Ares Management Corp (ARES) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ares Management Corporation's second quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Also, today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

大家早安，歡迎參加阿瑞斯管理公司第二季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）此外，今天的通話正在錄音。（操作員說明）

And now at this time, I would like to turn things over to Mr. Greg Mason, Co-Head of Public Markets, Investor Relations for Ares Management. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將此事交給 Ares Management 投資者關係公開市場聯席主管 Greg Mason 先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning and thank you for joining us today for our second quarter conference call. Speaking on the call today will be Michael Arougheti, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jarrod Phillips, our Chief Financial Officer. We also have several executives with us today who will be available during the Q&A session.

早安，感謝您今天參加我們的第二季電話會議。我們的執行長 Michael Arougheti 和財務長 Jarrod Phillips 將在今天的電話會議上發言。今天我們還有幾位主管，他們將出席問答環節。

Before we begin, I want to remind you that comments made during this call contain forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those identified in our risk factors in our SEC filings. Our actual results could differ materially, and we undertake no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議中發表的評論包含前瞻性陳述，並受到風險和不確定性的影響，包括我們在 SEC 備案文件中確定的風險因素。我們的實際結果可能存在重大差異，我們不承擔更新任何此類前瞻性陳述的義務。

Please also note that past performance is not a guarantee of future results and or a solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any Ares Fund. During this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

另請注意，過去的業績並不能保證未來的業績，也不能構成購買任何 Ares 基金權益的要約邀請。在本次電話會議中，我們將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標，這些指標不應孤立地考慮或取代根據公認會計原則制定的指標。

Please refer to our second quarter earnings presentation available on the Investor Resources section of our website for reconciliations of the measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sale. Note that we plan to file our Form 10-Q later this month.

請參閱我們網站投資者資源部分提供的第二季度收益報告，以了解這些措施與最直接可比較的 GAAP 措施的對賬，本次電話會議中的任何內容均不構成出售要約。請注意，我們計劃在本月稍後提交 10-Q 表格。

This morning, we announced that we declared our third quarter common dividend of $0.93 per share on the company's Class A and nonvoting common stock, representing an increase of 21% over our dividend for the same quarter a year ago. The dividend will be paid on September 30, 2024, to holders of record on September 16.

今天上午，我們宣布宣布第三季公司 A 類和無投票權普通股每股普通股股息為 0.93 美元，比去年同期增加了 21%。股利將於 2024 年 9 月 30 日支付給 9 月 16 日登記在冊的持有人。

Now I'll turn the call over to Michael Arougheti, who will start with some quarterly business and financial highlights.

現在我將把電話轉給 Michael Arougheti，他將首先介紹一些季度業務和財務亮點。

Thanks, Greg, and good morning, everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. The macroeconomic backdrop for our business improved in the second quarter with a stronger transaction environment, solid and stable credit trends and a recovering real estate market. The improving economic picture is driven by a combination of a better outlook for both inflation and interest rates, continued labor market strength and increased confidence in a soft landing.

謝謝格雷格，大家早安。我希望每個人都做得很好。第二季度，我們業務的宏觀經濟背景有所改善，交易環境更加強勁，信貸趨勢穩健，房地產市場正在復甦。經濟情勢的改善是由通膨和利率前景改善、勞動力市場持續走強以及對軟著陸信心增強等綜合因素所推動的。

Given the more constructive transaction environment, we were more active across many of our investment strategies. In fact, we invested $26 billion in Q2, our second-highest quarter on record, and more than 70% higher than the same quarter a year ago.

鑑於更具建設性的交易環境，我們的許多投資策略更加積極。事實上，我們在第二季度投資了 260 億美元，這是有史以​​來第二高的季度，比去年同期增長了 70% 以上。

As we highlighted at our Investor Day in May, we're continuing to see significant institutional and retail demand globally for our alternative investment products, particularly within broad credit strategies, but also in opportunistic and value-add real estate, affiliated insurance, infrastructure, and a host of secondary strategies.

正如我們在五月的投資者日所強調的那樣，我們繼續看到全球機構和零售對我們的另類投資產品的巨大需求，特別是在廣泛的信貸策略中，而且在機會主義和增值房地產、附屬保險、基礎設施、以及一系列次要策略。

Q2 was our single-best quarter fundraising in our history with $26 billion in gross capital raised, bringing the total year-to-date funds raised to $43 billion. For the second quarter, our assets under management grew to a record $447 billion, up 18% versus a year ago. Our strong deployment and fundraising activities supported a 22% year-over-year growth in fee-related earnings for the quarter.

第二季度是我們歷史上融資總額最好的季度，籌集資金總額為 260 億美元，使年初至今籌集的資金總額達到 430 億美元。第二季度，我們管理的資產成長至創紀錄的 4,470 億美元，比去年同期成長 18%。我們強而有力的部署和籌款活動支持本季與費用相關的收入年增 22%。

We also had another strong quarter of fund performance, as Jarrod will highlight later. Overall, we're pleased with our momentum, the firm's positioning, and the promising outlook for our business.

正如賈羅德稍後將強調的那樣，我們的基金業績也出現了另一個強勁的季度。總體而言，我們對我們的勢頭、公司的定位以及我們業務的光明前景感到滿意。

As we've expected for some time, we are seeing a gradual improvement in transaction volume this year for a variety of reasons. The nearly $1 trillion in private equity dry powder that's aging, significant demand from LPs for a return of capital, a stable rate backdrop and the improving prospects for interest rate cuts, and an economy that remains on solid footing.

正如我們一段時間以來的預期，由於多種原因，我們今年的交易量逐漸改善。近1兆美元的私募股權乾粉正在老化，有限合夥人對資本回報的巨大需求，穩定的利率背景和不斷改善的降息前景，以及仍然基礎穩固的經濟。

For Ares, looking across our seven private credit strategies in our credit and real asset groups, activity was very strong in the second quarter with gross deployment up over 58% year-over-year. In Q2, we deployed approximately $20 billion in our private credit strategies with net deployment totaling $7.7 billion, more than double Q1 net deployment of $3.3 billion.

對 Ares 來說，縱觀我們信貸和實體資產組中的七項私人信貸策略，第二季的活動非常強勁，總部署量年增超過 58%。第二季度，我們在私人信貸策略中部署了約 200 億美元，淨部署總額為 77 億美元，是第一季淨部署 33 億美元的兩倍多。

Looking forward, our investment pipeline suggests continued solid activity, and we have every indication that the second half of the year will continue to be an active deployment environment.

展望未來，我們的投資管道表明活動將持續穩健，我們有充分的跡象表明今年下半年將繼續保持活躍的部署環境。

The credit quality across our corporate credit assets remains very strong and recent trends indicate stability. As an example, our US direct lending portfolio companies experienced their second straight quarter of improving organic EBITDA growth, reaching 11% year-over-year.

我們企業信貸資產的信貸品質仍然非常強勁，近期趨勢顯示穩定。例如，我們的美國直接貸款投資組合公司連續第二季實現有機 EBITDA 成長，較去年同期達到 11%。

The portfolio's loan-to-value ratio remains in the low 40% range, which is meaningfully below historical average market levels, and portfolio company leverage multiples are 0.5 turn lower than the prior year. For instance, on its earnings call, ARCC reported a decline in loans on nonaccrual to 1.5% and a decline in underperforming loans.

該投資組合的貸款價值比率仍保持在 40% 的低水平，明顯低於歷史平均市場水平，投資組合公司的槓桿倍數比前一年低 0.5 倍。例如，ARCC 在財報電話會議上報告稱，非應計貸款下降至 1.5%，不良貸款也有所下降。

Based on the fundamentals that we're seeing across our US and European corporate credit book, our outlook is for continued solid economic growth in these markets and continued favorable credit performance.

根據我們在美國和歐洲企業信用帳簿中看到的基本面，我們的前景是這些市場的經濟持續穩健成長和持續良好的信用表現。

That said, we're intensely focused on executing our playbook in more active and therefore competitive markets by out-originating our competition, using our deep incumbency advantages, performing rigorous fundamental due diligence, negotiating tight documentation structures and staying highly selective.

也就是說，我們非常專注於在更活躍、競爭更激烈的市場中執行我們的策略，透過超越我們的競爭對手，利用我們深厚的現有優勢，進行嚴格的基本盡職調查，談判嚴格的文件結構並保持高度選擇性。

In our real estate strategies, we're seeing market valuations and transaction activity stabilize. Operating fundamentals, such as rents and occupancy rates, remain positive for our core focus areas of industrial and multifamily, which represented nearly three-quarters of our asset value.

在我們的房地產策略中，我們看到市場估值和交易活動趨於穩定。我們的工業和多戶住宅核心重點領域（占我們資產價值的近四分之三）的營運基本面（例如租金和入住率）仍然樂觀。

Within these segments, we continue to benefit from the growth in e-commerce, onshoring and positive longer-term supply/demand dynamics. Our deliberate strategy of extending the duration of our industrial lease terms is enabling us to effectively navigate the market as near-term peak levels of supply are being digested.

在這些細分市場中，我們繼續受益於電子商務、在岸外包和積極的長期供需動態的成長。我們精心設計的延長工業租賃期限的策略使我們能夠在消化近期供應高峰時有效地駕馭市場。

We're also seeing positive trends in adjacent areas, such as student housing, single-family rental and self-storage. Based upon the improving market trends, our real estate team was significantly more active in the second quarter, with deployment more than doubling the year-ago period, and our pipeline for new transactions continues to build.

我們也看到鄰近地區的正面趨勢，例如學生宿舍、單戶出租和自助倉儲。基於市場趨勢的改善，我們的房地產團隊在第二季度顯著更加活躍，部署量比去年同期增加了一倍多，並且我們的新交易管道也在持續建設中。

We also see significant investment opportunities in data centers and the digital infrastructure needed to support the enormous demands of AI growth. We're investing in digital infrastructure across our various businesses, but particularly within infrastructure, alternative credit and real estate. Collectively, we've committed nearly $5 billion in digital-related infrastructure, including data centers, towers and new fiber broadband installations over the past 5 years.

我們也看到了支援人工智慧成長的龐大需求所需的資料中心和數位基礎設施的重大投資機會。我們正在投資各個業務領域的數位基礎設施，特別是基礎設施、另類信貸和房地產領域。在過去 5 年裡，我們總共投入了近 50 億美元用於數位相關基礎設施，包括資料中心、塔和新的光纖寬頻安裝。

We're also focused on climate infrastructure opportunities and are actively investing in new clean energy projects, including solar, wind and renewable natural gas. Over the past 5 years, we've committed approximately $3.2 billion in debt and equity investments in these sectors to meet the growing energy needs across the US.

我們也關注氣候基礎設施機會，並積極投資新的清潔能源項目，包括太陽能、風能和再生天然氣。在過去 5 年裡，我們已承諾在這些領域進行約 32 億美元的債務和股權投資，以滿足全美不斷增長的能源需求。

Within our secondaries businesses, we continue to see opportunities for new investments across our range of liquidity solutions, including purchasing LP portfolios, working with GPs on continuation funds, and providing structured solutions for both GPs and LPs.

在我們的二級業務中，我們繼續在一系列流動性解決方案中看到新投資的機會，包括購買有限合夥人投資組合、與普通合夥人就持續基金合作，以及為普通合夥人和有限合夥人提供結構化解決方案。

Overall, the secondary market opportunity remains robust as managers and investors alike try to manage liquidity demands in what has been a transitioning valuation environment and a slower M&A and IPO market.

總體而言，二級市場機會仍然強勁，因為管理者和投資者都試圖在估值環境轉型以及併購和 IPO 市場放緩的情況下管理流動性需求。

Now let me provide some color on our record fundraising quarter. Across our broad distribution channels, we continue to benefit from increased investor allocations to alternatives, a loyal and expanding client base, and our growing scale. All three of our primary fundraising channels, institutional, wealth, and insurance, are highly productive. And we're seeing a meaningful acceleration in fundraising across our wealth management channel, which has more than tripled so far this year compared to last year.

現在讓我對我們創紀錄的籌款季度進行一些介紹。透過我們廣泛的分銷管道，我們繼續受益於投資者對另類投資配置的增加、忠誠且不斷擴大的客戶群以及不斷擴大的規模。我們的三個主要募款管道（機構、財富和保險）都非常有效率。我們看到我們的財富管理管道的籌款活動顯著加速，今年迄今比去年增加了兩倍多。

Our broad offering of credit strategies continues to lead the way as our benefits of scale and track record are differentiating factors. In Q2, we raised nearly $20 billion in funds, managed accounts and CLOs within our credit group.

我們廣泛的信貸策略產品繼續引領潮流，因為我們的規模優勢和往績記錄是我們的差異化因素。第二季度，我們在信貸集團內籌集了近 200 億美元的資金、管理帳戶和 CLO。

As you may have seen from earlier this week, we announced the final closing for our US-focused Senior Direct Lending Fund III, or SDL III, with $33.6 billion of investment capacity. This is the largest institutional private credit fund in the market and is roughly double the $14.9 billion of total investment capital that we raised in SDL II.

正如您在本週稍早所看到的，我們宣布了以美國為重點的高級直接貸款基金 III (SDL III) 的最終交割，其投資能力為 336 億美元。這是市場上最大的機構私人信貸基金，大約是我們在 SDL II 籌集的 149 億美元總投資資本的兩倍。

SDL III's investment capacity included $15.3 billion in fund equity commitments along with related vehicles, closed leverage and anticipated leverage of up to $8 billion that could be raised over the next 12 months. We raised $6.4 billion of capital in Q2 and another $1.8 billion in July for this fund. We're also well underway investing SDL III, having already committed $9 billion of capital to more than 165 companies to date.

SDL III 的投資能力包括 153 億美元的基金股權承諾以及相關工具、封閉槓桿以及預計在未來 12 個月內籌集的高達 80 億美元的槓桿。我們在第二季為該基金籌集了 64 億美元資金，並在 7 月籌集了 18 億美元資金。我們也正在順利投資 SDL III，迄今已向超過 165 家公司承諾了 90 億美元的資金。

With respect to our other large private credit institutional fund in the market, Ares' sixth European direct lending fund, we raised another EUR750 million of equity commitments in the second quarter. This brings total equity commitments to EUR12.2 billion today or over EUR18 billion of total investment capacity including anticipated leverage. We expect to raise another EUR1 billion to EUR1.5 billion in equity commitments in the third quarter with additional commitments in the final close expected in Q4.

對於我們市場上的另一個大型私人信貸機構基金，Ares 的第六隻歐洲直接借貸基金，我們在第二季度又籌集了 7.5 億歐元的股權承諾。這使得目前的總股本承諾達到 122 億歐元，或包括預期槓桿在內的總投資能力超過 180 億歐元。我們預計第三季將再籌集 10 億至 15 億歐元的股權承諾，並預計在第四季的最終交割中做出額外承諾。

During the quarter, we also continued to raise various funds within our liquid and illiquid credit strategies across our platform. One example is the launch of our Specialty Healthcare Fund which focuses on direct loans to life sciences companies. We're currently holding our initial closings for this inaugural fund, and we expect to receive commitments totaling approximately $750 million in the coming weeks. We believe that this is a great start for a new product. In addition, we've priced fove new CLOs in the quarter. Year-to-date, we've already priced seven CLOs, raising $3.6 billion, exceeding our full year record of 7 CLOs for $3.3 billion in 2022.

在本季度，我們也繼續在整個平台的流動性和非流動性信貸策略中籌集各種資金。一個例子是我們推出的專業醫療保健基金，該基金專注於向生命科學公司提供直接貸款。目前，我們正在對首支基金進行初步交割，預計在未來幾週內將收到總額約 7.5 億美元的承諾。我們相信，這對於新產品來說是一個好的開始。此外，我們還在本季度對 4 個新 CLO 進行了定價。今年迄今為止，我們已經對 7 只 CLO 進行了定價，籌集了 36 億美元，超過了 2022 年 7 只 CLO 的全年記錄，籌集了 33 億美元。

Overall, we've raised over $65 billion in the past 18 months across our direct lending strategies. When combined with our fundraising across our other private credit strategies in alternative credit, APAC credit, real estate debt and infrastructure debt, we've raised approximately $85 billion in private credit AUM over the past 18 months.

總體而言，過去 18 個月我們透過直接貸款策略籌集了超過 650 億美元。與我們在另類信貸、亞太信貸、房地產債務和基礎設施債務等其他私人信貸策略中的融資相結合，我們在過去 18 個月內籌集了約 850 億美元的私人信貸資產管理規模。

In our real assets group, we're aiming to hold a final close in the third quarter for our fourth US opportunistic real estate fund, bringing total commitments to $2.7 billion. Based on this anticipated final close size, we expect the fund will exceed the commitments of its predecessor fund by 59%, and we believe that this demonstrates meaningful investor support for the strategy and the investment opportunity.

在我們的房地產部門，我們的目標是在第三季度為我們的第四隻美國機會主義房地產基金進行最終交割，使承諾總額達到 27 億美元。根據這一預期的最終收盤規模，我們預計該基金將超出其前身基金的承諾 59%，我們相信這表明投資者對該策略和投資機會的支持。

We're also off to a great start with our recently launched fourth European value-add real estate fund, raising approximately EUR600 million in the second quarter, including related vehicles, with additional capital expected for the first close in the third quarter. We also raised another $1.1 billion in our US real estate debt strategy as we continue to see attractive values and compelling market dynamics with less competition in this sector.

我們最近推出的第四隻歐洲增值房地產基金也取得了良好的開端，該基金在第二季度籌集了約 6 億歐元，其中包括相關工具，預計第三季首次交割時將獲得額外資本。我們還在美國房地產債務策略中又籌集了 11 億美元，因為我們繼續看到有吸引力的價值和引人注目的市場動態，而該行業的競爭較少。

In addition to significant fundraising in our commingled funds, we're also seeing meaningful demand for managed accounts across the platform. For the second quarter and year-to-date periods, we raised $5.4 billion and over $10 billion, respectively, in new commitments in these managed accounts.

除了我們的混合基金中的大量籌款之外，我們還看到對整個平台的管理帳戶的巨大需求。在第二季和年初至今，我們透過這些管理帳戶的新承諾分別籌集了 54 億美元和超過 100 億美元。

As I stated earlier, our wealth management business continues to have significant momentum as we penetrate existing distribution, expand into new channels, market to new geographies and broaden our product set. We're in the early phases of the largest generational wealth transfer in history, and importantly, we believe that we are seeing a very divergent trend with how baby boomers and the younger generations invest.

正如我之前所說，隨著我們滲透現有分銷、拓展新通路、開拓新地區以及拓寬我們的產品組合，我們的財富管理業務繼續保持強勁勢頭。我們正處於歷史上最大規模的代際財富轉移的早期階段，重要的是，我們相信我們看到嬰兒潮世代和年輕一代的投資方式有非常不同的趨勢。

Baby boomers manage their investment wealth primarily in stocks and bonds, but younger investors are seeking to expand their investing toolkit by optimizing their portfolios with increased allocations to private market assets. This trend could have significant positive implications for growing wealth allocations, and we believe that we're beginning to see these trends play out in our current results.

嬰兒潮世代主要透過股票和債券來管理他們的投資財富，但年輕投資者正在尋求透過增加對私人市場資產的配置來優化投資組合來擴大他們的投資工具包。這種趨勢可能會對不斷增長的財富分配產生重大的正面影響，我們相信我們已經開始看到這些趨勢在我們當前的業績中發揮作用。

During the second quarter, we raised more than $2.5 billion in new equity commitments across our six non-traded products. And inclusive of leverage, we raised $4.5 billion. For the year-to-date period, new equity commitments totaled over $4.5 billion, which is over 3.5 times the capital raised in the same period a year ago.

第二季度，我們透過六種非交易產品籌集了超過 25 億美元的新股權承諾。包括槓桿在內，我們籌集了 45 億美元。今年迄今，新股權承諾總額超過 45 億美元，是去年同期籌資的 3.5 倍以上。

Since our last earnings call, we've launched certain non-traded solutions with three additional global distribution partners. Based on these expanded partnerships, we expect flows into our wealth-focused products to continue to gain momentum through the second half of the year.

自上次財報電話會議以來，我們與另外三個全球分銷合作夥伴推出了某些非交易解決方案。基於這些擴大的合作夥伴關係，我們預計今年下半年流入我們以財富為中心的產品的資金將繼續獲得成長勢頭。

Aspida, our minority-owned insurance affiliate, is on a strong growth trajectory. This quarter, it secured nearly $600 million in additional institutional equity from third-party investors. With more equity capital expected to be raised in Q3, Aspida is well capitalized and poised for continued expansion.

我們的少數股東保險附屬公司 Aspida 正處於強勁的成長軌道。本季度，它從第三方投資者那裡獲得了近 6 億美元的額外機構股權。由於預計第三季將籌集更多股本，Aspida 資本充足，並準備繼續擴張。

The annuity market is thriving, with sales exceeding a record $400 billion on an annualized run rate in the first half of 2024. Aspida is benefiting from these industry tailwinds, experiencing robust flows from new retail annuity sales, and increased flow reinsurance opportunities.

年金市場正在蓬勃發展，2024 年上半年的年化銷售額將超過創紀錄的 4,000 億美元。Aspida 受益於這些行業順風，經歷了新零售年金銷售帶來的強勁流量以及流量再保險機會的增加。

So overall, with $43 billion raised in the first six months, we're ahead of where we expected to be in midyear, and we believe that we're in a better position to match or potentially exceed the $74.5 billion that we raised in 2023. Our strong first half puts us in an excellent position with record amounts of available capital to deploy.

因此，總體而言，前六個月籌集了 430 億美元，我們領先於年中的預期，我們相信我們能夠更好地匹配或可能超過 2023 年籌集的 745 億美元。上半年的強勁表現使我們處於有利地位，擁有創紀錄的可用資本可供部署。

Looking ahead to the next six months, our fundraising is likely to see contributions from a broader and more diverse set of funds. For the year, we expect to have 35 funds in the market across 17 strategies to take advantage of the expected growth in alternative asset allocations.

展望未來六個月，我們的籌款活動可能會得到更廣泛、更多樣化的基金的貢獻。今年，我們預計市場上將有 35 檔基金，涉及 17 種策略，以利用另類資產配置的預期成長。

And I will now turn the call over to Jarrod to discuss our financial results in more detail. Jarrod?

我現在將把電話轉給賈羅德，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。賈羅德？

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. As Mike said, we continued to deliver strong results in the second quarter, year-over-year growth of 22% in FRE along with mid to high teens growth in AUM, management fees and realized income.

謝謝你，麥克，大家早安。正如 Mike 所說，我們在第二季度繼續取得強勁業績，FRE 年比成長 22%，AUM、管理費和已實現收入也實現中高位成長。

The record $26 billion we raised in the second quarter helped drive a 29% increase in our AUM not yet paying fees, ideally situating us to capitalize on growing activity levels as the markets return to a more normalized state of deployment and realizations in many sectors.

我們在第二季度籌集的創紀錄的260 億美元幫助推動我們尚未支付費用的AUM 增長了29%，這使得我們能夠在許多行業的市場恢復到更加正常的部署和實現狀態時利用不斷增長的活動水平。

When you combine this AUM not yet paying fees with our FRE-rich earnings mix and future European waterfall realization potential, we believe we offer strong visibility for future earnings to our stockholders.

當您將尚未支付費用的資產管理規模與我們豐富的 FRE 收益組合和未來歐洲瀑布實現潛力結合起來時，我們相信我們為股東提供了未來收益的強大可見性。

Taking a look at this quarter's earnings, starting with revenues. Our management fees totaled over $726 million in the quarter, an increase of 17% compared to the same period last year, primarily driven by positive net deployment of our AUM not yet paying fees.

從收入開始看一下本季的收益。本季我們的管理費用總計超過 7.26 億美元，與去年同期相比成長 17%，這主要是由於我們尚未支付費用的 AUM 淨部署量為正值。

Fee-related performance revenues totaled $21.6 million in the second quarter, primarily from our non-traded private equity secondaries product, APMF, along with select credit products that crystalized.

第二季與費用相關的績效收入總計 2,160 萬美元，主要來自我們的非交易私募股權二級產品 APMF 以及具體的精選信貸產品。

The $15.2 million of FRPR from APMF benefited from AUM growth, which recently reached approximately $1.6 billion in total assets and was aided by a sizable portfolio purchased in the quarter. We would expect AUM growth in APMF to provide long-term tailwinds for additional FRPR generation. However, FRPR from APMF will be more episodic and accordingly more difficult to project spikes in FRPR like the one with occurance. As a reminder, we anticipate realizing 95% or more of our credit FRPR in the fourth quarter.

APMF 提供的 1,520 萬美元 FRPR 受益於 AUM 成長，最近總資產達到約 16 億美元，並得益於本季購買的規模龐大的投資組合。我們預計 APMF 的 AUM 成長將為額外的 FRPR 發電提供長期推動力。然而，來自 APMF 的 FRPR 將更具偶發性，因此更難以預測 FRPR 的峰值（如發生的峰值）。提醒一下，我們預計第四季將實現 95% 或更多的信貸 FRPR。

I do want to point out two expenses running through our G&A in the second quarter. First, our Q2 G&A expenses were impacted by our first-ever firm-wide AGM held in May. Typically, we hold multiple investor events resulting in cost spread throughout the year instead of being incurred in a single quarter. As a result of this quarterly spike in annual meeting costs, we expect G&A expenses in the second half of the year will benefit from fewer event expenses.

我確實想指出第二季一般管理費用中的兩項費用。首先，我們第二季的一般管理費用受到 5 月舉行的首次全公司年度股東大會的影響。通常，我們會舉辦多次投資者活動，導致全年成本分攤，而不是在單一季度發生。由於年會成本每季飆升，我們預計下半年的一般管理費用將受益於活動費用的減少。

Second, as we continue to scale our wealth management distribution, we incur greater supplemental distribution fees. These fees totaled $15.3 million in the second quarter, an increase of $6.2 million compared to Q1. Importantly, these fees will be partially offset as we recoup the majority of these expenses over time by reducing employee compensation paid with respect to part one fees or FRPR for the associated funds.

其次，隨著我們持續擴大財富管理分銷規模，我們需要承擔更多的補充分銷費用。第二季這些費用總計 1,530 萬美元，比第一季增加 620 萬美元。重要的是，這些費用將被部分抵消，因為隨著時間的推移，我們會透過減少與第一部分費用或相關基金的 FRPR 相關的員工薪酬來收回大部分費用。

In the quarter, FRE totaled approximately $325 million, up 22% from the previous year, driven by higher management fees and a margin improvement of 130 basis points to 42.1%. In the second quarter, we generated more than $40 million of net realized performance income, driven mainly by credit funds and European-style waterfalls. Realized income in the second quarter was $363 million, a 16% increase over the previous year. And after-tax realized income per share of Class A common stock was $0.99, up 10% from the second quarter of 2023.

本季度，FRE 總額約為 3.25 億美元，較上年增長 22%，這得益於管理費上漲和利潤率提高 130 個基點至 42.1%。第二季度，我們實現了超過 4,000 萬美元的淨已實現績效收入，這主要是由信貸基金和歐式瀑布驅動的。第二季營收3.63億美元，較上年成長16%。A類普通股每股稅後實現收益為0.99美元，較2023年第二季成長10%。

As at June 30, our AUM stood at $447 billion, up 18% from the year-ago period. Our fee-paying AUM reached $276 billion at the end of the quarter, up 14% from the previous year. Following sustained fundraising momentum, our AUM not yet paying fees available for future deployment increased to approximately $71 billion at quarter-end, representing $675 million in potential annual management fees.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們的資產管理規模為 4,470 億美元，年增 18%。截至本季末，我們的付費資產管理規模達到 2,760 億美元，比上年成長 14%。隨著持續的融資勢頭，我們尚未支付未來部署費用的 AUM 在季度末增加至約 710 億美元，相當於潛在的年度管理費 6.75 億美元。

Our incentive-eligible AUM increased by 17% compared to the second quarter of 2023, reaching $259 billion. Of this amount, over $86 billion is uninvested, representing significant performance income potential.

與 2023 年第二季相比，我們符合激勵條件的資產管理規模成長了 17%，達到 2,590 億美元。其中，超過 860 億美元未投資，代表著巨大的業績收入潛力。

In the second quarter, our net accrued performance income declined slightly to $919 million, primarily due to a reversal of carried interest in certain corporate private equity and opportunistic credit funds due to the change in the stock price of our position in Savers Value Village. This was partially offset by growth in our net accrued performance income and our credit strategies as the performance, driven by interest income, meaningfully exceeded the hurdle rates.

第二季度，我們的應計淨績效收入小幅下降至 9.19 億美元，主要是由於我們在 Savers Value Village 的持倉股價發生變化，導致某些企業私募股權和機會主義信貸基金的附帶權益發生逆轉。這部分被我們的淨應計績效收入和信貸策略的成長所抵消，因為在利息收入的推動下，績效顯著超過了門檻利率。

Of the $919 million of net accrued performance income at quarter-end, $783 million, just over 85%, was in European-style waterfall funds with nearly $460 million from funds that are out of their reinvestment periods. For the second half of 2024, we're estimating an additional $60 million to $70 million of net (technical difficulty) and nearly all of that amount recognized in the fourth quarter.

在季末 9.19 億美元的應計淨績效收入中，7.83 億美元（略高於 85%）來自歐洲式瀑布基金，近 4.6 億美元來自不再投資期的基金。對於 2024 年下半年，我們預計淨額將增加 6,000 萬至 7,000 萬美元（技術難度），幾乎所有金額均在第四季度確認。

For 2025, we estimate our 2025 European-style net realized performance income will be in a range of $225 million to $275 million. The slight decrease in our 2025 estimate is primarily related to one fund where we currently anticipate our realization timing could shift from the end of 2025 into 2026. However, the total net realized performance income expected over the life of this one fund is largely unchanged.

對於 2025 年，我們估計 2025 年歐式已實現淨業績收入將在 2.25 億美元至 2.75 億美元之間。我們對 2025 年預測的略微下降主要與一檔基金有關，我們目前預計該基金的實現時間可能從 2025 年底轉移到 2026 年。然而，這檔基金在整個生命週期中預期實現的淨業績收入總額基本上沒有變動。

For 2025, it's best to assume that 60% of our annual European-style performance income will be realized in the fourth quarter, 30% in the second quarter and about 10% spread across the third and first quarters should this [hurly weather] stops.

對於2025 年，最好假設我們的年度歐洲式業績收入的60% 將在第四季度實現，30% 將在第二季度實現，如果這種[惡劣天氣] 停止，大約10% 將在第三和第一季實現。

The current seasonality of our European-style waterfall realization is primarily due to the early stage of our larger eligible credit funds that make tax distributions, which we realize as net performance income, compared to older smaller European-style funds which are realizing the full net performance income payable near the end of their fund life. The seasonality will persist until several of our larger European funds start regularly realizing performance income toward the end of their fund lives, potentially beginning in ['26].

目前我們歐式瀑布實現的季節性主要是由於我們較大的合格信貸基金處於早期階段，這些基金進行稅收分配，我們將其實現為淨績效收入，而較早的小型歐式基金則實現了全部淨收益。這種季節性將持續下去，直到我們的幾家較大的歐洲基金開始在其基金壽命結束時定期實現業績收入，可能從['26]。

Finally, I'd like to discuss our recent fund performance, which is highlighted by broad outperformance within our private credit strategies. Across our credit group, our strategy composites all generated double-digit gross returns over the past 12 months.

最後，我想討論一下我們最近的基金表現，我們的私人信貸策略的廣泛表現突出了這一點。在我們的信貸組中，我們的策略在過去 12 個月內全部實現了兩位數的總回報。

Our credit portfolios continue to see positive fundamental growth in default characteristics. And we believe we're very well positioned for a variety of economic scenarios, particularly as approximately 95% of our corporate credit outstanding are senior [lein captured].

我們的信貸投資組合的違約特徵持續呈現正面的基本成長。我們相信，我們在各種經濟情景中都處於有利地位，特別是我們約 95% 的未償企業信貸都是高級信貸[萊因被捕]。

Across real assets, we generated gross returns in infrastructure debt of 2.3% for the quarter and 9.7% for the last 12 months. As we highlighted in our Investor Day, our real estate equity strategies are delivering strong returns relative to comparable market equivalents.

在實體資產方面，本季我們的基礎設施債務總回報率為 2.3%，過去 12 個月為 9.7%。正如我們在投資者日所強調的那樣，我們的房地產股票策略相對於可比較市場同類策略正在帶來強勁的回報。

As Mike discussed, we continue to see positive fundamentals in our real estate portfolios, and we're beginning to see signs of a market recovery, including stable to slightly improving overall values.

正如麥克所討論的，我們的房地產投資組合繼續看到積極的基本面，並且我們開始看到市場復甦的跡象，包括整體價值穩定到略有改善。

Our corporate private equity composite had a gross return of 0.4% in the quarter and 0.5% on an LTM basis. The returns in the second quarter were impacted by our large position in Savers Value Village in ACOF V. However, our most recent corporate private equity fund, ACOF VI, generated gross quarterly and 12-month returns of 7.2% and 22.2%, respectively, and has a since-inception gross internal rate of return of 24.5%. Our corporate private equity portfolios continue to demonstrate strong fundamentals with year-over-year EBITDA growth showing acceleration into the mid-teens.

我們的企業私募股權組合本季的總回報率為 0.4%，LTM 為 0.5%。第二季的回報受到我們在 ACOF V 的 Savers Value Village 中的大量部位的影響。然而，我們最新的企業私募股權基金 ACOF VI 的季度毛回報率和 12 個月毛回報率分別為 7.2% 和 22.2%，自成立以來的毛內部回報率為 24.5%。我們的企業私募股權投資組合持續展現出強勁的基本面，EBITDA 年比成長加速至十幾歲左右。

Now I'll turn it back to Mike for closing comments.

現在我將把它轉回給邁克以結束評論。

Thanks, Jarrod. At our Investor Day in May, we highlighted the breadth of our platform, the depth of our management team, and our focus on generating consistent and high-quality growth with our balance sheet-light model.

謝謝，賈羅德。在五月的投資者日上，我們強調了我們平台的廣度、管理團隊的深度，以及我們對透過輕資產負債表模式實現持續高品質成長的關注。

We also highlighted the significant positive secular drivers influencing our business, including assets moving out of the banking system to private credit, the significant need for infrastructure investment, consolidation of GP relationships for institutional investors, growing wealth management allocations, and the compelling opportunities in secondaries and insurance.

我們也強調了影響我們業務的重大積極長期驅動因素，包括資產從銀行體系轉移到私人信貸、對基礎設施投資的巨大需求、機構投資者普通合夥人關係的鞏固、財富管理配置的增加以及二級市場的誘人機會和保險。

We believe that this quarter's results demonstrate the power of our platform and how we're benefiting from many of these compelling trends. We remain optimistic about the future outlook. We have one of the largest pools of available investment capacity in the alternative investment industry in what we believe will be an improving transaction environment. Investment performance remained strong across our key investment strategies, and we continue to see significant investor demand for our products.

我們相信，本季的業績證明了我們平台的力量以及我們如何從許多這些引人注目的趨勢中受益。我們對未來前景保持樂觀。我們擁有另類投資產業最大的可用投資能力池之一，我們相信交易環境將會持續改善。我們的主要投資策略的投資表現依然強勁，我們繼續看到投資者對我們產品的巨大需求。

As always, our talented team collaborating across the globe drives the current and future success of our business, and I'm deeply grateful for their hard work and dedication. And I'm also deeply appreciative of our investors' ongoing support for our company.

一如既往，我們在全球範圍內合作的才華橫溢的團隊推動了我們業務當前和未來的成功，我對他們的辛勤工作和奉獻精神深表感謝。我也非常感謝投資人對我們公司的持續支持。

And operator, we can now open up the line for questions.

接線員，我們現在可以開通提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Craig Siegenthaler, Bank of America.

（操作員說明）Craig Siegenthaler，美國銀行。

We were looking for an update on the private wealth channel with net flows tripling year-over-year. So at your Investor Day, you laid out the plans to launch two to four more products shortly. So how is that going? It looks like infra secondaries and maybe a retail Pathfinder ABF-type vehicle should give you the biggest gaps. And then I know you're managing capacity pretty tightly with ASIF. When will ASIF join a second or a third wire in the US?

我們正在尋找私人財富管道的最新情況，淨流量年增兩倍。因此，在投資者日，您制定了短期內再推出兩到四種產品的計劃。那麼進展如何呢？它看起來像次要車，也許零售的探路者 ABF 型車輛應該給你最大的差距。然後我知道您正在與 ASIF 緊密地管理容量。ASIF 何時會在美國加入第二家或第三家電線？

It's a lot of questions. I'll see if I get to all of them. And if we miss one, just let us know. So momentum continues, as we articulated. In Q2, we had $4.5 billion of capital raised across the platform. We're pleased with the scaling that we're seeing in the new products, like PMF, ASIF and AESIF.

有很多問題。我會看看是否能找到所有這些。如果我們錯過了一個，請告訴我們。因此，正如我們所闡述的那樣，勢頭仍在繼續。第二季度，我們透過該平台籌集了 45 億美元的資金。我們對 PMF、ASIF 和 AESIF 等新產品中看到的擴展感到滿意。

Our interval fund continues to see positive flows, and while we've seen slowing net flows in our two REITs, I think unlike some of the peer products, we are still seeing positive net inflows into those two products as well. We are in the process of introducing new products into the channel. I would expect that the next product that we would put in would be in and around our infrastructure business.

我們的區間基金繼續看到積極的資金流入，雖然我們看到兩個房地產投資信託基金的淨資金流入正在放緩，但我認為與一些同類產品不同，我們仍然看到這兩個產品的淨資金正流入。我們正在將新產品引入該管道。我預計我們將投入的下一個產品將是在我們的基礎設施業務中及其周圍。

And as you pointed out, Craig, given the breadth of our private credit platform and the success that we're enjoying there, there may be some opportunities to provide dedicated access to certain parts of that franchise as well.

正如您所指出的，克雷格，考慮到我們私人信貸平台的廣度以及我們在那裡所取得的成功，可能還有一些機會提供對該特許經營權某些部分的專用訪問權限。

ASIF continues to broaden its distribution. We have actually been approved on another distribution platform there. And so that is moving forward according to plan. A bright spot also worth mentioning that we did not highlight in the prepared remarks, is the international expansion of our wealth distribution, continues to accelerate, and 30% to 35% of our flows are now coming from outside of the US market. And so the investments that we're making there to broaden out the distribution are bearing fruit pretty early in the build-out.

ASIF 持續擴大其分佈範圍。我們實際上已經在那裡的另一個分銷平台獲得了批准。這一切正在按計劃進行。另外值得一提的是，我們在準備好的發言中沒有強調的一個亮點是，我們財富分配的國際擴張繼續加速，我們30%至35%的資金流現在來自美國市場以外。因此，我們為擴大分銷而進行的投資在擴建過程中很早就取得了成果。

I think that was it. Did I miss anything?

我想就是這樣。我錯過了什麼嗎？

No, Mike, you covered it. And just -- do I get a follow-up? I forget if it's one question or one and a follow-up, you guys.

不，麥克，你已經涵蓋了。只是——我會得到後續跟進嗎？我忘了這是一個問題還是一個後續問題，你們。

Yeah. Go ahead.

是的。前進。

Okay. So my follow-up is on credit quality. And so it's nice to see a positive inflection, nonaccruals at ARCC. That's good for Ares. But you guys have always outperformed the industry. So my question is a little more industry-related. Is private corporate direct lending, is the industry past the peak in nonaccruals, defaults and write-downs? Or do you expect the industry to continue to see some deterioration even though your book is getting better?

好的。所以我的後續行動是信用品質。因此，很高興看到 ARCC 的非應計費用出現正面變化。這對阿瑞斯來說是件好事。但你們的表現總是優於業界。所以我的問題更多的是與產業相關。是私人企業直接貸款嗎？或者，即使你的書越來越好，你是否預計該行業會繼續惡化？

Yeah. Look, I think the longer you go into a cycle like the one that we're in, default rates should go up. And we've been pretty clear on that both in our calls here and at ARCC, but we do not see them going up to a level that we would classify as alarming or approaching what we've seen in COVID or GFC. We remind people that there are things called good old-fashioned credit cycles and defaults happen and the market moves on.

是的。聽著，我認為進入像我們這樣的周期的時間越長，違約率就會上升。我們在這裡和 ARCC 的電話會議中都非常清楚地表明了這一點，但我們認為它們還沒有達到令人震驚的水平，也沒有接近我們在新冠肺炎或全球金融危機中看到的水平。我們提醒人們，有些事情被稱為良好的老式信貸週期，違約發生，市場繼續發展。

Yeah, we are outperforming the market and you are beginning to see underperformance in certain portfolios. But I would highlight, given our prominence in the market and some of our other large competitors who are putting up similar types of performance. But I think on an index basis, the credit performance in the private credit space will continue to maybe outperform relative to people's expectations.

是的，我們的表現優於市場，但你開始看到某些投資組合表現不佳。但我要強調的是，考慮到我們在市場上的突出地位以及我們其他一些大型競爭對手也表現出類似的表現。但我認為，從指數來看，私人信貸領域的信貸表現可能會持續優於人們的預期。

I'd remind folks, and we've talked about this before, that a lot of the stresses that we've seen coming through in this cycle has been liquidity driven as a result of the run-up in rates and not necessarily due to the erosion in earnings.

我想提醒大家，我們之前已經討論過這一點，我們在這個週期中看到的許多壓力都是由利率上升導致的流動性驅動的，而不一定是由於收入受到侵蝕。

And so now, as we all expect that we're in the front end of the cutting cycle, even if we see earnings recede, you're going to get some release back from the cut in rates. So that will temper future defaults. And the setup from a capital structure standpoint, and this is probably the most important, at this point in the cycle relative to past cycle is just significantly different.

因此，現在，正如我們都預期的那樣，我們正處於降息週期的前端，即使我們看到收益下降，你也會從降息中得到一些釋放。因此，這將緩和未來的違約行為。從資本結構的角度來看，這可能是最重要的，在這個週期的這一點上，相對於過去的周期來說，有很大的不同。

And I highlighted where our portfolios sit from a loan-to-value basis in the low 40% range. I believe that the private credit market is comparable, and I would not undervalue how important the amount of equity in these structures is to mitigate future credit deterioration and credit risk.

我強調了我們的投資組合在貸款價值比基礎上處於 40% 的低範圍內。我相信私人信貸市場具有可比性，而且我不會低估這些結構中的股權數量對於緩解未來信用惡化和信用風險的重要性。

It's just a level of equity subordination that we haven't seen in prior credit cycles. And I think when the story gets written on the other side of this that that will be a big part of the risk-mitigation story. So yeah, we're outperforming, but I don't read through that there's a broad-based underperformance right now.

這只是我們在先前的信貸週期中從未見過的股權從屬程度。我認為，當故事寫在另一面時，這將成為風險緩解故事的重要組成部分。所以，是的，我們表現出色，但我沒有讀到目前普遍表現不佳的情況。

Steven Chubak, Wolfe Research.

史蒂文‧丘巴克，沃爾夫研究中心。

So I wanted to start off with a question just on your M&A strategy. We saw the equity issuance during the quarter. It certainly has prompted more speculation on strategic M&A. Just thinking back to slide 36 at Investor Day, you listed a number of areas where you might look to grow inorganically. Insurance, Asia real estate, global infra, digital infra were the main four.

所以我想先問一個關於你們的併購策略的問題。我們在本季看到了股票發行。這無疑引發了更多關於策略併購的猜測。回想一下投資者日的第 36 張投影片，您列出了一些您可能希望無機成長的領域。保險、亞洲房地產、全球基礎設施、數位基礎設施是主要的四個。

Just how would you rank those areas in terms of priority? And with some of the macro indicators softening, expectations for rate cuts, is there any improvement in valuations for potential M&A targets?

您如何對這些領域進行優先排序？隨著部分宏觀指標走軟、降息預期，潛在併購標的估值是否有改善？

Sure. So look, we have highlighted on our Investor Day where we see, if not gaps in our product and capability set, large addressable markets where scale matters. And we may look to inorganically scale up to go after that growth. That view has not changed. The bar continues to be very high.

當然。所以看，我們在投資者日強調了這一點，我們看到，即使我們的產品和能力方面沒有差距，但規模很重要的大型潛在市場。我們可能會尋求無機擴展以追隨這種增長。這一觀點沒有改變。門檻仍然很高。

As we've talked about, we want to see a real good, strong cultural fit; we want to see strong financial accretion; and we want to be able to have a strategic road map to drive value into any acquired business similar to what we've demonstrated with the acquisition of Landmark and Black Creek and others that we also walked through on the Investor Day.

正如我們所討論的，我們希望看到真正良好、強大的文化契合度；我們希望看到強勁的財務成長；我們希望能夠制定一個策略路線圖，為任何收購的業務帶來價值，就像我們在收購 Landmark 和 Black Creek 以及我們在投資者日所經歷的其他業務中所展示的那樣。

I do think that the prospect for rate cuts will obviously release some pressure and maybe catalyze some deal flow, I can't say for sure. But we are seeing that in the private markets business generally. So I would imagine that, that could flow through into the asset management space. But at the end of the day, when you look at where we've been able to do these deals, they tend to be bilateral, noncompetitive.

我確實認為降息的前景顯然會釋放一些壓力，並可能促進一些交易流，但我不能肯定地說。但我們在私募市場業務中普遍看到了這一點。所以我想，這可能會流入資產管理領域。但歸根結底，當你看看我們在哪裡能夠完成這些交易時，你會發現它們往往是雙邊的、非競爭性的。

And as we highlighted on the Investor Day, when you look at the acquisition multiples, they've been at pretty attractive levels. And I think we're going to stick to that type of discipline in buying high-quality businesses that we can make better at discounts to our trading multiple.

正如我們在投資者日強調的那樣，當你查看收購倍數時，你會發現它們已經處於相當有吸引力的水平。我認為我們在購買高品質企業時將堅持這種紀律，我們可以在交易倍數的折扣下獲得更好的收益。

In terms of the equity raise, I wouldn't read too much into that. We also talked about on the Investor Day that we continue to invest in a lot of organic growth initiatives. We're launching new businesses, life sciences is one example. We're investing up and down our wealth product set. So when you look at the size of that raise relative to the market cap of the company, that was really just to de-lever a little bit and position ourselves to continue to invest in growth.

就股權融資而言，我不會對此進行太多解讀。我們也在投資者日談到我們繼續投資許多有機成長計劃。我們正在進行新業務，生命科學就是一個例子。我們正在對我們的財富產品進行上下投資。因此，當你考慮相對於公司市值的融資規模時，你會發現，這實際上只是為了稍微去槓桿化，讓我們自己繼續投資於成長。

And just for my follow-up, on the gross versus net origination dynamic. So gross deployment clearly strong in the quarter, also encouraging to see some improvement in that gross-to-net origination ratio. But still indicating continued elevated levels of refi activity. You noted deployment will likely remain strong in the back half. And just wanted to get a sense as to how you expect that ratio will likely traject, do you expect further improvement in the back half?

我的後續行動是關於總起源動態與淨起源動態。因此，本季的總部署量明顯強勁，也令人鼓舞地看到總發行量與淨發行量的比率有所改善。但仍顯示再融資活動水準持續升高。您指出，下半年的部署可能會保持強勁。只是想了解您預計該比率可能會如何變化，您預計後半段會進一步改善嗎？

I think we do. We're obviously -- we have a three to six-month forward view on our pipelines. And then as Kort talked about on the ARCC call, the backlog and pipeline just there alone was $3 billion. And when we look at the composition of the pipeline, it is definitely skewing towards new transaction activity and away from the pure refi and kind of incumbent deal flow.

我想我們做到了。顯然，我們對我們的管道有三到六個月的前瞻性展望。然後，正如 Kort 在 ARCC 電話會議上談到的那樣，僅積壓訂單和管道就達 30 億美元。當我們觀察管道的組成時，它肯定偏向於新的交易活動，而不是純粹的再融資和現有的交易流。

We're beginning to see other parts of the platform thaw. Real estate is beginning to show increasing signs of activity after a pretty slow 12 to 18 months. So I would expect that deployment will hold, and then we'll see the gross-to-net improve.

我們開始看到該平台的其他部分解凍。經過 12 至 18 個月的緩慢發展後，房地產開始顯示出越來越多的活動跡象。因此，我預計部署將會持續下去，然後我們將看到總淨值的改善。

Just as a data point. If you were to go back and look kind of at historical levels, our 2023 average gross-to-net was about 50%. And that's come down dramatically. And so I think that the trend line is in place, and I think it's going to continue.

只是作為一個數據點。如果你回顧一下歷史水平，我們 2023 年的平均總淨值約為 50%。而這一數字已經大幅下降。所以我認為趨勢線已經就位，而且我認為它將繼續下去。

Alex Blostein, Goldman Sachs.

亞歷克斯·布洛斯坦，高盛。

I wanted to start with a bit of a discussion on wealth distribution fees and kind of how those dynamics are evolving. So really nice momentum, obviously, on gross sales, and you have a couple of other products and platforms on the come. What kind of changes are you seeing, if any, from how distributors charge for that? We've been hearing this big, maybe a little more, kind of harmonization on placement fee structure.

我想先討論一下財富分配費用以及這些動態是如何演變的。顯然，銷售勢頭非常好，而且還有一些其他產品和平台即將推出。您認為分銷商的收費方式發生了哪些變化（如果有）？我們已經聽到了關於安置費用結構的這種大的、也許更多的協調。

So how does that play out? I know there's a little bit of a higher fee that, Jarrod, that you highlighted on the call as well of $50 million. So was that a onetime placement fee from some of the closed-end funds? Or we should expect a just kind of generally higher run rate G&A expense from distribution?

那麼結果如何呢？Jarrod，我知道您在電話會議上也強調了 5000 萬美元的費用要高一些。那麼這是一些封閉式基金的一次性配售費嗎？或者我們應該期望從分銷中獲得普遍較高的運行率一般行政費用？

Jarrod, why don't you handle the second.

賈羅德，為什麼不處理第二個呢？

Yeah. Sounds great. So Alex, that is actually kind of a run rate based on what we did on the wealth management channel for the quarter. So as we see more fundraise in that channel, we would expect to see more expense there.

是的。聽起來很棒。亞歷克斯，這實際上是根據我們本季在財富管理管道上所做的事情得出的運行率。因此，當我們看到該管道籌集更多資金時，我們預計該管道的支出也會增加。

The one thing that I'll remind you, which I also had in my prepared remarks, is that as we calculate the part 1 or the FRPR, depending on the product. We do recoup those amounts out of employee expenses first. And then it really is about a 40% impact of that overall cost that was through in terms of a margin or G&A expense headwind. But I view that -- as much as you can view an expense as a positive, I generally view it as a positive expense because it means that we're continuing to fundraise, and that we're continuing to build a base in those products which we can scale off of.

我要提醒您的一件事（我在準備好的發言中也提到過）是，我們根據產品計算第 1 部分或 FRPR。我們確實會先從員工費用中收回這些金額。然後，就利潤率或一般行政費用逆風而言，整體成本的影響大約有 40%。但我認為，儘管你可以將支出視為積極的支出，但我通常將其視為積極的支出，因為這意味著我們將繼續籌款，並且我們將繼續在這些產品上建立基礎我們可以縮小規模。

And the fact is we're still in the very early innings of these products. So as we build more scale there, these numbers will be smaller and smaller in relation to that scale.

事實上，我們仍處於這些產品的早期發展階段。因此，當我們在那裡建立更大的規模時，這些數字相對於該規模將會越來越小。

And I think your question in terms of harmonization, I think there's -- the simple answer, without going through all the nuances is, yes, directionally, I think there is more harmonization. There's a fair amount of nuance in that answer just in terms of the different products and the different channels and geographies and investor share classes. But I think as the market matures and there's more product proliferation, that you should expect to see more normalization of the structures.

我認為你關於協調方面的問題，我認為簡單的答案，無需考慮所有細微差別，是的，從方向上來說，我認為有更多的協調。僅就不同的產品、不同的管道、地理和投資者股票類別而言，這個答案就存在相當多的細微差別。但我認為，隨著市場的成熟和產品的增多，你應該會看到結構更加規範化。

That makes sense. And then, Mike, too, one of the things you said earlier when it comes to deployment in your prepared remarks, you highlighted I think being a little bit more selective. Maybe I'm paraphrasing a bit. But as you think about the competitive dynamics, whether it's from syndicated markets or from other direct lending players, I guess, how are you guys approaching sort of the major buckets of where you're deploying capital right now, either by sponsor-based or direct to companies?

這是有道理的。然後，麥克，你之前在準備好的發言中談到部署時所說的一件事，你強調了我認為要更有選擇性。也許我有點轉述。但當你考慮競爭動態時，無論是來自銀團市場還是來自其他直接貸款參與者，我想，你們現在正在部署資本的主要領域是如何進行的，無論是基於贊助商還是基於贊助商？ ？

And sort of size where you find yourself still generating compelling-enough excess returns, given the space has gotten more competitive.

考慮到這個領域的競爭變得更加激烈，你會發現自己仍然能產生足夠引人注目的超額回報。

Yeah, we do. And I thought that Kipp and Kort did a nice job kind of talking about the competitive positioning on the ARCC call, but it's probably worth reminding folks here. We have a very unique origination advantage. A, I think we've been doing it longer than anybody in the market.

是的，我們願意。我認為 Kipp 和 Kort 在 ARCC 電話會議上談論競爭定位方面做得很好，但這裡可能值得提醒大家。我們擁有非常獨特的起源優勢。答，我認為我們做這件事的時間比市場上任何人都長。

We do it at a scale that is difficult for people to rival. It is broad-based geographically. It's broad-based by strategy. It is sponsored and is non-sponsored. We have 8 highly developed industry verticals that are originating direct to company.

我們的規模是人們難以匹敵的。它的地理基礎廣泛。它的戰略基礎廣泛。它有贊助的和非贊助的。我們有 8 個高度發展的垂直產業，這些垂直產業直接源自公司。

And I think most importantly and most differentiated is we have the ability to invest up and down the size spectrum of company in the middle market, competing with certain folks in the lower middle market day to day, and what people would call the core market, and then the larger end of the market. Whereas I think some of our peers are probably more focused on that upper end of the market.

我認為最重要也是最與眾不同的是我們有能力在中端市場上下投資不同規模的公司，與中低端市場的某些人日常競爭，也就是人們所說的核心市場，然後更大的市場。然而我認為我們的一些同行可能更關注高端市場。

So when we're having this conversation about the reopening of the syndicated loan and high-yield market, that's okay for us. If you look at our CLO performance as one example, we've already achieved a record level of fundraising in our CLO franchise in the first six months of this year.

因此，當我們討論重新開放銀團貸款和高收益市場時，這對我們來說沒有問題。如果你以我們的 CLO 表現為例，今年前六個月，我們的 CLO 特許經營權已經達到了創紀錄的籌款水平。

So we're kind of on both sides of that opportunity. And when the liquid markets open up, we see meaningful growth and capital velocity in our liquid business. And when they close, we take advantage of that and we try to capture share at the upper end of our market.

所以我們在這個機會上處於兩面。當流動性市場開放時，我們的流動性業務將看到有意義的成長和資本週轉率。當它們關閉時，我們會利用這一點，並嘗試佔領高端市場的份額。

But what you saw in the deployment from ARCC, and I think it's showing up in the pipeline as well, the ability to pivot down-market and capture excess return there is really, really unique. And I think that's a big driver of our ability to deploy in any market environment.

但你在 ARCC 的部署中看到的，我認為它也出現在管道中，轉向低端市場並獲得超額回報的能力確實非常獨特。我認為這是我們在任何市場環境中進行部署的能力的重要推動力。

And then lastly, we talk about this a lot, is just incumbency. When you look at the size of the portfolios that we manage around the globe, 40% to 60% of the dollars that we're putting out are into incumbent relationships. And so you saw that through 2023, in what was a slow M&A and new issue market, we were still deploying at very healthy rates because of the value of that incumbency.

最後，我們常常談論這個問題，就是在職。如果你看看我們在全球管理的投資組合的規模，你會發現我們投入的資金中有 40% 到 60% 都投入了現有關係。因此，您可以看到，到 2023 年，在併購和新股發行市場緩慢的情況下，由於該職位的價值，我們仍然以非常健康的速度進行部署。

So probably a long-winded answer, but I think the deployment continues to be broad-based. We have a lot of flexibility to move around the market, liquid to illiquid, up and down balance sheet, sponsored and non-sponsored. And we'll continue to do that.

所以這可能是一個冗長的答案，但我認為部署仍然是基礎廣泛的。我們在市場上有很大的彈性，從流動性到非流動性，資產負債表的上下浮動，贊助和非贊助。我們將繼續這樣做。

Brennan Hawken, UBS.

布倫南霍肯，瑞銀集團。

We know that markets can sometimes overreact, but at least based upon what they're telling us this morning, we are increasingly likely to see rate cuts. And they're actually telling us we might see more than just 25 basis points at a meeting, which seems like long odds at least initially, but whatever.

我們知道市場有時可能會反應過度，但至少根據他們今天早上告訴我們的情況，我們越來越有可能看到降息。他們實際上告訴我們，我們在一次會議上可能會看到不僅僅是 25 個基點，至少在最初看來可能性很小，但無論如何。

So could you remind us about the sensitivity to a 25 basis points drop in short-term rates on FRPR and what the likely offsets would be to that impact?

那麼您能否提醒我們 FRPR 短期利率下降 25 個基點的敏感度以及可能抵消這一影響的措施是什麼？

Sure. Let's go a little bit deeper than just FRPR because I think it's important for people to understand how it rolls through the different components. But this, again, is where the structure of our P&L and the structure of our balance sheet, I think, is going to differentiate. And we talk a lot about the importance of balance sheet-light versus balance sheet-heavy to smooth out the volatility that you see from sharp changes in valuation and rate moves.

當然。讓我們比 FRPR 更深入一些，因為我認為人們了解它如何在不同的組件中滾動很重要。但我認為，這也是我們的損益表結構和資產負債表結構的區別。我們談論了很多資產負債表（輕資產負債表與重資產負債表）的重要性，以平滑估值和利率變動的急劇變化所帶來的波動。

So if you were to look at the composition of the P&L, first and foremost, we've obviously been a beneficiary of rates staying high on the part 1 part of the P&L. There are public disclosures in the ARCC 10-Q that walk people through what the sensitivity is.

因此，如果你看一下損益表的組成，首先也是最重要的是，我們顯然是損益表第一部分維持高利率的受益者。ARCC 10-Q 中進行了公開揭露，引導人們了解敏感度是什麼。

But the good news is what you'll see there is that, if there's a 100 basis points decline in rates, just based on the structure of the compensation there, that would have roughly a $9 million impact on FRE. So cut that by four for your 25 basis points question, which is sub-1%.

但好消息是，如果利率下降 100 個基點，僅根據那裡的薪資結構，就會對 FRE 產生約 900 萬美元的影響。因此，對於 25 個基點問題，將其削減 4 個基點，即低於 1%。

But importantly, when rates come down, we typically see transaction volumes pick up. And that decline in part 1 is typically offset by increased volumes and increased transaction fees. So our experience has been, in that part of the P&L, that we've been net beneficiaries.

但重要的是，當利率下降時，我們通常會看到交易量上升。第 1 部分的下降通常被交易量的增加和交易費用的增加所抵消。因此，我們的經驗是，在損益表的這一部分中，我們一直是淨受益者。

When it comes to FRPR, it's also important to understand that there's a lag effect, to your specific question. So typically, when we see rate decline, just based on the structure of our investments, there's usually a six-month lag effect. But if you were to look at 2024 positioning, if we saw a 25 basis points rate cut in 2024, that would probably have a $0.5 million impact on our FRPR.

當談到 FRPR 時，了解您的特定問題存在滯後效應也很重要。因此，通常情況下，當我們看到利率下降時，僅根據我們的投資結構，通常會出現六個月的滯後效應。但如果你看看 2024 年的定位，如果我們在 2024 年看到降息 25 個基點，這可能會對我們的 FRPR 產生 50 萬美元的影響。

So again, you could multiply that by whatever number you want. And then again, the future impact is going to be a function of what does it mean for earnings performance, valuations, et cetera. But the 2024 impact is de minimis.

同樣，您可以將其乘以您想要的任何數字。話又說回來，未來的影響將取決於它對獲利表現、估值等意味著什麼。但 2024 年的影響微乎其微。

With regard to our disclosures on European waterfall, I think it's important that people understand that when we're making those calculations and giving you the guidance that we're giving, we're already using the forward yield curve in that guidance. So no surprises there. But in terms of how we expect that to roll through the portfolios, the expectation for cuts is already baked in.

關於我們對歐洲瀑布的披露，我認為重要的是，人們要明白，當我們進行這些計算並向您提供我們所提供的指導時，我們已經在該指導中使用了遠期收益率曲線。所以這並不奇怪。但就我們對投資組合的預期方式而言，削減的預期已經存在。

From a balance sheet standpoint, obviously, balance sheet-light, we don't expect any material impact. And in fact, obviously, given that we borrow under a pretty sizable floating rate revolver, we should see a net benefit from lower interest expense.

從資產負債表的角度來看，顯然，在資產負債表較少的情況下，我們預期不會產生任何重大影響。事實上，顯然，考慮到我們在相當大的浮動利率左輪手槍下借款，我們應該會看到較低的利息支出帶來的淨收益。

And then maybe just to wrap all of that together. Like I said, we expect that the future decline in rates will spur increased capital markets and transaction activity and velocity of capital, which we think is a net add. So I feel really good about the rate positioning. And to the extent that rate cuts start sooner than the market originally had underwritten based on today's jobs report, then so be it.

然後也許只是將所有這些包裝在一起。正如我所說，我們預期未來利率的下降將刺激資本市場、交易活動和資本週轉率的增加，我們認為這是淨增加。所以我對利率定位感覺非常好。如果降息開始的時間比市場最初根據今天的就業報告所預測的要早，那就這樣吧。

All right. That was very helpful, Michael. In your prepared remarks, you indicated signs of recovery in real estate which is certainly encouraging to hear. Could you maybe drill down a little bit into that? What parts of the market are you beginning to see those signs? How broad-based is it? And how much of that encouraging signs might have to do with the idea we could be getting some relief on the interest rate side? Which has been a bit of a headwind for that business.

好的。這非常有幫助，邁克爾。在您準備好的演講中，您指出了房地產復甦的跡象，這無疑令人鼓舞。您能深入研究一下嗎？您開始在市場的哪些部分看到這些跡象？它的基礎有多廣泛？這些令人鼓舞的跡像有多少可能與我們可以在利率方面得到一些緩解的想法有關？這對該業務來說有點不利。

Yeah. I think that's a big part of it. Obviously, the real estate business is one of the more rate-sensitive parts of the alternative landscape. And so getting rate stability, if not rate reduction, that does have a flow-through impact to transaction markets.

是的。我認為這是其中很大一部分。顯然，房地產業務是另類領域中對利率更敏感的部分之一。因此，即使不降低利率，維持利率穩定也會對交易市場產生流動性影響。

And so I think some of the falling that you're beginning to see even ahead of the rate cuts is anticipation of rate reductions. The segments of the market that we focus on, just to remind people, in order, are industrial logistics and multifamily. About 50% industrial, 25% multi is for three-quarters of our book.

因此，我認為，即使在降息之前，您也開始看到降息的一些下降是對降息的預期。我們關注的細分市場，只是為了提醒人們，依序是工業物流和多戶住宅。我們書中的四分之三內容是大約 50% 的工業內容和 25% 的多元內容。

And as we've been talking about all through this rate-hiking cycle, the fundamentals at the property level in those markets have continued to be quite strong, and the secular demand drivers are still intact. And so there is some fundamental strength that pushes through to transaction volume once you start to see the rates come down, and that's part of it as well.

正如我們在整個升息週期中一直在談論的那樣，這些市場的房地產層面的基本面仍然相當強勁，長期需求驅動因素仍然完好無損。因此，一旦你開始看到利率下降，就會有一些基本力量推動交易量的成長，這也是其中的一部分。

The real estate debt business, I'd also say, has been a bright spot for us. Obviously, as we've seen in other parts of the private credit landscape, as the banks are derisking, the private markets, have been able to come in and be a pretty reliable capital provider at some pretty attractive rates. And we have seen a meaningful opportunity developing in our US and European debt business as well, where we're seeing some pretty healthy deployment.

我還想說，房地產債務業務一直是我們的亮點。顯然，正如我們在私人信貸領域的其他領域所看到的那樣，隨著銀行降低風險，私人市場已經能夠以相當有吸引力的利率介入並成為相當可靠的資本提供者。我們在美國和歐洲債務業務中也看到了一個有意義的機會，我們看到了一些相當健康的部署。

Bill Katz, TD Cowen.

比爾·卡茨，TD·考恩。

So Michael, in the opening remarks, you talked about the sort of shifting demographics of investing with younger folks more interested in alts. How are your conversations going with some of the retirement gatekeepers, particularly in the 401(k), so that's target date fund area? Is there any building receptivity to opening up sleeve to the alternatives?

邁克爾，在開場白中，您談到了對另類投資更感興趣的年輕人進行投資的人口結構變化。您與一些退休看門人的對話進度如何，特別是在 401(k) 領域，即目標日期基金領域？有沒有人願意接受其他選擇？

So the answer is we have dedicated teams and efforts underway here to make sure that our product is ready for that market when it opens. To your point, I think some of those logical channel partners are open and hoping to see the DC market open to privates and alternatives. You mentioned target date funds. I do think that will be one way that they find their way in.

因此，答案是我們有專門的團隊並正在努力確保我們的產品在開放時為該市場做好準備。就您的觀點而言，我認為其中一些合乎邏輯的通路合作夥伴是開放的，並希望看到 DC 市場向私人和替代方案開放。您提到了目標日期基金。我確實認為這將是他們進入的一種方式。

There are obviously going to be some, call it, legal and regulatory headwinds to those markets opening up as quickly as maybe we all would like them to see. But when they do, we'll be ready, I guess, is the best that I can say. But it is going to be a slow path, but one that we're cautiously optimistic will open up in due time.

顯然，這些市場的開放速度可能會遇到一些法律和監管上的阻力，而這些阻力可能是我們都希望看到的。但當他們這樣做時，我想，我們會做好準備，這是我能說的最好的。但這將是一條緩慢的道路，但我們謹慎樂觀地認為，這條道路將在適當的時候打開。

Okay. And just one for Jarrod, hate to belabor it, can you go back to just the offset on the comp side? I wasn't particularly following that related to the distribution. And then just stepping back, maybe give us an update on the flight path to the 45% margin for this year and then the sort of sequential rise as we look out to '28?

好的。賈羅德（Jarrod）只有一個，不想費吹灰之力，你能回到補償方面的補償嗎？我並沒有特別關注與發行版相關的內容。然後退一步，也許可以給我們介紹一下今年利潤率達到 45% 的最新進展，以及我們展望 28 年的連續成長？

Sure. The first part of the question there, when you think about these distribution fees that we pay, what we make sure is that we don't pay out comp on our Part I and our FRPR before we recapture those. So typically, what you've seen in Part I and FRPR is a 60-40 split, so 40% margin there.

當然。問題的第一部分是，當你考慮到我們支付的這些分銷費用時，我們要確保的是，在我們收回這些費用之前，我們不會支付第一部分和 FRPR 的補償。因此，通常情況下，您在第一部分和 FRPR 中看到的是 60-40 的分割，因此有 40% 的餘裕。

You'll see that those ratios were actually having a better margin. And that's a result of us making sure that we're quote-unquote, repaid, for those distribution cost prior to paying any employee expenses. So that means that the house is kind of sharing 60-40 the expense with the compensation pool. And I'm happy to walk you through more on the mechanics there. But that's essentially what it works, if you just take the total amount that we would otherwise earn and reduce from the expenses.

您會發現這些比率實際上具有更好的利潤。這是我們確保在支付任何員工費用之前償還這些分銷成本的結果。這意味著房子與補償池分擔 60-40 的費用。我很高興向您介紹更多有關其中的機制的資訊。但這本質上就是它的作用，如果你只考慮我們本來可以賺取的總金額並從支出中減少的話。

In terms of margin, we talked about this in Investor Day, our focus is, first and foremost, in high-quality growth. And sometimes high-quality growth comes with a cost prior to we seeing revenues for it. In doing so though, we know that because of the way we're built, generally, you'll see margin expand based on our deployment.

關於利潤率，我們在投資者日談到了這一點，我們的重點首先是高品質的成長。有時，在我們看到收入之前，高品質的成長是需要付出代價的。不過，在這樣做的過程中，我們知道，由於我們的建置方式，一般來說，您會看到根據我們的部署而增加的利潤。

So we walked through, and I walked through at Investor Day is that we'd be somewhere in the 0 to 150 basis points in any given year. And if you look at where we're at now, I think we're about 130 basis points up over last year. So as we continue to see deployment, we'll continue to see expansion of that margin. But it's going to be kind of at the speed of what deployment is.

所以我們經歷過，我在投資者日經歷過，我們在任何一年都會處於 0 到 150 個基點之間。如果你看看我們現在的處境，我認為我們比去年上漲了約 130 個基點。因此，隨著我們繼續看到部署，我們將繼續看到該利潤率的擴大。但它會以部署的速度進行。

So you'll have sometimes where it will spike, and you will have sometimes where it will be more flat. Certainly, a little bit of these distribution fees coming in is somewhat of a tailwind -- or a headwind to it. And as I mentioned earlier in my response that as we build scale in those products, these are one-time fees as you raise them, so they don't recur annually.

因此，有時會出現峰值，有時會比較平坦。當然，這些分銷費用中的一小部分在某種程度上是一種順風——或者說是一種逆風。正如我之前在回覆中提到的，當我們擴大這些產品的規模時，這些費用是一次性費用，因此不會每年重複發生。

So there will be a smaller percentage of the overall management fees that we are earning from these products going into future periods. So that's another way that margin will expand moving forward.

因此，我們從這些產品中獲得的整體管理費中，在未來的時期中所佔的比例將會較小。因此，這是利潤率繼續擴大的另一種方式。

Ben Budish, Barclays.

本·布迪什，巴克萊銀行。

Maybe first, on the state of competition in credit. Mike, you talked about some of the areas in which you're leaning into some of your advantages. Some of the media headlines would indicate that loan documentations either becoming looser or more flexible in response to competition.

也許首先是關於信貸競爭的狀況。麥克，您談到了您正在發揮自己優勢的一些領域。一些媒體頭條新聞表明，為了應對競爭，貸款文件要么變得更加寬鬆，要么變得更加靈活。

I was wondering if you could talk to the degree to what you're seeing at things like increasing inclusion of PIK optionality, things like that. To what degree are you seeing that sort of increase in the deals you're doing?

我想知道您是否可以談談您在增加 PIK 選擇性等方面所看到的情況。您所看到的交易量在多大程度上有所增加？

I'll try to give a simple answer to a not -- it's not actually a simple question because it goes back to some of my earlier comments just about the structure of the market. So in my oversimplified view of your lower middle market, traditional middle market and upper middle market, I think it's safe to say that generally in the lower middle market and traditional middle market, you have seen very little, if any, of the large market structural deterioration find its way into those markets.

我將嘗試對一個「不」問題給出一個簡單的答案——這實際上不是一個簡單的問題，因為它可以追溯到我之前關於市場結構的一些評論。因此，在我對中低端市場、傳統中端市場和中高端市場的過於簡單化的看法中，我認為可以肯定地說，一般來說，在中低端市場和傳統中端市場，你看到的大市場（如果有的話）非常少。

When you start to get into the upper end of the middle market in competition with both the liquid markets and the larger credit providers, you will see some but not nearly to the same extent as the traded markets some deterioration in structure, which I would argue in many cases could be said to be appropriate because they're higher quality, sometimes larger borrowers that can command that type of structure.

當你開始進入中端市場的高端，與流動性市場和較大的信貸提供者競爭時，你會看到一些結構惡化，但與交易市場的程度不一樣，我認為在許多情況下，可以說是合適的，因為它們是品質更高、有時規模更大的借款人，可以掌握這種類型的結構。

But most of the things that people should be concerned about in terms of the liability management loopholes and things that the media tends to focus on, those are really not present in the middle market. I think there's been an extraordinary amount of discipline despite the perception of increased competition on documents.

但大多數人們應該關心的責任管理漏洞和媒體往往關注的事情，而這些在中間市場確實不存在。我認為，儘管人們認為文件方面的競爭日益激烈，但仍然存在非常嚴格的紀律。

Kipp and Kort, again, on the ARCC call addressed this as well in saying that when you look at where we're turning transaction down, it's largely going to be over documents, and it could be some fairly simple or seemingly simple things that we will pass on if we don't feel that we have the ability to exercise our creditor rights when we need to the way that we need to.

Kipp 和Kort 在ARCC 電話會議上也解決了這個問題，他們說，當你看看我們拒絕交易的地方時，你會發現，這很大程度上是在文件方面，而且可能是一些我們認為相當簡單或看似簡單的事情。

So I do think the media is probably overblowing it relative to the broad middle market. And even at the upper end in relation to the liquid market, it's really not that pervasive. I think PIK is a different question. And again, not to go down a PIK rabbit hole, PIK in today's market is not necessarily an indicator of structural deterioration. I would encourage people to think about it as a way for private credit managers to capture excess return at a time when base rates are high.

因此，我確實認為相對於廣闊的中間市場，媒體可能誇大了它。即使在流動性市場的高端，這種情況也並不是那麼普遍。我認為 PIK 是一個不同的問題。再說一遍，不要陷入 PIK 的兔子洞，今天市場上的 PIK 不一定是結構性惡化的指標。我鼓勵人們將其視為私人信貸管理者在基本利率較高時獲取超額回報的一種方式。

And so if you are thinking about prudently structuring your leverage and managing to a sustainable interest coverage ratio and not constraining the cash flow of a company and constraining their ability to execute their business and growth plan, then PIK is the way that you're going to capture excess return and support your borrowers.

因此，如果您正在考慮謹慎地建立槓桿並管理可持續的利息覆蓋率，而不是限制公司的現金流量和執行業務和成長計劃的能力，那麼 PIK 就是您的選擇獲取超額回報並支持借款人。

So you have to differentiate between PIK that is intentional at the outset versus maybe PIK that is used to reduce default, et cetera, et cetera. But again, that's not really the same as some of the other structural deteriorations that people like to think about. And again, when you look at our approach to PIK in the corporate credit book, it's more of the former than the latter.

因此，您必須區分一開始就有意為之的 PIK 和可能用於減少違約等的 PIK。但同樣，這與人們喜歡思考的其他一些結構性惡化並不相同。再說一遍，當您查看我們在企業信用簿中處理 PIK 的方法時，您會發現更多的是前者而不是後者。

Got it. Very helpful. And then maybe just a quick follow-up. Just given the size of the latest SDL fund, how do you think about sort of the future of the fund structure there? Does it make sense to continue to scale up these drawdown funds? Or to what degree will you continue to maybe raise or from -- to an outsized degree from more perpetual strategies that could potentially be more scalable?

知道了。非常有幫助。然後也許只是快速跟進。考慮到最新 SDL 基金的規模，您如何看待該基金結構的未來？繼續擴大這些提取資金規模是否有意義？或者你會在多大程度上繼續提高或從可能更具可擴展性的更持久的策略中提高到超乎尋常的程度？

Yeah. I think this is a place that we've been quite vocal. Craig brought it up earlier as we said that we were kind of tempering growth despite the high growth in places like ASIF. You've seen us raising equity and scaling ARCC and now you're seeing an SDL III.

是的。我認為這是我們一直在大聲疾呼的地方。克雷格早些時候提出了這一點，因為我們說過，儘管像 ASIF 這樣的地方增長很快，但我們還是在緩和增長。您已經看到我們籌集股本並擴大 ARCC，現在您看到的是 SDL III。

We have learned over the 30 years that we've been doing this that it is critically important that you are diversified in your distribution and funding sources. We have a pretty good handle going into any year or years as to what we think our deployment capacity is and we structure our capital to meet that deployment capacity.

30 年來我們一直在這樣做，我們了解到，分銷和資金來源的多元化至關重要。我們對任何一年或幾年的部署能力都有相當好的把握，並且我們建立資本以滿足該部署能力。

So SDL has been investing already as we've raised. We're about $9 billion in the ground on that fund, so it is deploying at the expected pace. But we never want to be beholden to one fund or one channel. Because in different parts in the cycle, those will open or close. So if the non-traded market sees a slowdown in appetite, we want to make sure that we have other forms of capital that can actually meet the deployment demand.

因此，SDL 已經在我們籌集的資金中進行了投資。我們對該基金的投入約為 90 億美元，因此它正在按照預期的速度進行部署。但我們絕不希望受制於某一基金或某一管道。因為在循環的不同部分，它們會打開或關閉。因此，如果非交易市場的需求放緩，我們希望確保我們擁有其他形式的資本，能夠真正滿足部署需求。

Similarly, as we get closer to end of fund life on some of our commingled, you may see us turn on managed accounts or the public entities. It's just -- it's critically important that people understand that, that diversity of funding is a big driver of how we actually create value here, and we'll continue to do it. So I don't think we'll ever give up on this complement of funds that we have, open-ended, closed-ended, perpetual offer, campaign, traded, non-traded. It's a big part of how we run the business.

同樣，當我們的一些混合基金的壽命即將結束時，您可能會看到我們轉向管理帳戶或公共實體。只是——讓人們明白這一點至關重要，資金的多樣性是我們如何在這裡實際創造價值的重要驅動力，我們將繼續這樣做。因此，我認為我們永遠不會放棄我們現有的基金補充，開放式、封閉式、永久報價、活動、交易、非交易。這是我們經營業務的重要組成部分。

Ken Worthington, JPMorgan.

肯‧沃辛頓，摩根大通。

We're almost 18 months beyond the regional bank crisis. I think Ares considered the opportunity to come in various different phases for Ares over time. What phase would you consider us to be in now? And what do you see is the opportunity for Ares kind of going forward? And does a more benign interest rate environment alter the opportunity set that you see going forward?

距地區銀行危機已近 18 個月了。我認為阿瑞斯考慮了隨著時間的推移讓阿瑞斯進入各個不同階段的機會。您認為我們現在處於哪個階段？您認為 Ares 未來的機會是什麼？更良性的利率環境是否會改變您認為未來的機會集？

Yeah. I wouldn't say that it alters the opportunity set. I mean, just to reiterate, I think what you're referring to, we've talked about the different phases. One was obviously an early phase, where there is just certain portfolios that were distressed or certain balance sheets that were distressed that needed resolution either through asset sales or risk transfer transactions. And there's still some of that going on.

是的。我不會說它改變了機會集。我的意思是，重申一下，我認為你所指的是，我們已經討論了不同的階段。其中一個顯然是早期階段，只有某些陷入困境的投資組合或某些陷入困境的資產負債表需要透過資產出售或風險轉移交易來解決。現在仍然有一些這樣的事情發生。

But given the continued strength in the economy now, the prospect for rates, you may see less of that. There still is a pretty significant amount of assets sitting on bank balance sheets that will need to get resolved either for credit reasons or regulatory capital reasons. And so I don't think that means that the types of deals that we are seeing are not going to happen. They just may not be happening at the same velocity.

但考慮到目前經濟的持續強勁以及利率的前景，你可能會看到更少的情況。銀行資產負債表上仍有相當大量的資產需要因信貸原因或監理資本原因而解決。因此，我認為這並不意味著我們所看到的交易類型不會發生。它們只是可能不會以相同的速度發生。

We are now, I think, transitioning to the next phase, which we've talked about, which is a much more sustained opportunity, is that in the wake of that crisis and the wake of increased regulatory capital pressure, you will begin to see more of these assets finding their way into the private markets. And that's actually a more consistent opportunity set for places like our alternative credit business and our real estate lending business, to name a few.

我認為，我們現在正在過渡到我們已經討論過的下一階段，這是一個更持續的機會，在這場危機和監管資本壓力加大之後，你將開始看到更多的此類資產進入私人市場。這實際上為我們的另類信貸業務和房地產貸款業務等領域提供了更一致的機會。

So I think that transition is underway. We're seeing it in the composition of our pipelines. But even with rates coming down, just given some of the acute stresses on certain bank balance sheets, I wouldn't rule out that you'll continue to see a decent amount of portfolio trades and continued risk transfer deals as well.

所以我認為這種轉變正在進行中。我們在管道的構成中看到了這一點。但即使利率下降，考慮到某些銀行資產負債表面臨的一些嚴重壓力，我也不排除您將繼續看到大量的投資組合交易和持續的風險轉移交易。

Patrick Davitt, Autonomous Research.

派崔克戴維特，自主研究。

Most of mine have been asked, but maybe a broader macro one. It strikes me that everything you're saying today is a pretty dramatic contrast with what the market thinks is happening today. So from what you can see across your borrowers, PE companies, et cetera, against the jobs report today, do you see this as an overreaction? Or do you think there's a real potential evolution towards seeing a path to slower economic growth and thus more cuts than maybe you and your competitors have been talking about just a couple of months ago?

我的大部分問題都被問過，但也許是更廣泛的宏觀問題。讓我驚訝的是，你今天所說的一切與市場認為今天正在發生的事情形成了鮮明的對比。那麼，根據今天的就業報告，從借款人、私募股權公司等的情況來看，您是否認為這是一種過度反應？或者您認為存在真正的潛在演變，導致經濟成長放緩，從而導致比您和您的競爭對手幾個月前談論的更多的削減？

Yeah. We've talked about this a lot. I mean, the best we can do -- we don't have a crystal ball, but we have data that we see in our private market portfolios that is telling us something different. And we've been consistent on that.

是的。我們已經討論過很多次了。我的意思是，我們能做的最好的事情是——我們沒有水晶球，但我們在私人市場投資組合中看到的數據告訴我們一些不同的東西。我們在這一點上一直保持一致。

So two years ago, when the markets were calling for a recession, we weren't. And so we try not to get worked up as long-term investors in any one singular headline. We obviously already talked about that if rate cuts get pulled forward, both in terms of timing and magnitude, I think the business is very well positioned for that transition. But we are not seeing anything in our private portfolios that would argue for what we're seeing in the market today.

所以兩年前，當市場呼籲經濟衰退時，我們卻沒有。因此，作為長期投資者，我們盡量不要因為任何單一的標題而感到興奮。我們顯然已經討論過，如果降息提前，無論是在時間上還是幅度上，我認為該業務都為這一轉變做好了充分的準備。但我們在私人投資組合中沒有看到任何與我們今天在市場上看到的情況相矛盾的東西。

It's interesting because as a private market practitioner that runs a public company, I'm often struck at just the volatility and schizophrenia that you can see in the interpretation of data that comes out in the public markets. And month-to-month, good news is bad news and bad news is good news. And today, I guess, okay news is bad news.

這很有趣，因為作為經營上市公司的私人市場從業者，我經常對公開市場數據的解釋中所看到的波動性和精神分裂感到震驚。每個月，好消息就是壞消息，壞消息就是好消息。我想今天好消息就是壞消息。

We just try to look at the facts as we see them and make sure that we're well positioned. But I personally feel -- I feel like it's an overreaction, but we'll keep collecting data and react accordingly.

我們只是嘗試著眼於我們所看到的事實，並確保我們處於有利的位置。但我個人覺得——我覺得這是一種過度反應，但我們會繼續收集數據並做出相應反應。

Michael Cyprys, Morgan Stanley.

麥可‧賽普里斯，摩根士丹利。

Just wanted to ask on the non-sponsor business that you guys have, just if could share an update on that just in terms of non-sponsor direct lending? Remind us of the size of that platform and some of the initiatives that you have for broadening that out, particularly as banks are looking to run with more capital-efficient balance sheets. And then just curious how you'd expect the pace of activity there at non-sponsor to evolve over the next 12 months as compared to your larger sponsor direct lending business.

只是想問你們擁有的非贊助商業務，能否分享一下非贊助商直接貸款的最新情況？請提醒我們該平台的規模以及您為擴大該平台而採取的一些舉措，特別是當銀行希望以更具資本效率的資產負債表運行時。然後只是想知道，與規模較大的贊助商直接貸款業務相比，您預計未來 12 個月內非贊助商的活動節奏會如何發展。

Sure. As I said, we have right now about eight industry teams that we deploy across the private credit business. They are originating direct to corporate, and they are supporting our sponsor-led originators and deal teams when a sponsor is actually investing in a company in that industry.

當然。正如我所說，我們目前在私人信貸業務中部署了大約八個行業團隊。他們直接向企業發起，當贊助商實際投資該行業的公司時，他們支持我們贊助商主導的發起人和交易團隊。

So it's kind of a double benefit of that we're actually able to increase our non-sponsored origination, but also, I think, do a better job underwriting in some of these markets. The non-sponsored business, just given the size of the markets and the importance of sponsor, will continue to grow on an aggregate dollar basis. But I'm not sure that we'll get it to a place where it's kind of going to overwhelm the sponsor-backed opportunity.

因此，這是一種雙重好處，我們實際上能夠增加我們的非贊助發起，而且我認為，在其中一些市場上做得更好。考慮到市場的規模和贊助商的重要性，非贊助業務將在總美元基礎上繼續成長。但我不確定我們能否將其發展到壓倒贊助商支持的機會的地步。

But order of magnitude, just to give you a sense, if you were to look at our non-sponsored origination just in our direct lending business, and there's a pull-through effect to other parts of the business, it's probably somewhere between 5% and 10%, so it's meaningful aggregate dollars, but it's not going to move the needle in any given period.

但數量級，只是為了給你一個感覺，如果你看看我們的直接貸款業務中的非贊助起源，並且對業務的其他部分有拉動效應，它可能在 5% 之間和10%，所以這是有意義的總金額，但在任何特定時期內都不會產生任何影響。

It's highly differentiated, particularly in some of these core verticals, like sports media and entertainment or life sciences, where we've been early both in adding people and capital. So we'll keep making those investments.

它具有高度差異化，特別是在一些核心垂直領域，例如體育媒體和娛樂或生命科學，我們在這些領域很早就增加了人員和資本。因此，我們將繼續進行這些投資。

Brian Bedell, Deutsche Bank.

布萊恩·比德爾，德意志銀行。

Mike, just to follow on the last couple of questions on maybe on deployment as we sort of move into the back half of this year and come into 2025, just in this, I guess, only a couple of days in here but a very recent environment, obviously, where sentiment is shifting negative.

麥克，我想繼續回答最後幾個關於部署的問題，因為我們即將進入今年下半年並進入 2025 年，我想，就在這裡，只有幾天，但最近發生了顯然，市場情緒正在轉向負面。

To the extent that we have more market volatility and at least temporary financial stress in the system, how could that impact your deployment plans for the second half? Would that actually help you because potentially bank sponsors would pull back? Or would it freeze up deployment temporarily potentially?

如果我們的市場波動較大，且系統至少面臨暫時的財務壓力，這會對您下半年的部署計畫產生什麼影響？這真的會對你有幫助嗎，因為潛在的銀行贊助商會退出？或者它會暫時凍結部署嗎？

Yeah. So the way I think people need to begin to understand the deployment is the deployment geography will change, right? So if you go back and you look at 2023, where new transaction volume was constrained, you would have seen increased deal activity within the incumbent portfolios and in places like opportunistic credit, alternative credit and secondaries because they're going to be that liquidity provider into the dislocated market.

是的。所以我認為人們需要開始理解部署的方式是部署地理將會改變，對吧？因此，如果你回顧 2023 年，新交易量受到限制，你會發現現有投資組合以及機會主義信貸、替代信貸和二級市場等領域的交易活動有所增加，因為它們將成為流動性提供者進入錯位的市場。

Then you transition to a healthy market, and you'll see volumes ramp up in the liquid side of the business and new issue volumes increasing in the direct lending market. And if we go into a more volatile market and banks pull back, et cetera, et cetera, then you'll shift it again. So because of the diversity of strategies that we manage and the diversity of geographies that we manage them in, the volatility of deployment is reducing over time.

然後，您過渡到一個健康的市場，您會看到業務流動性方面的交易量增加，並且直接貸款市場的新發行量增加。如果我們進入一個更波動的市場，銀行撤資等等，那麼你就會再次改變它。因此，由於我們管理的策略的多樣性以及我們管理策略的地理位置的多樣性，部署的波動性隨著時間的推移而減少。

And so yeah, I continue to believe that just based on the weight of capital, the aging of the installed base of private equity, rate cuts having a corollary impact on valuations and the cost of capital, I still think that we're going to see pretty healthy deployment into the back half of the year, today's market move notwithstanding. But if for whatever reason, the market has got too nervous, then we're going to find other parts where our capital is going to be more relevant and we'd kind of be deploying there as well. So I think we're in a really good spot.

所以，是的，我仍然相信，僅基於資本的權重、私募股權安裝基礎的老化、降息對估值和資本成本的必然影響，我仍然認為我們將儘管今天的市場發生了變化，但下半年的部署仍相當健康。但如果出於某種原因，市場變得過於緊張，那麼我們將尋找我們的資本更相關的其他部分，我們也會在那裡部署。所以我認為我們處於一個非常好的位置。

That's helpful. And maybe just one on retail. Any interest in doing a deal like what we saw with, obviously, KKR and Capital in terms of a hybrid structure with retail products to a much wider distribution, or you like your strategy as it is now?

這很有幫助。也許只是零售方面的一項。顯然，您有興趣進行像我們所看到的 KKR 和 Capital 那樣的交易，以零售產品進行更廣泛的分銷的混合結構，或者您喜歡您現在的策略嗎？

Well, as of now, that's just a headline. I don't know if anybody really knows what that deal actually looks like. So I can't opine as to whether or not we would do something like that or not. We have partnered with more traditional asset management platforms over the years through various sub-advisory agreements and partnerships to bring private markets into some of those portfolios, and that's been a part of our diversification of distribution historically. So I would expect that type of thing would continue.

好吧，到目前為止，這只是一個頭條新聞。我不知道是否有人真正知道這筆交易實際上是什麼樣子。所以我無法決定我們是否會做那樣的事情。多年來，我們透過各種次級諮詢協議和合作夥伴關係與更傳統的資產管理平台合作，將私人市場納入其中一些投資組合，這一直是我們歷史上分銷多元化的一部分。所以我預計這種事情會繼續下去。

We would be open to it. I think I would just go back to some of our comments around our Investor Day is that we are very focused on what I would call high-quality growth. And what I mean by that is sustainable growth at a high fee rate, high margin, where we are maximizing the value of our origination. Because at the end of the day, the binding constraint to growth and profitability for anybody in our business is going to be our ability to source unique assets. And how we then deliver those assets to our clients, whether they're institutional or retail, is another side of the equation.

我們對此持開放態度。我想我只想回到我們在投資者日的一些評論，那就是我們非常關注我所說的高品質成長。我的意思是，以高費率、高利潤實現永續成長，我們正在最大化我們的起源價值。因為歸根結底，對我們業務中的任何人來說，成長和獲利能力的約束因素將是我們獲取獨特資產的能力。然後我們如何將這些資產交付給我們的客戶，無論他們是機構客戶還是零售客戶，都是等式的另一面。

But from the Ares Management shareholder perspective, our goal is to make sure that we maximize the profitability of that origination. And so I don't -- again, not knowing what those partnerships look like, it is very expensive to originate and portfolio-manage the type of assets that we do. They do require a high fee rate, which is why our average fee rate is 1.1%.

但從 Ares Management 股東的角度來看，我們的目標是確保我們最大限度地提高該專案的獲利能力。因此，我不知道這些合作關係是什麼樣的，我們所做的資產類型的創建和投資組合管理非常昂貴。他們確實需要很高的費率，這就是為什麼我們的平均費率是1.1%。

And so we have to be very careful that when we start talking about private markets within traditional portfolios that people don't go down the rabbit hole of thinking they can access difficult-to-access, non-correlated, unique private outcomes at public market rates.

因此，當我們開始談論傳統投資組合中的私人市場時，我們必須非常小心，不要讓人們誤以為他們可以在公開市場上獲得難以獲得的、不相關的、獨特的私人結果。

So we think a lot about it. We have very deep relationships with many of the traditional managers at the highest levels of the firms. But the calculus as to whether or not to enter into any partnership like that is going to really go back to what I said earlier is what's our capacity to deploy? And is there a benefit in diversifying the distribution into that channel against that deployment? And so I think that's a TBD.

所以我們想了很多。我們與公司最高層的許多傳統管理者有著非常深厚的關係。但關於是否建立這樣的夥伴關係的計算實際上要回到我之前所說的，即我們的部署能力是什麼？相對於該部署，將分發多樣化到該管道是否有好處？所以我認為這是一個待定。

And gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions today. Mr. Arougheti, I'll turn things back to you, sir, for closing comments.

先生們，看來我們今天沒有其他問題了。Arougheti 先生，我將把事情轉回給您，先生，以供結束評論。

We appreciate it. Thank you for the great questions and the time today. And we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

我們很感激。感謝您今天提出的好問題和時間。我們期待下個季度再次與您交談。享受夏天剩下的時光。

Thank you, Mr. Arougheti. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our conference call for today. If you missed any part of today's call, an archived replay of the call will be available through September 2, 2024, to domestic callers by dialing 800-839-4012 and to international callers by dialing 402-220-2981.

謝謝你，阿魯蓋蒂先生。女士們先生們，我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，則在2024 年9 月2 日之前，國內來電者可撥打800-839-4012，國際來電者可撥打402-220-2981，獲取該電話會議的存檔重播。

An archived replay will also be available through September 2, 2024 on a webcast link located on the homepage of the Investor Resources section of our website. Again, thanks so much for joining us, everyone, and we wish you all a great weekend. Goodbye.

存檔重播也將在 2024 年 9 月 2 日之前透過我們網站投資者資源部分主頁上的網路廣播連結提供。再次非常感謝大家加入我們，祝大家週末愉快。再見。