章，看看我們的同事和同儕在各種電話會議上的發言。私人信貸一直是我們業務的支柱。我們的私人信貸規模接近5,000億美元，這還不包括阿波羅資產管理公司（Apollo Asset Management）的2,600名員工和雅典娜（Athene）的2,000多名員工。阿波羅有4000名員工沒有阿波羅名片，他們在諾亞提到的16個平台中的某個平台工作，我們將深入探討這些平台。他們每天的工作就是創造信貸，創造私人信貸，這一點我稍後會談到。這就是他們每天的工作。在過去十多年裡，我們已經累積了60億到80億美元的信貸規模。說實話，我們的生態系統在這個行業是首屈一指的。

As I mentioned, I believe we are in the first inning or the infancy of private credit. Private credit is a secular trend, and it follows the debanking that I mentioned, and it is not just a U.S. phenomenon. It is a worldwide phenomenon. We have, to date, as a financial press and as an industry, talked about private credit as if it meant to be -- if it is levered lending, sometimes called direct lending, was private credit.

正如我所提到的，我認為我們正處於私人信貸的起步階段。私人信貸是一個長期趨勢，它伴隨著我提到的「去銀行化」而來，而且它不僅僅是美國的現象，而是一個全球現象。到目前為止，作為一家財經媒體和一個行業，我們在談論私人信貸時，就好像它本來就是——如果它是槓桿貸款，有時也稱為直接貸款，那麼它就是私人信貸。

Let me tell you. This is a fraction of a fraction of what debanking will produce. This piece of the business of lending to buyout sponsors, sometimes it's a very good business. It is about to get commoditized. Lots of capital is coming to this area. There are low barriers to entry. And investors understand this. They are moving toward firms that have established ecosystems, that have long track records of risk and reward, that will not chase the hot dot in this market because, yes, there will be a hot dot in this market as well.

我來告訴你。這只不過是去銀行化所能帶來的利益的一小部分。向收購發起人放貸，有時是一門非常好的生意。它即將商品化。大量資本正在湧入這個領域。進入門檻很低。投資人也明白這一點。他們正在轉向那些已經建立生態系統、擁有長期風險與回報記錄的公司，這些公司不會追逐這個市場的熱點，因為，是的，這個市場也會有熱點。

When I talk about private credit, I'm really talking about the secular change as a result of debanking. I start with the notion that everything on a bank balance sheet is actually private credit. What we've seen so far and what the press is focused on is levered lending, which, as I said, is a fraction of a fraction. I think we're going to be talking about this for the next 10 years. And the vast, vast majority of what we're interested in private credit is actually investment grade. The difference between where we are today and where I think we will be is all about education and nomenclature.

當我談論私人信貸時，我實際上指的是去銀行化帶來的長期變化。我首先要說的是，銀行資產負債表上的所有東西實際上都是私人信貸。我們目前所看到的，以及媒體所關注的，是槓桿貸款，正如我所說，這只是九牛一毛。我認為我們將在未來十年繼續討論這個問題。而我們感興趣的私人信貸中，絕大多數其實是投資等級的。我們目前的狀況和我認為的未來狀況之間的差異，完全在於教育和術語。

Investors are being asked really challenging questions today. Is a single A-rated private security an alternative or fixed income? Sometimes I can stop a CIO at a big fund for an hour with that question. If it's an alternative because it is private and that's how they think about the world, they're not going to buy it because they need 15% to 20% rates of return out of their alternative bucket. But if it is fixed income because it is rated the same as fixed income and it offers 200 to 300 basis points of excess return for the same risk, institutional investors, family offices, wealthy individuals should be able to tolerate some degree of illiquidity if they're getting paid for it, particularly if I go back to my secular themes of liquidity is not so good in the public market. Most of what's out there has been commoditized. I do think this is our future. I do think we, as a group, will be talking about private credit, and I expect the conversation to become much, much more sophisticated.

如今，投資者面臨一些極具挑戰性的問題。一隻A級私募證券究竟是另類投資還是固定收益產品？有時，我能讓大型基金的首席投資長就此問題坐上一個小時。如果因為私募股權的本質，而投資人也這麼看待世界，那麼他們就不會買入，因為他們需要從另類投資中獲得15%到20%的報酬率。但如果因為評級與固定收益相同，且在相同風險下能提供200到300個基點的超額收益，而將其歸類為固定收益產品，那麼機構投資者、家族理財室和富人應該能夠容忍一定程度的流動性不足，如果他們因此獲得報酬，尤其當我回到我長期的流動性主題——公開市場的流動性並不那麼好——時。市面上大多數產品都已經被商品化了。我確實認為這就是我們的未來。我確實認為，作為一個群體，我們將討論私募信貸，我預計討論將變得更加深入。

Away from the business, I sometimes joke that we raise money, we invest money and we compensate people. The raising of money, the investing of money seems to be in very good shape. I'm fortunate that Scott and Jim live and breathe this every single day. I, therefore, get to focus on compensating people. And it's not just compensating people, it's also about the culture. As I've said previously, our north star is to build the best partnership and financial services. If we can be the best place for our 200 partners to work, we will retain their judgment throughout their whole career. We will also send a message to our next generation of principals, that partnership at Apollo is what it's all about. And then throughout the organization, younger people entering our firm, no matter how hard they are working, and they are working hard, and I thank you, you will have two amazing generations of mentors to teach you the business. This is the ecosystem that we're trying to create.

撇開業務不談，我有時會開玩笑說，我們融資、投資，並發給員工薪水。融資和投資似乎進展順利。我很幸運，史考特和吉姆每天都在實踐這些理念。因此，我可以專注於員工薪資。這不僅是薪酬，也關乎公司文化。正如我之前所說，我們的目標就是打造最佳的合夥人制和金融服務。如果我們能成為200位合夥人的最佳工作場所，我們就能讓他們的判斷力在整個職業生涯中都保持下去。我們也會向下一代負責人傳遞一個訊息：合夥人制才是阿波羅的核心。在整個公司，無論年輕人加入公司，無論他們多麼努力，他們都在努力工作。感謝你們，你們將擁有兩代優秀的導師來指導你們的業務。這就是我們努力打造的生態系統。

We also are trying to do something for shareholders. We understand that shareholders value more highly those things that are highly predictable, FRE and SRE; and value less highly those things that are volatile, PII. Just look at this year where FRE and SRE are up nearly 30% each; and PII reflecting market conditions, is down very significantly from what we would expect as a long-run average.

我們也在努力為股東做些事情。我們知道，股東更重視那些高度可預測的指標，例如FRE和SRE；而不太看重那些波動性較大的指標，例如PII。看看今年，FRE和SRE分別上漲了近30%；而反映市場狀況的PII則大幅低於我們預期的長期平均值。

Our goal, over time, is to pay our people more PII and less FRE and SRE, and that is the trend we are on. At our Investor Day some 2 years ago, we laid out a trajectory of how we're doing. Today, Martin will update you and tell you we are not only on that trajectory we are now pivoting to actually exceed that trajectory. What Martin will detail for you is not just a financial transaction, but also focused on the next generation of leadership.

我們的目標是，隨著時間的推移，向員工支付更多 PII 報酬，減少 FRE 和 SRE 報酬，這正是我們目前的發展趨勢。大約兩年前的投資者日，我們規劃了未來的發展軌跡。今天，Martin 將向您介紹最新進展，並告訴您我們不僅走在這條發展軌跡上，而且正在努力超越這條軌跡。 Martin 將為您詳細介紹的不僅僅是一項財務交易，還將重點放在下一代領導力上。

We have, and as Martin will detail, decided to fundamentally change the compensation for four of our next generation of leaders. These are not the only leaders who, in my view, are capable of the next generation, but they are four who are very visible within our organization: Matt Nord, David Sambur, John Zito and Grant Kvalheim. All four of them have taken on increasing amounts of responsibility over the years. They now see -- not just oversee their individual departments, they oversee massive pieces of our firm that are integrated.

正如馬丁將要詳細介紹的，我們決定徹底改變四位下一代領導者的薪酬。在我看來，他們並非唯一有能力引領下一代的領導者，但他們在我們公司內部的地位非常高：馬特·諾德 (Matt Nord)、大衛·桑伯 (David Sambur)、約翰·齊托 (John Zito) 和格蘭特·克瓦爾海姆 (Grant Kvalheim)。多年來，他們四人都承擔了越來越多的責任。現在，他們不僅要監管各自的部門，還要監管我們公司整合後的龐大業務。

And as such, we've decided to compensate them substantially in stock. That does not necessarily mean more, it just means different. What we've decided to do is to take the compensation of FRE and SRE and PII that they would have received and replaced a very large portion of that with stock so they are aligned with Jim and Scott and myself, but also with all of you. This will create room for us to further give that PII that those four individuals hold to others in our firm in our constant battle and our constant direction to keep more of the FRE and SRE for the house and less of the PII.

因此，我們決定以股票形式給予他們大量補償。這並不一定意味著更多，只是意味著有所不同。我們決定將他們本應獲得的FRE、SRE和PII補償中的很大一部分用股票替代，這樣他們不僅與Jim、Scott和我本人保持一致，也與你們所有人保持一致。這將為我們創造空間，讓我們能夠將這四個人持有的PII進一步分配給公司其他成員，以支持我們持續的鬥爭，並始終如一地將更多的FRE和SRE留給公司，減少PII。

And that, I believe, is how it should be. Employees, particularly our partners, are well suited to understand PII and to bear the volatility. Up good and bad of PII, I believe this to be a good outcome for shareholders. I view it as a good outcome for me personally. And I know Jim and Scott view it as a good outcome for them. Having everyone aligned and being paid in the same way, extraordinarily important.

我相信，這才是應該的。員工，尤其是我們的合夥人，非常有能力理解 PII，並承受波動。無論 PII 好壞，我相信這對股東來說都是一個好結果。我個人也認為這是一個好結果。我知道 Jim 和 Scott 也認為這對他們來說也是一個好結果。讓每個人都保持一致，並以相同的方式獲得報酬，這一點至關重要。

I will also tell you. We are committed to immunizing the stock that we intend to grant, and Martin will detail that for you as well. So Noah is already tapping his watch and telling me that my time is almost up. Fundamentally, we are on track to hit our 5-year plan. Athene, as you know, has already exceeded its 5-year plan. Of the 3 big bets that we laid out, capital solutions in 2 years has already hit its 5-year plan, origination and global wealth are well on track to meet their 5-year plan. So fundamentally, we're confident to meet or exceed the goals that we laid out in our first 5-year plan, and it feels almost like it's time for the next update. There are so many interesting things happening in asset management, so many interesting fundamental changes in market. And so we are committed to hosting our next Investor Day later in '24, which Noah will detail, to really talk about where we go from here.

我還會告訴你。我們致力於對計畫授予的股票進行免疫，Martin 也會向你詳細介紹。 Noah 已經在敲手錶，告訴我我的時間快到了。從根本上講，我們正朝著實現五年計畫的方向前進。如你所知，Athene 已經超額完成了五年計畫。在我們制定的三大投資方向中，資本解決方案在兩年內已經完成了五年計劃，而資產發起和全球財富也正穩步推進，預計將實現五年計劃。所以，從根本上講，我們有信心達到甚至超過我們在第一個五年計劃中設定的目標，現在感覺是時候進行下一次更新了。資產管理領域正在發生許多有趣的事情，市場上也發生了許多有趣的根本性變化。因此，我們計劃在2024年稍後舉辦下一次投資者日活動，Noah 會詳細介紹，屆時我們將深入探討未來的發展方向。

With that, I'll remind you, the goal that we're after, deliver the targets that we've told you, plus a little, while maintaining our culture. We are not seeking to be the biggest. We're not seeking to be the fastest growing. We're seeking to build something that is sustainable over a very long period of time.

我要提醒大家，我們追求的目標是，在維持我們企業文化的同時，實現我們先前宣布的目標，甚至更多。我們不追求規模最大，也不追求成長最快。我們追求的是打造一個能夠長期永續發展的企業。

With that, I'm going to turn it over to Scott.

說完這些，我將把發言權交給史考特。

Thanks, Marc. Unlike many in the industry, the current market backdrop marked by higher interest rates, heightened volatility and economic uncertainty is where we thrive. It's good for our core investing businesses where we are asset selectors with a value orientation, not momentum or volume traders. It's also good for Athene's business where higher for longer rates drive more volume and better profitability. And it can be good for our capital solutions business where companies can access creative financing solutions when traditional sources of capital are less plentiful. This is the true power of our aligned asset management and retirement services business model, which should only increase as we continue executing on our growth objectives.

謝謝，馬克。與業內許多公司不同，在當前市場利率上升、波動加劇、經濟不確定性加劇的背景下，我們蓬勃發展。這有利於我們的核心投資業務，因為我們是價值導向的資產選擇者，而非動量交易者或交易量交易者。這也有利於Athene的業務，因為長期利率越高，交易量越大，獲利能力越強。此外，這也有利於我們的資本解決方案業務，因為當傳統資本來源不足時，公司可以獲得創新的融資解決方案。這正是我們資產管理和退休服務業務模式的真正優勢所在，隨著我們繼續執行成長目標，這種優勢只會越來越強。

As you've heard us say before, the foundation of our business is providing excess return per unit of risk, and this is evident in our strong investment performance. In the yield business, our corporate credit, structured credit and direct origination strategies all appreciated between 3% and 4% in the quarter and between 12% and 17% over the last 12 months. We've seen particularly strong performance in certain underlying strategies, including Apollo Debt Solutions, which posted a total net return of 16.5% for Class 1 shares over the last 12 months. Performance in our hybrid value franchise also remains robust, with the portfolio appreciating 4% in the third quarter and 11% year-to-date.

正如您之前所說，我們業務的基礎是提供單位風險的超額回報，這體現在我們強勁的投資績效中。在收益業務方面，我們的公司信貸、結構性信貸和直接發起策略在本季均上漲了3%至4%，在過去12個月中上漲了12%至17%。某些基礎策略表現特別強勁，例如阿波羅債務解決方案，其一級股票在過去12個月的總淨回報率為16.5%。我們的混合價值業務也保持強勁，該投資組合在第三季上漲了4%，今年迄今上漲了11%。

And in private equity, our flagship strategy appreciated 3% in the third quarter and 16% over the last 12 months, including 22% LTM for Fund IX specifically as the underlying portfolio companies continue to generate healthy earnings growth and are actively managing inflation by achieving greater operational efficiencies. The portfolio is well diversified and has an average purchase multiple of slightly over 6x offering significant downside protection should economic conditions worsen.

在私募股權領域，我們的旗艦策略在第三季度上漲了3%，在過去12個月上漲了16%，其中基金IX的LTM上漲了22%，這主要得益於其投資組合中的公司持續保持健康的盈利增長，並透過提高營運效率積極管理通膨。此投資組合具有良好的多元化，平均購買倍數略高於6倍，即使經濟狀況惡化，也能提供顯著的下行保護。

In terms of investing activity, we remained active during the quarter, putting $36 billion of capital to work across the platform. Investing activity across the yield platform accounted for the vast majority of capital deployment in the quarter as we continue to capitalize on two primary interrelated themes: global debanking and lack of public market liquidity.

就投資活動而言，我們在本季保持活躍，在整個平台上投入了360億美元的資金。收益平台上的投資活動佔本季資本配置的絕大部分，因為我們繼續利用兩個相互關聯的主題：全球去銀行化和公開市場流動性不足。

Our ability to provide scaled capital solutions with flexibility and certainty has made us a lender of choice in today's backdrop. With that said, we're picking our spots and remaining highly disciplined in our underwriting criteria, given the potential economic pressures of interest rates remaining higher for longer. This is a playbook we've used time and time again: strong defense during times of uncertainty, leading to effective offense during periods of dislocation.

我們能夠提供靈活且確定性的規模化資本解決方案，這使得我們成為當今環境下的首選貸款機構。即便如此，考慮到利率長期維持高位可能帶來的經濟壓力，我們仍在謹慎選擇，嚴格遵守承保標準。這是我們反覆運用的策略：在不確定時期採取強勢防禦，在混亂時期有效進攻。

For our hybrid business, the pipeline of deployment opportunities is also expanding. Sponsors and corporates alike are seeking structured financing alternatives to access liquidity and refinance capital structures, which is driving heightened demand. This trend is especially evident within our hybrid value strategy, where the deployment pace in our second vintage has been strong as well as our S3 business, where we've invested more than $1 billion of capital into equity and hybrid solutions so far this year.

對於我們的混合業務而言，部署機會也不斷擴大。發起人和企業都在尋求結構化融資替代方案，以獲取流動性和資本結構再融資，這推動了需求的成長。這一趨勢在我們的混合價值策略中尤其明顯，在該策略中，我們第二季的部署步伐強勁；在我們的S3業務中，我們今年迄今已向股權和混合解決方案投資了超過10億美元的資金。

And in private equity, we remain very busy with capital deployment activity reaching $11 billion over the last 12 months. With reductions in broad market valuations, we're seeing a wider opportunity set that fits our strategy, particularly in take privates and carve-out transactions.

在私募股權領域，我們依然非常忙碌，過去12個月的資本配置活動已達110億美元。隨著整體市場估值的下降，我們看到了更多符合我們策略的機會，尤其是在私有化和剝離交易方面。

As a leading franchise with a long-standing track record, we remain confident in our ability to source financing, deploy capital and appropriately capitalize during challenging market environments, which was recently showcased by the sizable closings of Univar and Arconic in August.

作為一家擁有長期良好業績記錄的領先特許經營企業，我們對自己在充滿挑戰的市場環境中尋找融資、部署資本和適當利用資本的能力充滿信心，這一點在 8 月份 Univar 和 Arconic 的大規模倒閉中得到了體現。

Moving to our capital raising results. We generated $33 billion of total inflows in the quarter, primarily comprised of the $13 billion of inflows from Athene and very strong third-party fundraising of $14 billion. Investor preferences have shifted in favor of credit over the past year, and we've been capturing this demand through our full product suite spanning corporate credit through total return and Apollo Debt Solutions, go anywhere opportunistic credit through Accord and Accord Plus and our newly-launched asset-backed finance franchise. All of these are important to our growth objectives in the yield business over the next 12 months and beyond, which will position us with even more dry powder for what we expect to be an attractive credit investing backdrop.

談到我們的融資業績。本季度，我們共計流入330億美元，主要包括Athene的130億美元資金流入以及強勁的140億美元第三方融資。過去一年，投資者偏好轉向信貸，我們透過全套產品來滿足這一需求，包括透過總回報和Apollo債務解決方案提供的企業信貸、透過Accord和Accord Plus提供的全方位機會信貸，以及我們新推出的資產支持融資業務。所有這些對於我們未來12個月及以後收益業務的成長目標都至關重要，這將使我們在預期具有吸引力的信貸投資背景下擁有更充足的資金。

Additionally, we spent a lot of time and resources positioning ourselves for the next wave of growth in our asset management business, which we've discussed as concentrated in six complementary areas where we believe we have a competitive edge. Fundraising for these initiatives accounted for more than 25% of total third-party capital raised in the third quarter, including capital for direct origination and multi-credit sidecars and for AAA. We also expect to hold closes for our inaugural equity secondaries and clean transition equity funds over the next couple of quarters, which are two exciting areas of expansion within our equity business. And of course, an important component of our capital raising efforts this year and going forward is everything we're building in Global Wealth. This area continues to be a steady march for us as we roll out product, expand distribution, invest in technology and continue to educate the marketplace. We believe all these components have led to a differentiated platform offering for several reasons.

此外，我們投入了大量時間和資源，為資產管理業務的下一波成長做好準備。我們之前討論過，資產管理業務集中在六個互補領域，我們認為在這些領域我們擁有競爭優勢。這些專案的融資佔第三季第三方融資總額的25%以上，其中包括直接發起、多信用側掛和AAA級信用風險投資的融資。我們也預計在未來幾季完成首批股票二級市場和清潔過渡股票基金的募集，這兩個領域是我們股票業務中兩個令人興奮的擴張領域。當然，我們今年及未來融資工作的一個重要部分是我們在全球財富領域正在建立的一切。隨著我們推出產品、擴大分銷管道、投資技術並持續引導市場，我們將繼續穩步推進這一領域。我們認為，所有這些因素促成了我們平台產品的差異化，原因如下。

First, excess return. As I mentioned earlier, our primary goal is to drive excess return per unit of risk for our clients through our tailored product suite, individual investors get to the same sourcing and underwriting resources as our institutional clients and our own balance sheet.

首先是超額收益。正如我之前提到的，我們的主要目標是透過我們量身訂製的產品套件，為客戶實現單位風險的超額收益。個人投資者可以獲得與機構客戶相同的資源和承保資源，以及我們自己的資產負債表。

Second, customization. Individual investors consume product in a different way. To meet this need, we've taken institutional-like offerings and adjusted them into structures for the retail market and, in some cases, design products specifically with the individual investor in mind. We offer seven families of perpetual products today for both U.S. and non-U.S. global wealth investors and have a handful more in the pipeline.

第二，客製化。個人投資者的產品消費方式有所不同。為了滿足這項需求，我們將類似機構投資者的產品調整為適合散戶市場的結構，在某些情況下，也會專門針對個人投資者進行設計。目前，我們為美國及美國以外的全球財富投資者提供七種永續產品系列，還有更多產品正在籌備中。

Third, education. We believe the benefits that alternatives bring to a diversified portfolio are still widely misunderstood by retail investors and are often equated with high-risk, high-fee products. To combat this mischaracterization, we've leaned in on education through Apollo Academy, which recently crossed the 1-year mark and has more than 10,000 financial professionals registered as members.

第三，教育。我們認為，另類投資為多元化投資組合帶來的好處仍然被散戶普遍誤解，並且常常被等同於高風險、高費用的產品。為了打破這種誤解，我們透過阿波羅學院開展教育。該學院成立已滿一年，擁有超過1萬名金融專業人士註冊成為會員。

And lastly, commitment. As a leadership team, we've made an internal and external commitment to this initiative, which has translated into a couple of important benefits, including allocation of resources, both organically and via M&A, and with speed to market that allowed us -- that has allowed us to grow as quickly as we have.

最後，承諾。作為領導團隊，我們對這項措施做出了內部和外部的承諾，這轉化為一些重要的好處，包括透過有機成長和併購實現的資源配置，以及快速的上市速度，這使我們能夠快速成長。

Despite all the progress we've made thus far, it's still early days, and we see a long runway of growth ahead of us in what we view as a massive addressable market. Given our emerging growth prospects relative to more mature wealth platforms, we feel confident in our ability to drive this continued growth, even if faced with a more challenging retail market backdrop.

儘管我們迄今取得了許多進展，但仍處於起步階段，我們認為在這個巨大的潛在市場中，未來還有很長的成長空間。鑑於我們相對於更成熟的財富平台而言尚處於萌芽階段的成長前景，即使面臨更具挑戰性的零售市場環境，我們也對推動這一持續成長的能力充滿信心。

Turning to Athene. Organic inflows totaled $13 billion in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date inflows to $44 billion. Retail annuity sales drove half of the quarterly activity with businesses that were under -- with business that was underwritten to very strong returns. Volume has been increasing in that channel to begin the fourth quarter with approximately $2.5 billion of annuities sold in October.

再來說說Athene。第三季有機流入總額達130億美元，年初至今流入量達440億美元。零售年金銷售佔本季銷售額的一半，其中承保業務的收益非常可觀。第四季開始，該通路的年金銷售量持續成長，10月份年金銷售量約25億美元。

In flow reinsurance, Athene is continuing to see a steady build in volumes driven by new distribution partnerships in Japan and the U.S. as well as strong volumes from existing counterparts. We expect flow reinsurance inflows to exceed $10 billion this year, implying healthy inflows again next quarter.

在流量再保險領域，Athene 的業務量持續穩定成長，這得益於日本和美國新的經銷合作夥伴以及現有合作夥伴的強勁業務量。我們預計今年流量再保​​險的流入量將超過 100 億美元，這意味著下個季度的流入量將再次保持健康。

For pension group annuities, despite the low inactivity in the third quarter, we see a solid pipeline of opportunities, including one deal that already closed in October. It's worth noting that this business now has generated $50 billion of cumulative volume since Athene entered the channel in 2017, leading the industry during that time frame. Based on the momentum we see across Athene's business, we remain on pace to generate $60 billion plus of total inflows this year.

對於退休金團體年金，儘管第三季交易活躍度較低，但我們仍看到了大量的機會，其中包括一筆已於10月完成的交易。值得注意的是，自2017年Athene進入該通路以來，該業務累計交易量已達500億美元，在此期間保持行業領先地位。鑑於Athene業務的良好勢頭，我們預計今年該業務的總流入量將超過600億美元。

So with that, I'll turn the call over to Martin to go through our financial results.

因此，我將把電話轉給馬丁來介紹我們的財務結果。

Thanks, Scott. And good morning, everyone. So as Marc previewed, we reported another very strong quarter of results as we continue to execute against the financial targets we laid out at the beginning of this year. Markets have changed quite significantly since then, marked by even higher interest rates and increased economic uncertainty, yet we've remained confident throughout 2023 in meeting or exceeding our initial financial targets for the year as further evidenced today.

謝謝，斯科特。大家早安。正如馬克之前預告的那樣，我們報告了又一個非常強勁的季度業績，我們繼續執行今年年初制定的財務目標。自那時起，市場發生了相當大的變化，利率進一步上升，經濟不確定性加劇，但我們對2023年全年保持信心，能夠達到甚至超過我們最初的年度財務目標，今天的情況得到了進一步證明。

With these results, we believe that we're beginning to gain recognition for the predictability, consistency and differentiated growth of our earnings profile anchored by our two primary earning streams: FRE and SRE.

憑藉這些結果，我們相信，我們開始獲得對我們的盈利狀況的可預測性、一致性和差異化增長的認可，這由我們的兩個主要盈利來源：FRE 和 SRE 所支撐。

I'll address five topics in my remarks today: one, earnings growth and outlook in our asset management business; two, the financial impact of the compensation awards we announced today; three, earnings growth and outlook in our Retirement Services business; four, credit performance in Athene's portfolio; and five, capital allocation priorities.

我今天的演講將涉及五個主題：一、我們的資產管理業務的盈利增長和前景；二、我們今天宣布的薪酬獎勵的財務影響；三、我們的退休服務業務的盈利增長和前景；四、雅典娜投資組合的信貸表現；五、資本配置優先事項。

Starting with our Asset Management business. Our 7% increase in quarterly FRE continued to be driven by solid revenue growth and expense discipline. Year-to-date, FRE revenues are higher by 25% against a 21% increase in FRE expenses. Our Capital Solutions business achieved a new high in the third quarter amid a robust year of growth. We're very pleased with the expansion of this business, which is on track to meet its 5-year revenue plan in just 2 years. We'll spend some time during our platform origination presentation on November 14, discussing the breadth of this business, and it's importance to our fixed income replacement strategy.

首先從我們的資產管理業務開始。我們季度固定收益（FRE）成長7%，這得益於穩健的收入成長和嚴格的支出控制。年初至今，FRE收入成長了25%，而FRE支出增加了21%。在強勁成長的一年中，我們的資本解決方案業務在第三季創下了新高。我們對該業務的擴張感到非常滿意，該業務預計將在短短兩年內實現其五年收入計劃。我們將在11月14日的平台啟動演示中，專門討論該業務的廣度及其對我們固定收益替代策略的重要性。

Specific to Fund X in the quarter, management fee growth of 5% included a $24 million catch-up for Fund X and its final close with Fund X fees in the quarter being $14 million higher than the prior quarter, considering catch-ups in both quarters.

具體到本季的基金 X，管理費增加了 5%，其中包括基金 X 的 2,400 萬美元補繳以及其最終收盤，考慮到兩個季度的補繳，本季基金 X 的費用比上一季高出 1,400 萬美元。

Our focus on scaling the asset management business is evident in our compensation costs, which were flat in the quarter and up 14% on a year-to-date basis. Underpinning this is a moderation in our headcount growth and an emphasis on building our team in India, which recently crossed 500 employees or close to 20% of our total headcount.

我們專注於擴大資產管理業務，這體現在我們的薪酬成本上。本季薪資成本持平，年初至今上漲了14%。這得益於我們放緩了員工人數的成長，並專注於在印度的團隊建設。印度員工人數近期突破500人，占我們總員工人數的近20%。

Our noncompensation costs are in their last year of sizable growth, reflecting a step-up in our investments in global real estate, technology and product distribution. Combined, this has driven strong positive operating leverage, resulting in more than 150 basis points of margin expansion year-to-date versus the prior year period. Based on our visibility into the fourth quarter, we remain confident in achieving 25% FRE growth in 2023, as previously communicated.

我們的非薪酬成本已進入大幅成長的最後一年，這反映了我們在全球房地產、科技和產品分銷領域投資的增加。這些因素共同推動了強勁的正向營運槓桿，使年初至今的利潤率較去年同期成長了超過150個基點。基於我們對第四季的展望，我們仍然有信心在2023年實現25%的FRE成長，正如我們之前所預期的那樣。

Looking ahead to 2024, we expect FRE growth between 15% and 20%, consistent with our FRE growth expectations in a year without a flagship PE fund raise. The outcome is somewhat dependent on the environment with current expectations around the middle of that range. This outlook is guided by a strong fundraising outlook, or holding more than $45 billion of uninvested capital with management fee potential. Our current plan to repeat the very successful year in Capital Solutions in 2023 and low double-digit expense growth. We anticipate a further approximate 100-basis-point improvement in our FRE margin next year as a result.

展望2024年，我們預期FRE成長率將在15%至20%之間，這與在沒有旗艦私募股權基金募集的情況下，我們對FRE成長率的預期一致。實際結果在一定程度上取決於環境，目前的預期大致處於該區間的中間位置。這項預期基於強勁的融資前景，即持有超過450億美元的未投資資本，且具有管理費潛力。我們目前的計劃是，在2023年複製資本解決方案業務的輝煌業績，並實現較低的兩位數費用成長。因此，我們預計明年的FRE利潤率將進一步提高約100個基點。

The compensation awards we announced today amount to approximately $550 million of award value at grand equating to approximately 1% of our share count and include two components: one, for senior leaders, the exchange of the majority of existing and expected future compensation in the form of FRE, SRE, carry and stock for newly issued vested stock. And two, the reallocation of those savings and the expected issuance of a modest amount of additional carry to other employees and a further exchange for FRE in stock. This exchange and reallocation is accretive in value, and we expect will create an opportunity for further reduction in our FRE compensation ratio, which we currently believe will be around 23% by 2026 before further reallocations. It will also create a reduction in stock that we expect would have otherwise been issued and will increase our cycle average PII compensation ratio to an expected range of 65% to 75%, outcomes that we believe are well aligned with shareholders, as Marc described.

我們今天宣布的薪酬獎勵總額約為5.5億美元，相當於我們股票總數的約1%，包括兩部分：第一，對於高階領導，我們將用大部分現有和預期的未來薪酬（FRE、SRE、利得和股票）換取新發行的既得股票。第二，重新分配這些節省下來的薪酬，並預計向其他員工發放少量額外利得，以及進一步用股票換取FRE。這種交換和重新分配具有增值作用，我們預計這將為進一步降低FRE薪酬比率創造機會。我們目前認為，在進一步重新分配之前，到2026年，FRE薪酬比率將在23%左右。這也將減少我們預期原本會發行的股票，並將我們週期平均PII薪酬比率提高到預期的65%至75%之間。正如Marc所述，我們認為這些結果與股東利益高度一致。

Turning to our Retirement Services business. We generated SRE of $873 million in the third quarter or 168 basis points of net spread. This included some offsetting items that when adjusted for resulted in normalized SRE being roughly in line at $879 million. In terms of balance sheet growth, net invested assets ended the quarter at $208 billion, down $6 billion versus the second quarter, reflecting the buy down by $8 of -- $7 billion of organic inflows from the first half of the year and the $3 billion transaction with Venerable, more than offsetting positive net flows within the quarter.

談到我們的退休服務業務。我們在第三季實現了8.73億美元的SRE，也就是168個基點的淨利差。這其中包括一些抵銷性項目，經過調整後，標準化SRE大致與8.79億美元持平。就資產負債表成長而言，本季末淨投資資產為2,080億美元，較第二季減少60億美元，這反映了上半年70億美元有機流入中8億美元的收購減少以及與Venerable的30億美元交易，這些交易足以抵銷本季的正淨流入。

Invested assets attributable to third-party investors in ADIP now exceed $50 billion, representing 20% of Athene's total invested assets. As third-party capital, ADIP has multiple benefits, including validating Athene's business model, providing capital support, driving greater profitability on business retained and enhancing AGM's overall group capital efficiency. We expect to close out 2023 with a normalized SRE growth rate exceeding 30%, reflecting our expectations for strong organic inflows in the fourth quarter, a lower core outflow rate, ADIP growth participation and a normalized net spread of approximately 165 basis points in the fourth quarter.

歸屬於第三方投資者的ADIP投資資產現已超過500億美元，佔Athene總投資資產的20%。作為第三方資本，ADIP具有多重優勢，包括驗證Athene的商業模式、提供資本支持、提升留存業務的獲利能力以及提升AGM集團的整體資本效率。我們預計2023年末的正常化SRE成長率將超過30%，這反映了我們對第四季度強勁的有機流入、較低的核心流出率、ADIP成長參與度以及第四季度約165個基點的正常化淨利差的預期。

As you are aware from comments we made when we issued the mandatory convertible preferred stock in August and as evidenced by our retirement services business exceeding its 5-year earnings target in 2 years, we have benefited both from meaningfully higher volume growth and asset returns. It is imprudent to budget the continuation of that growth rate.

如您所知，從我們8月份發行強制性可轉換優先股時的評論以及我們退休服務業務在兩年內超額完成五年盈利目標的業績來看，我們受益於顯著更高的銷量增長和資產回報。因此，預測這種成長率的持續性是不明智的。

Having said that, we continue to expect low double-digit normalized SRE growth in 2024 after adjusting for the ADIP buy down and Venerable recapture driven by: one, continued scaling of asset growth due to an abundance of organic growth opportunities across our four business channels. Cumulatively, we expect that to be at least $70 billion in 2024.

話雖如此，我們仍然預計，在調整了 ADIP 收購和 Venerable 資產收回的影響後，2024 年 SRE 的正常化增長率仍將保持在兩位數左右，主要原因是：第一，由於我們四大業務渠道擁有豐富的有機增長機會，資產增長將持續擴大。我們預計，到 2024 年，SRE 的累積規模將至少達到 700 億美元。

Two, funding this growth with existing capital resources, including third-party ADIP capital; and three, on spreads, expected normalized net spreads of around 165 basis points for the year assuming the current forward curve. And as a reminder, higher rates benefit our floating rate assets and achievable return on our underlying capital. Athene supports every dollar of liability growth with approximately $0.08 to $0.10 of capital, which we invest alongside the dollars of cash taken in from policyholders. So while Athene continues to underwrite new business to historical targets of around 115 basis points or better at the product level, beyond the margin SRE spread is much higher in the current environment, closer to 170 basis points year-to-date.

二、利用現有資本資源（包括第三方ADIP資本）為此成長提供資金；三、利差方面，假設當前遠期利率曲線，預計今年的正常化淨利差約為165個基點。需要提醒的是，更高的利率有利於我們的浮動利率資產和基礎資本的可實現回報。 Athene以約0.08美元至0.10美元的資本支持每一美元的負債增長，這些資本我們會與從保單持有人處獲得的現金一起進行投資。因此，雖然Athene繼續以產品層面約115個基點或更高的歷史目標承保新業務，但在當前環境下，超出保證金的SRE利差要高得多，年初至今已接近170個基點。

As it relates to our credit quality, Athene's portfolio continues to be in a very strong position. Total impairments over the last 12 months have amounted to just 13 basis points, close to Athene's long-term average. Athene's investment portfolio is concentrated in high-quality senior secured assets with an approximate 95% allocation to fixed income, of which 95% also is rated investment grade. It's noteworthy that Athene's credit losses have been disproportionately concentrated in investment-grade corporate bonds purchased in the market as opposed to private investment-grade credit that we originate, underscoring our confidence in the credit quality of originated credit. We believe that Athene has the most transparent financial disclosure amongst its peers. And in line with that philosophy, Athene began publishing historical credit losses in their fixed income investor presentation last quarter, which will be updated in conjunction with our next call, next week on November 9.

就我們的信用品質而言，Athene 的投資組合持續保持強勁。過去 12 個月的總減損僅為 13 個基點，接近 Athene 的長期平均值。 Athene 的投資組合集中於高品質的優先擔保資產，其中約 95% 的配置為固定收益，其中 95% 也獲得了投資等級評級。值得注意的是，Athene 的信用損失主要集中在市場上購買的投資等級公司債，而非我們發行的私人投資等級信貸，凸顯了我們對發行信貸品質的信心。我們認為，Athene 的財務揭露在同業中最為透明。秉承這一理念，Athene 已於上個季度在其固定收益投資者報告中公佈歷史信用損失，並將於下週 11 月 9 日的下一次電話會議中更新。

As it relates to capital allocation, the construct we laid out 2 years ago at our Investor Day remains largely intact with delays in exiting private equity investments impacting the timing but not the expected quantum of carry to be generated. Meanwhile, Athene has been maintaining its consistent dividend up to the holding company in a significantly more attractive growth backdrop amid rising rates. To support this, we've increased participation from ADIP and issued the mandatory convertible preferred stock in August, the proceeds of which were downstreamed to Athene.

就資本配置而言，我們兩年前在投資者日制定的方案基本上保持不變，私募股權投資退出的延遲會影響收益的時機，但不會影響預期的收益金額。同時，在利率上升、成長前景顯著更具吸引力的背景下，Athene 一直保持著向控股公司持續派息的態勢。為了支持這一點，我們增加了 ADIP 的參與度，並於 8 月發行了強制性可轉換優先股，其收益已轉至 Athene。

At the same time, the sheer number of organic growth opportunities at the asset manager and a targeted 20% return on group capital by growing Athene has resulted in little need to invest in the business through M&A.

同時，資產管理公司擁有大量的有機成長機會，並且透過發展 Athene 實現了集團資本 20% 的目標回報率，因此幾乎不需要透過併購來投資該業務。

Balancing all these dynamics, we expect to continue immunizing all regular way equity-based compensation when it's issued, and we expect to immunize both the dilutive impacts of the mandatory convertible preferred and the vested stock awards we announced today over the next few years as capital is available, targeting a share count of 600 million shares outstanding. We anticipate additional capacity within our current 5-year plan but back ended to consider opportunistic for share repurchase in addition to. And with that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

綜合考慮所有這些因素，我們預計在發行所有常規股權激勵時，將繼續對其免疫，並且我們預計在未來幾年內，隨著資本到位，我們將免疫今天宣布的強制性可轉換優先股和既得股票獎勵的稀釋性影響，目標是將流通股數達到6億股。我們預計在目前的五年計畫內將增加產能，但同時也會考慮股票回購的機會。至此，我將把電話轉回給接線生進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today is coming from Patrick Davitt of Autonomous Research.

（操作員指示）我們今天的第一個問題來自自主研究的派崔克‧戴維特。

I know early days, but could you address your view of the potential risks to your business from the new DOL rule published yesterday? And within that remind us, if at all, how dependent Athene is on distributors that might be charging the "junk fees" they're talking about?

我知道現在還為時過早，但您能否談談昨天發布的勞工部新規對您的業務可能帶來的風險？此外，請您提醒我們，Athene 對那些可能收取他們所說的「垃圾費」的經銷商的依賴程度如何？

Okay. Thanks, Patrick. It's Marc. So this -- what came out yesterday is not much different than what the industry saw 7 years ago. 7 years ago, we and the rest of the industry prepared and actually made changes, extensive changes, to how products and fees and features were disclosed. And so truthfully, not much new.

好的。謝謝帕特里克。我是馬克。所以，昨天發布的內容與七年前產業所見並無太大差異。七年前，我們和業內其他公司都做好了準備，並實際上對產品、費用和功能的揭露方式進行了廣泛的修改。所以說實話，並沒有太多新內容。

In terms of your question on exposure of the business, about 10% of our business is through wholesalers. Another 10% is also to accounts, but it's through banks that would have a very easy time adjusting to this because they essentially already charge that way anyway. So specifically, roughly 10% of the business is focused and not really worked up about it. This is where we were prepared to be 7 years ago, and I think we're still a ways away from a final rule here anyway.

關於你關於業務曝光度的問題，我們大約10%的業務是透過批發商進行的。另外10%也來自帳戶，但這些是透過銀行進行的，銀行很容易適應這種模式，因為銀行基本上已經以這種方式收費了。所以具體來說，大約10%的業務是專注於此，並沒有真正為此感到興奮。這是我們7年前就做好準備的，我認為我們距離最終規則還有很長的路要走。

The next question is coming from Glenn Schorr of Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Glenn Schorr。

I wonder if we could just revisit two things that you said. You gave us good guidance or thought process on next year. So the $70 billion for next year. I'm curious if you could talk about that shift that we saw in the quarter. Inflows into Athene were low because the shift over to ADIP. What should we expect of that $70 billion next year? Should we -- and should we even be focused on it? Because I think in line with this DOL question, I think there's this notion that the retail flows are "higher quality" and some of the other funding agreements are stop gaps. But I wonder if you could talk to the quality of the four channels and if you debunk any of that and how we should think about that shift going forward.

我想我們能否再談一下您提到的兩件事。您就明年的資金規模給了很好的指導或思路。也就是明年700億美元的規模。我很好奇您能否談談我們在本季看到的這種轉變。由於資金轉向了ADIP，流入Athene的資金量較低。我們對明年這700億美元的預期如何？我們應該——甚至應該關注它嗎？因為我認為，與勞工部（DOL）的問題一致，我認為存在這樣一種觀點，即零售資金流“質量更高”，而其他一些融資協議只是權宜之計。但我想您能否談談這四個管道的質量，您是否駁斥了其中任何一個觀點，以及我們應該如何看待未來的這種轉變。

So Glenn, it's Marc. So we've been watching this for the last 14 years. Fundamentally, there is no difference in the quality of any of these four channels. We run a business around cost of funds. Sometimes various channels are attractive, sometimes other channels are attractive. What we're seeing is there is a fundamental demand, not just in the U.S., but everywhere in the world, for guaranteed income. People need retirement solutions. If you look at the vast pools of capital in the U.S., for instance, in 401(k), where there's $8 billion to $10 trillion, we force people who need returns the most to be daily liquid for 50 years. What we're doing as a country makes little sense.

格倫，我是馬克。我們過去14年一直在關注這個問題。從根本上說，這四個管道的品質沒有區別。我們經營業務的核心是資金成本。有時各種管道都有吸引力，有時其他管道更有吸引力。我們看到的是，不僅在美國，而且在世界各地，對有保障的收入都有根本的需求。人們需要退休解決方案。如果你看看美國龐大的資金池，例如401(k)，裡面有80億到10兆美元，我們強迫最需要回報的人在50年裡每天都保持流動性。作為一個國家，我們現在的做法毫無意義。

And consumers know that. And so what they've done as soon as they have access to their funds, increasingly, they are in higher rate environments seeking out guaranteed lifetime income. The demand we're seeing on annuities, either directly or through reinsurance, is fundamental. Reinsurance, again, no different to us than direct business other than it tends to be in markets or in market segments we don't serve or don't serve yet. So I don't view there is any difference one way or the other in the way these things go.

消費者也深知這一點。因此，一旦他們能夠動用資金，他們就會越來越多地在高利率環境下尋求有保障的終身收入。我們看到，無論是直接年金或透過再保險，對年金的需求都十分巨大。再保險對我們來說，與直接年金業務並無二致，只是它往往出現在我們目前尚未服務或尚未涉足的市場或細分市場。所以，我認為這些業務的發展方式並沒有什麼不同。

As it relates to the broader question, we have a choice. We have a choice of the capital intensity of our business. If we want to be more capital-intensive, we put up $0.08 to $0.10 of every dollar, and we retain a 100% of the business. If we do that, SRE grows faster because we're retaining more business. And it grows faster because we tend to earn 15% year in and year out on the capital that we put up. Really good option. We have, as you know, made a business decision that on the margin, we tend to fund around 1/3 between 30% and 40%, depending on the mix of business and the regulatory source of the business of every new deal, which means that we put up 30% to 40% of that 8% to 10%, and that will alter the SRE growth.

就更廣泛的問題而言，我們有一個選擇。我們可以選擇業務的資本密集度。如果我們想要提高資本密集度，我們可以投入每一美元中的0.08到0.10美元，並保留100%的業務。如果我們這樣做，SRE的成長速度會更快，因為我​​們保留了更多的業務。它成長更快是因為我們往往每年都能從投入的資本中獲得15%的收益。這確實是個不錯的選擇。如你所知，我們做出了一個商業決策，在利潤率方面，我們傾向於為每筆新交易提供大約1/3的資金，也就是30%到40%之間的資金，具體取決於業務組合和每筆新交易的監管來源。這意味著，我們會投入8%到10%中的30%到40%，這將改變SRE的成長。

I think what we've said to you over the long term is that we expect the Retirement Services business to be a low, mid double-digit rate of return grower. At every quarter, Jim Belardi, Grant Kvalheim and team are embarrassing us. And this year, as you know, it's up 30%. What we're seeing this year is what Martin detailed, not only are we seeing fundamental demand for guaranteed income, which is driven by secular trends like you and I are getting older. But we're also seeing widening spread. We are reluctant to budget. Increased spread of 160, 175 basis points, which is 30 to 50 basis points above what Athene has done historically. But if we continue to see the scale of debanking in the investment-grade segment of the market, I think we will continue to put up spread, but that's the kind of spreads we are. But that's not how we budget, and that's not how we telegraph where we think we're going. We think the prudent thing is to budget the way we have historically and let the performance speak for itself.

我認為我們已經告訴過你們，長期來看，我們預計退休服務業務的回報率將保持低至兩位數的中低成長。 Jim Belardi、Grant Kvalheim 和團隊每季的表現都讓我們感到尷尬。而今年，正如你們所知，它成長了 30%。正如 Martin 所詳述的，我們今年看到的不僅是對有保障收入的基本需求，這種需求是由像你我都在變老這樣的長期趨勢所驅動的。而且，我們也看到利差不斷擴大。我們不願做預算。利差擴大了 160 到 175 個基點，比 Athene 的歷史水準高出 30 到 50 個基點。但如果我們繼續看到投資等級市場中銀行業務的大規模去銀行化，我認為我們將繼續提高利差，但我們現在的利差就是這樣的。但這不是我們做預算的方式，也不是我們傳達未來發展方向的方式。我們認為謹慎的做法是按照我們過去的方式製定預算，並讓業績來說明一切。

The next question is coming from Michael Brown of KBW.

下一個問題來自 KBW 的邁克爾布朗。

So I appreciate the commentary on the net spreads within Athene. I guess one thing I was trying to think through is the higher short-term rates have been a meaningful tailwind for the earnings on the floating rate asset side. As we perhaps get closer to the end of the Fed's rate hiking campaigns, are you thinking about taking any actions there to reduce that downside risk if short-term rates do start to come down?

我很欣賞您對Athene淨利差的評論。我想思考的一件事是，較高的短期利率對浮動利率資產的收益產生了顯著的推動作用。隨著聯準會升息行動接近尾聲，如果短期利率真的開始下降，您是否考慮採取一些措施來降低下行風險？

So we are plus/minus $30 billion of net floating rate assets. If you look at the growth of the business over the next 2 or 3 years and you consider the mix of our liabilities, we will want to be 2, 3 years from now, $30 billion of net floating rate assets. Having said that, we probably are relative to our liability position, $10 billion to $15 billion excess floating rate assets over what we would want to or consider a long-term prudent position. You should expect that we will take action over the near term to reduce the short-term mismatch reflecting that, and that's factored into everything that we've discussed with you today.

因此，我們的淨浮動利率資產目前正負300億美元。如果考慮到未來兩三年的業務成長，並考慮我們的負債結構，我們希望兩三年後，我們的淨浮動利率資產達到300億美元。話雖如此，相對於我們的負債狀況，我們的浮動利率資產可能比我們預期或認為的長期審慎部位高出100億至150億美元。您應該預料到，我們會在短期內採取行動，以減少短期錯配，從而反映這一點，這一點已納入我們今天與您討論的所有內容中。

The next question is coming from Alex Blostein of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的亞歷克斯·布洛斯坦。

I was hoping we could dig in a little bit more into some of the retail products you mentioned, which we seem to have pretty good momentum here in the quarter. In particular, AAA, I know the product is a bit complicated. So maybe give us sort of a breakdown of composition across various channels and sort of you paying AUM between kind of third party and Athene as well as how the kind of gross sales conversations are unfolding on that side of the channel.

我希望我們能更深入地探討您提到的一些零售產品，這些產品在本季度似乎發展勢頭良好。特別是AAA產品，我知道這個產品有點複雜。所以，能否請您提供各個管道的組成情況，以及您在第三方和Athene之間支付的資產管理規模（AUM），以及在通路端，總銷售額的對話進展如何。

Sure, sure. So on the AAA side, we've been actually very pleased at how sales are progressing there. So we had our best quarter yet, a little over $700 million in the last quarter for AAA. So week by week, month by month, we are getting AAA onto more selling platforms, more sales agreements. So progress is good there on the retail side. We expect this to continue to grow up.

當然，當然。所以在AAA方面，我們對銷售進展非常滿意。我們經歷了迄今為止最好的一個季度，上個季度AAA銷售額略高於7億美元。我們每週、每月都在將AAA產品引進更多銷售平台，簽訂更多銷售協議。所以零售方面進展良好。我們預計這將繼續增長。

As you know, the retail business is all about getting on to more platforms, more bankers, more selling agreements. And for not only AAA, but all our products, ADS, ARIS, this is how we are progressing. This is why in my prepared comments, I just talked about, we're in -- we're finishing up year 2 of our global well focus, and we just see so much more positive momentum as we get these selling agreements signed up in place, product by product, area by area, region by region, just huge opportunities. So really positive momentum across all the products we have in market right now. Like I said earlier, we have 7 product families, out there right now. We have a few more coming in 2024. We're at that point where we feel like we'll have a fairly complete lineup across the asset classes. And so yes, good progress.

眾所周知，零售業務的關鍵在於接觸更多平台、更多銀行、更多銷售協議。不只是AAA級產品，我們所有的產品，包括ADS（股票存託憑證）和ARIS（股票衍生品投資），都在朝著這個方向發展。正因如此，我剛才在準備好的評論中提到，我們正處於全球油井業務的第二年，隨著我們簽署銷售協議，我們看到了更加積極的勢頭，每個產品、每個地區、每個區域都蘊藏著巨大的機會。因此，我們目前在市場上銷售的所有產品都呈現出積極的勢頭。就像我之前說的，我們目前有7個產品系列。 2024年還會推出更多產品。我們目前感覺，我們將擁有一個涵蓋所有資產類別的相當完整的產品線。所以，是的，進展良好。

So I'm just going to leave you with this following sense, Alex. What we're trying to do here is similar to what we're doing in the rest of the business. As you know, I've said publicly, certainly, for high net worth families, family offices, I think they will be 50% plus alternatives over the next 5 years, and we're seeing that kind of uptake in traction.

所以，亞歷克斯，我只想跟你分享以下幾點。我們在這裡嘗試做的事情與我們在其他業務領域所做的類似。如你所知，我曾公開表示，對於高淨值家庭來說，我認為未來5年，家族辦公室的替代性投資比例將達到50%以上，而且我們也看到了這種成長勢頭。

The difference between where we are and where I think we're going to be is only education. When we say we're on a platform, one of the big private banks, it may be 5% or 10% of the financial advisers. This is an education, an evangelical activity with more and more converts every day.

我們現在的處境和我認為的未來處境之間的差異僅在於教育。當我們說我們在一個平台上，例如一家大型私人銀行，它可能會吸引5%或10%的理財顧問。這是一種教育，一種傳福音活動，每天都會有越來越多的人皈依。

And so if you take AAA, and I know you premised your question as a complex product, I'll make it an easier product. You can buy the S&P 500 at a 50 PE or you could buy roughly the same historical return at a much higher sharp ratio and give up liquidity. That is the choice we're actually seeing investors make. And while private markets are something that many on this call and we are very familiar with, the vast majority of investors, thinking back over the 40 years, they've been doing just fine owning the S&P and the 30-year treasury.

所以，如果你選擇AAA，我知道你提出的問題本身就很複雜，我會把它簡化成一個更簡單的產品。你可以以50倍的本益比購買標普500指數，也可以以更高的夏普比率購買歷史報酬率大致相同的指數，並放棄流動性。這正是我們實際看到的投資者所做的選擇。雖然私募市場是本次電話會議中的許多人以及我們都非常熟悉的領域，但絕大多數投資者回顧過去40年，持有標普500指數和30年期美國國債的收益都很好。

And my point of starting where I started is I don't think with the absence of tailwinds, people are going to get the same performance. I don't think what I'm saying is all that controversial. We're now just in a period of education where people consider, what does the market look like? How do I invest without tailwinds? What does it mean that public markets are less liquid on the way down? What does it mean to have debanking? And what does it mean to have indexation and concentration?

我之所以要從頭說起，是因為我認為如果沒有順風，人們就不會得到同樣的表現。我認為我的觀點並沒有太大爭議。我們現在正處於一個教育階段，人們會思考：市場是什麼樣子？沒有順風，我該如何投資？公開市場在下行過程中流動性下降意味著什麼？去銀行化意味著什麼？指數化和集中化意味著什麼？

I believe when you look forward at asset management more generally over the next 5 years, I think you're going to see an asset management industry that is continuing to grow in its passive strategies. I think you will see boutiques who offer access to uncorrelated returns or at least nonmarket correlated returns, such as ourselves and others grow. I think the tougher part of our industry, which you're already seeing, is active management. Harder and harder for active managers to produce good returns, certainly in fixed income. I question whether there's any alpha left in publicly-traded fixed income markets. And given indexation and concentration, I think it's very, very difficult in equity markets.

我相信，當你展望未來五年資產管理的整體情況時，你會看到資產管理產業在被動策略方面持續成長。你會看到像我們和其他公司這樣提供非相關回報或至少非市場相關回報的精品投資公司不斷壯大。我認為我們這個行業中比較難的部分，正如你已經看到的，是主動管理。主動管理者越來越難以獲得良好的回報，尤其是在固定收益領域。我懷疑公開交易的固定收益市場是否仍有阿爾法收益。考慮到指數化和集中度，我認為在股票市場上實現這一目標非常非常困難。

And so I like where we sit. I like our hand of cards. It does not mean, again, we're going to be the biggest or the fastest growing. In the retail market, we want to be thought of as prudent and creative growing our footprint every quarter, but not spiking it. Taking too much money at a point in time to chase a hot strategy just makes no sense. It ultimately produces concentration risk, which some of our peers have seen by taking too much money at a point in time. Slow and steady, constant build is what we're seeking to do.

所以我喜歡我們現在的現狀。我喜歡我們手中的牌。這並不意味著我們會成為規模最大或成長最快的公司。在零售市場，我們希望被視為審慎且富有創意的公司，每季都擴大業務範圍，但不要急於求成。為了追逐熱門策略而一次性投入過多資金是沒有意義的。這最終會帶來集中風險，我們的一些同業就曾因一次性投入過多資金而遭遇這種風險。我們尋求的是穩紮穩打、持續發展。

The next question is coming from Michael Cyprys from Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Michael Cyprys。

Just wanted to circle back to your commentary, Marc, on the DOL proposed rule. I was hoping you might be able to just elaborate a little bit on what aspects of the rule you find most troublesome for the business? And then what specific actions to products and features can be taken to address the rule? And then I think you mentioned about 10% of the business may be most impacted. I think it was in the wholesale channel. But what are other levers that you might be able to pull such as maybe altering the distribution strategy and maybe even thinking about going direct because it doesn't change the overall demand side to your earlier point that retail investors still have a demand for income?

馬克，我想回到你對勞工部擬議規則的評論。希望你能稍微解釋一下，你認為該規則的哪些方面對企業最麻煩？然後，可以針對產品和功能採取哪些具體措施來應對該規則？你提到大約10%的業務可能受到的影響最大。我認為是在批發通路。但是，你還可以採取哪些其他措施呢？例如改變分銷策略，甚至可以考慮直銷，因為這不會改變整體需求，就像你之前提到的，散戶仍然有收入需求。

So look, it starts with investor demand for guaranteed lifetime income or guaranteed income is going up, and I think investors will ultimately seek out places to do that. Historically, products like annuities have been very complicated because they offer a variety of options and other things. And therefore, they have had more of a complex sell. Therefore, you have needed advice and that advice has therefore a more expensive distribution than something you can buy off the shelf.

所以，首先，投資者對終身保證收入或保證收入的需求正在上升，我認為投資者最終會尋找實現這一目標的管道。從歷史上看，像年金這樣的產品非常複雜，因為它們提供各種各樣的選擇和其他東西。因此，它們的銷售方式也更加複雜。因此，你需要建議，而這些建議的分銷成本比你買現成的東西要高。

I remain skeptical on direct distribution, but I also see the proliferation of distribution. Increasingly, financial products like guaranteed income are being sold through the banking system, are being sold through RIAs. And if you focus in on the specific issue, these are not issues of disclosure. They are actually not issues of product features. We and many in our industry have already made the changes going back 7 years because that was just best practice. I think there will be more pressure on fee. That clearly is what it's at. And we can have both sides of that. I'm not going to say it's good or bad, but I've watched in other places around the world where the focus has been on fee.

我仍然對直接分銷持懷疑態度，但我也看到分銷模式的蓬勃發展。越來越多的金融產品，例如保證收入型產品，透過銀行系統和註冊投資機構 (RIA) 銷售。如果你關注具體問題，你會發現這些並非資訊揭露問題，實際上也並非產品特性問題。我們以及業內許多人早在七年前就已做出改變，因為那是最佳實踐。我認為費用壓力會更大。這顯然是問題所在。我們可以兼顧兩者。我不會說這是好是壞，但我觀察到世界其他地方也關注費用問題。

Take Australia. You have the biggest or the best retirement system anywhere in the world, $3.5 trillion for 28 million of population. Well, they have a big problem there. They actually legislated out all the fees. So now there's no advice. No one provides advice. And so at 65 when people get their big lump-sum distribution from the superannuation product, they don't know what to do with it. And people are dying with between 35% and 40% of their retirement income intact. The government doesn't like that because there's been no advice on what I'll call decumulation. How do you set yourself up to live through however long you're going to live given the increasing lifespans?

以澳洲為例。你們擁有全世界最大、最好的退休制度，2,800萬人口卻擁有3.5兆美元的退休金。然而，他們卻面臨一個大問題。他們實際上通過立法取消了所有費用。所以現在沒有任何建議。沒有人提供建議。因此，當人們到了65歲，從退休金產品中一次性領取一大筆錢時，他們卻不知道該怎麼花。人們臨終時，退休收入的35%到40%都還完好無損。政府不喜歡這種情況，因為政府沒有提供任何關於我稱之為「退休金減量」（decumulation）的建議。考慮到壽命的延長，你該如何度過餘生？

Eventually, I believe we're going to come to a sensible place. That may be lower fee in distribution, truthfully, bother me in the slightest bit. Small piece of the business, I don't think this is going to result in fundamental changes in distribution. I think it may change how product is priced, and that's okay.

最終，我相信我們會找到一個合理的解決方案。這可能會導致分銷費用降低，說實話，這有點讓我擔心。這只佔業務的一小部分，我認為這不會導致分銷方式發生根本性變化。我認為這可能會改變產品的定價方式，這也沒關係。

The next question is coming from Brian Bedell of Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Brian Bedell。

Maybe just to zoom in, Martin, on the FRE guidance, the 15% to 20% next year. For the higher end of that or getting closer to the higher end of that, would it be capital markets or capital solutions fees as the biggest swing factor? And then if you could just comment on the trajectory of that, definitely certainly much better again this year than last year. And I think you're -- maybe you could just confirm, I think your guidance was for flat solutions fees baked into that 15% to 20%. So maybe the trajectory of that and what drivers would increase the solutions fees a little bit faster.

馬丁，我想詳細談談FRE的指導，明年是15%到20%。對於這個數字的上限，或者說接近上限，最大的影響因素是資本市場還是資本解決方案費用？然後，如果您能評論一下這個數字的走勢，那麼今年肯定會比去年好得多。我想您—也許您可以確認一下，我認為您的指導是將固定的解決方案費用納入15%到20%的區間。所以，這個數字的走勢以及哪些驅動因素會導致解決方案費用的成長速度更快一些？

Great, Brian. So what I said is our sort of current best estimate, obviously. And so we're focused on all the fundraising initiatives that Scott raised. The -- putting money to work in an environment which we think is conducive to our investing orientation and then continuing to build out the capital solutions business. And so any -- we've made assumptions around each of the three of them. Any of them could be a plus or minus to the guidance I gave, and so we'll talk more about capital solutions on the 14th. That's one of the objectives of the day, to connect that back to the origination strategy and our fixed income origination and distribution focus.

太好了，布萊恩。我說的顯然是我們目前的最佳估計。因此，我們專注於斯科特提出的所有融資計劃。將資金投入我們認為有利於我們投資方向的環境中，然後繼續拓展資本解決方案業務。因此，我們對這三個計劃中的每一個都做出了假設。其中任何一個都可能對我給予的指導產生影響，也可能產生負面影響，所以我們會在14日更多地討論資本解決方案。這是今天的目標之一，將其與發起策略以及我們的固定收益發起和分配重點聯繫起來。

But yes, in the comments I made, we are assuming it's flat. Is there upside? Potentially. But it's -- we're really, really happy with the growth of the business. A 5-year plan in 2 years is pretty heroic, and so we're focused on building out that business further and repeating the success we've had, so with the primary emphasis on credit and then building it out to other -- to coinvest over time.

但是，是的，在我之前的評論中，我們假設它是持平的。有上漲空間嗎？有可能。但是——我們對業務的成長非常非常滿意。在兩年內完成五年計劃相當了不起，所以我們專注於進一步拓展這項業務，複製我們曾經取得的成功，所以主要重點是信貸，然後逐步擴展到其他——共同投資。

The next question is coming from Brennan Hawken of UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的布倫南·霍肯。

Sorry if this is a bit remedial, but cost of funds came down quarter-over-quarter. I don't know of another company in financial services where cost of funds came down. So could you maybe speak to what drove the lower cost of funds, whether or not there was any onetime items and how sustainable that is?

抱歉，這有點補救措施，但資金成本比上季下降了。我不知道金融服務業還有哪家公司的資金成本下降了。所以，能否談談資金成本下降的原因是什麼？是否有任何一次性項目？以及這種下降的可持續性如何？

Yes, we had -- so you need to look at the normalized net spread. That's why we try to focus on the net of the two. There was a benefit in cost of funds for the quarter that we telegraphed last quarter related to the Venerable reinsurance transaction. And so that impacted cost of funds, which we then normalized out in the net spread. So I would look at the 165 basis points as the guide is our current best view. And it takes account of things like that, the [ACRA] buy down during the quarter, which are sort of episodic but not recurring.

是的，我們確實有——所以你需要看看標準化的淨利差。這就是為什麼我們試圖關注兩者的淨值。上個季度，我們公佈了與Venerable再保險交易相關的資金成本收益。這影響了資金成本，然後我們在淨利差中將其標準化。因此，我會將165個基點作為指導，這是我們目前的最佳觀點。它考慮了諸如[ACRA]本季的買入之類的因素，這些因素是偶發性的，但不會重複發生。

But I'm going to use this to make a point, which I've made previously. When you originate new product, you originate product that is protected by surrender charge, market value adjustment; or in the case of PRT, is fully locked in. You should, therefore, be willing to have a higher cost of funds for a fully-protected product because you can invest against it. It gives you longevity. It gives you certainty.

但我打算用這一點來強調我之前已經說過的觀點。當你發行新產品時，你發行的產品會受到退保費、市場價值調整的保護；或者像PRT那樣，是完全鎖定的。因此，你應該願意為一個完全受保護的產品支付更高的資金成本，因為你可以用它來投資。它能讓你擁有更長的壽命，給你確定性。

We have four different channels, and we look at each of the four channels on a regular basis, and we try to keep our cost of funds low because if we know if we have a low cost of funds, if we're not good investors, we can earn spread. And if we're good investors, we can earn a lot of spread.

我們有四個不同的管道，我們會定期關注這四個管道，並努力保持較低的資金成本。因為我們知道，如果我們的資金成本較低，即使我們不是優秀的投資者，我們也能賺取利差。而如果我們是優秀的投資者，我們就能賺取豐厚的利差。

What's happened in our market is you now have a number of entities who have seen what we have built and are late to the game. The way they intend to get into this business or trying to get into the business is to buy back books of business. Buying a back book of business with degraded surrender charge and degraded market value adjustments in a low rate environment may be sensible because in a low rate environment, the contract rate is above the rate in the market, therefore, you expect the book to behave predictably.

我們市場的情況是，現在有許多實體看到了我們所建構的成果，但遲遲沒有進入這個領域。他們打算進入這個行業，或者試圖進入這個行業的方式是回購業務帳簿。在低利率環境下，回購退保費和市值調整都降低的業務帳簿或許是明智之舉，因為在低利率環境下，合約利率高於市場利率，因此，你可以預期帳簿的表現會比較可預測。

But in the market we're in right now, for someone to buy a secondary book of business and pay for a cost of funds in excess of that of retail kind of tells you all you need to know about the quality of the business that people are buying. And I encourage you to push as hard on cost of funds across the board. It ultimately simplifies what is a very complex business. We're in the spread business. Having a low cost of funds is really important.

但在我們目前的市場環境下，如果有人購買二級市場業務，並支付高於零售業務的資金成本，這多少就說明了人們所購買業務的品質。我鼓勵大家在資金成本方面加大力度。這最終簡化了原本非常複雜的業務。我們從事的是利差業務。低資金成本非常重要。

The next question is coming from Ben Budish of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的本‧布迪什 (Ben Budish)。

I wanted to ask about the alt return of the Athene business. It's been below the sort of normalized 11% for several quarters. Anything in particular to call out there? I know we always spend some time trying to triangulate what it might look like, and there's many kind of components to that. And any color on sort of the key drivers over the past year or so? And what do you think might get that back to sort of the normalized expectation going forward?

我想問Athene業務的另類投資報酬率（alt return）。它已經連續幾季低於11%的正常化水準了。有什麼特別需要注意的嗎？我知道我們總是會花一些時間去分析它的未來方向，這其中有許多因素。您能具體談談過去一年左右的關鍵驅動因素嗎？您認為未來什麼因素可能會讓它回到正常化的預期水準？

Sure. The -- as you know, the alt portfolio is made up of 150 different positions. About half of which relates to our origination platforms. About 1/3 -- the remaining quarter is about funds and other, I would say, hybrid-type products. And then the last quarter would be other bespoke and direct investments.

當然。如你所知，另類投資投資組合由150個不同的部位組成。其中大約一半與我們的發起平台有關。剩下的四分之一約佔三分之一，涉及基金和其他混合型產品。最後一個季度是其他客製化投資和直接投資。

Overall, we still look at that portfolio as being, call it, 12% plus. The last couple of quarters, given the environment, there's been a little bit of slower appreciation as you've just seen in the broader market. But really no fundamental concerns there about what's in that. The -- as we've always said, that portfolio will sort of deliver you 8 in a really bad year, 18 in a really good year and 12 to 15 expected and we see nothing deviating from that.

整體而言，我們仍然認為該投資組合的收益率在12%以上。過去幾個季度，考慮到當前的環境，正如大家剛才在大盤中看到的那樣，升值速度略有放緩。但實際上，對於其中的因素，並沒有​​根本性的擔憂。正如我們一直所說的，該投資組合在非常糟糕的年份能帶來8%的收益，在非常好的年份能帶來18%的收益，預期能帶來12%到15%的收益，我們認為不會有任何偏離。

Thank you. This brings us to the end of the question-and-answer session. I will turn it back over to Mr. Gunn for closing comments.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。我將把時間交還給岡恩先生，請他發表最後評論。

Great. Thanks for your help this morning, Donna, and thanks again, everyone, for joining the call. Just a couple of reminders. We would encourage you to participate in Athene's Fixed Income Investor Call next Thursday, November 9; and then our Origination Deep Dive that we mentioned on November 14. If you have any questions regarding anything discussed on today's call, as usual, please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for your time.

太好了！唐娜，謝謝你今天早上的幫助，也再次感謝大家參加電話會議。還有幾點提醒。我們鼓勵您參加下週四（11月9日）Athene的固定收益投資者電話會議；以及我們之前提到的11月14日的「債券發行深度探討」。如果您對今天電話會議中討論的內容有任何疑問，請像往常一樣隨時與我們聯繫。感謝您抽出時間。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines or log off the webcast at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.

女士們，先生們，今天的活動到此結束。您可以掛斷電話或退出網路直播，享受剩餘的一天。