Blackstone Inc (BX) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Blackstone Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2021 Investor Call hosted by Weston Tucker, Head of Shareholder Relations. My name is Leslie, and I'm the event manager. (Operator Instructions) I'd like to advise all parties that the conference is being recorded for replay purposes.

大家好，歡迎參加由股東關係主管 Weston Tucker 主持的 Blackstone 2021 年第四季度和年終投資者電話會議。我叫 Leslie，是活動經理。 （操作員說明）我想通知所有各方，正在錄製會議以供重播。

And now I'd like to hand you over to your host for today, Weston. Please go ahead.

現在我想把你交給今天的主持人，韋斯頓。請繼續。

Terrific. Thanks, Leslie. And good morning and welcome to Blackstone's fourth quarter conference call. Joining today are Steve Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO; Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Michael Chae, Chief Financial Officer.

了不起。謝謝，萊斯利。早上好，歡迎參加 Blackstone 第四季度電話會議。今天加入的有董事長兼首席執行官史蒂夫·施瓦茨曼（Steve Schwarzman）； Jon Gray，總裁兼首席運營官；和首席財務官 Michael Chae。

Earlier this morning, we issued a press release and slide presentation, which are available on our website. We expect to file our 10-K report later next month.

今天早上早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿和幻燈片演示，可在我們的網站上找到。我們預計將在下個月晚些時候提交我們的 10-K 報告。

I'd like to remind you that today's call may include forward-looking statements, which are uncertain and outside of the firm's control and may differ from actual results materially. We do not undertake any duty to update these statements. For a discussion of some of the risks that could affect results, please see the Risk Factors section of our 10-K. We'll also refer to non-GAAP measures on this call, and you'll find reconciliations in the press release on the shareholders page of our website.

我想提醒您，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述不確定且超出公司的控制範圍，並且可能與實際結果存在重大差異。我們不承擔更新這些聲明的任何義務。有關可能影響結果的一些風險的討論，請參閱我們 10-K 的風險因素部分。我們還將在本次電話會議中提及非公認會計原則措施，您可以在我們網站股東頁面上的新聞稿中找到對賬。

Also please note that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any Blackstone fund. This audiocast is copyrighted material of Blackstone and may not be duplicated without consent.

另請注意，本次電話會議中的任何內容均不構成出售任何 Blackstone 基金的要約或購買任何 Blackstone 基金權益的要約邀請。此音頻廣播是 Blackstone 的受版權保護的材料，未經同意不得複制。

On results, we reported GAAP net income for the quarter of $2.9 billion. Distributable earnings were $2.3 billion or $1.71 per common share, and we declared a dividend of $1.45 to be paid to holders of record as of February 7.

在業績方面，我們報告了該季度 29 億美元的 GAAP 淨收入。可分配收益為 23 億美元或每股普通股 1.71 美元，我們宣布向截至 2 月 7 日在冊的持有人支付 1.45 美元的股息。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Steve.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給史蒂夫。

Thank you, Weston. Good morning and thank you for joining our call. Today, Blackstone reported the most remarkable results in our history on virtually every metric. Distributable earnings rose 55% to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter and increased 85% to $6.2 billion for the year. Investment performance was exceptional, including over 40% appreciation in our opportunistic real estate and corporate private equity funds for 2021. And we raised $270 billion of inflows, over $0.25 trillion in 1 year, lifting assets under management by 42% to $881 billion. No other alternative firm in the world has approached this level of absolute growth in a single year.

謝謝你，韋斯頓。早上好，感謝您加入我們的電話。今天，Blackstone 在幾乎所有指標上都報告了我們歷史上最顯著的結果。第四季度可分配收益增長 55% 至 23 億美元，全年增長 85% 至 62 億美元。投資表現非常出色，包括我們的機會型房地產和企業私募股權基金在 2021 年的升值超過 40%。我們在一年內籌集了 2700 億美元的資金流入，超過 0.25 萬億美元，管理資產增加了 42%，達到 8810 億美元。世界上沒有其他替代公司在一年內達到這種絕對增長水平。

We told you in the second quarter that it was the most consequential in our history. That assertion was not based on short-term results. It was reflective of the sea change underway in asset management and our positioning within it, which is now playing out even more powerfully than we had previously anticipated.

我們在第二季度告訴過你，這是我們歷史上最重要的一次。該斷言並非基於短期結果。它反映了資產管理領域正在發生的巨變以及我們在其中的定位，現在正在發揮的作用比我們之前預期的還要強大。

Capital flows continue to shift towards 2 ends of a barbell: on one side, to low-cost passive funds; on the other side, flows are accelerating towards alternatives, a trend benefiting numerous firms in our industry, but none more profoundly than Blackstone.

資金流繼續向槓鈴的兩端轉移：一方面，流向低成本的被動基金；另一方面，流動正在加速轉向替代品，這一趨勢使我們行業中的眾多公司受益，但沒有比黑石更深刻的了。

In the world of alternatives, Blackstone is clear choice for global limited partners looking to invest in the asset class, whether it's a retail distributor or an institutional investor that needs to deploy billions of dollars across the capital structure. Today, we offer nearly 60 investment strategies, up from 35 5 years ago. We have the deepest menu of available products with compelling performance across our platform and the largest flow of investment activity in the world.

在另類投資領域，Blackstone 是希望投資該資產類別的全球有限合夥人的明確選擇，無論是零售分銷商還是需要在整個資本結構中部署數十億美元的機構投資者。今天，我們提供近 60 種投資策略，而 5 年前為 35 種。我們擁有最豐富的可用產品菜單，在我們的平台上具有引人注目的性能和世界上最大的投資活動流。

The result is a powerful network effect. Our customers are constantly in our store and our shelves are full, which results in Blackstone gaining a huge percentage of repeat business and a high likelihood it will choose our new products as well. This network effect extends to new platforms that we launch. Our LPs know that when we launch a new product, it's with the intention of building the highest-quality business and that our scale and reach can have an extraordinarily positive effect for them.

結果是強大的網絡效應。我們的客戶經常光顧我們的商店，而且我們的貨架已經滿了，這導致 Blackstone 獲得了很大比例的回頭客，並且很有可能也會選擇我們的新產品。這種網絡效應延伸到我們推出的新平台。我們的有限合夥人知道，當我們推出新產品時，其目的是建立最高質量的業務，我們的規模和影響力可以對他們產生非常積極的影響。

For example, the clean energy transition has been a major investment theme across the firm for several years, and we are already one of the largest providers of private credit in this area. Last week, we launched a sustainable resources platform to pull together the full breadth of the firm's resources. We see an opportunity to invest $100 billion in support of energy transition and climate change solutions over the next decade. Blackstone intends to be a global leader in investing and a force for good in this critically important area.

例如，清潔能源轉型多年來一直是整個公司的主要投資主題，我們已經是該領域最大的私人信貸提供者之一。上週，我們啟動了一個可持續資源平台，以整合公司的全部資源。我們看到了在未來十年投資 1000 億美元支持能源轉型和氣候變化解決方案的機會。 Blackstone 打算成為投資領域的全球領導者，並在這一至關重要的領域成為一股向善的力量。

Across the firm, we are exceptionally well positioned to continue growing in a way that is unprecedented in the alternatives asset class, and I couldn't be more confident in our momentum despite the significant correction underway in the global markets. The average stock in the S&P has declined 17% from its recent peak, while the average NASDAQ stock is down 44%. The alternative manager stocks have not been immune to these pressures. And we've noted investor concerns around the impact of inflation, the prospect of rising interest rates and the ability to continue raising capital.

在整個公司中，我們非常有能力繼續以另類資產類別中前所未有的方式增長，儘管全球市場正在進行重大調整，但我對我們的發展勢頭充滿信心。標準普爾的平均股票從最近的峰值下跌了 17%，而納斯達克股票的平均下跌了 44%。另類經理股票也未能倖免於這些壓力。我們注意到投資者對通貨膨脹的影響、利率上升的前景以及繼續籌集資金的能力的擔憂。

I believe the tremendous balance of our firm and the careful design of our portfolio will once again allow us to not only navigate this environment, but to thrive in it as we have for 36 years. In our $280 billion real estate business, which generated nearly half of our earnings last year, over 70% of the equity portfolio is in the best areas: logistics, rental housing and life sciences office. Leases in this portfolio are shorter duration with the ability to reprice as we move through the inflationary period. Importantly, in the United States, we're now seeing rents in these sectors grow at 2 to 3x the rate of inflation. And as the cost of new construction rises with inflation, it greatly benefits the value of our existing holdings.

我相信我們公司的巨大平衡和我們投資組合的精心設計將再次使我們不僅能夠駕馭這種環境，而且能夠像我們 36 年來一樣在其中茁壯成長。在我們 2800 億美元的房地產業務中，去年產生了近一半的收入，超過 70% 的股票投資組合位於最佳領域：物流、出租房屋和生命科學辦公室。該投資組合中的租賃期限較短，能夠在我們度過通貨膨脹時期時重新定價。重要的是，在美國，我們現在看到這些行業的租金增長速度是通貨膨脹率的 2 到 3 倍。隨著新建築成本隨著通貨膨脹而上升，它極大地有利於我們現有資產的價值。

In corporate private equity, our portfolio is also well positioned for inflation. Our holdings are concentrated in areas with strong secular growth that are more resilient to rising input costs. Our operating companies reported 23% year-over-year growth in revenues in the fourth quarter. That's really stunning, 23% revenues. And 2/3 saw margin expansion in the year. In our nearly $200 billion corporate credit business, as interest rates move higher in response to inflation, we expect our returns to benefit. The vast majority of our investments in corporate credit are in floating rate debt, which helps protect capital and provides a better and better return as base rates increase. And while higher rates can be a headwind for liquid markets, with $136 billion of dry capital -- dry powder capital across the firm, we can move quickly to invest when pricing becomes more favorable.

在企業私募股權方面，我們的投資組合也為通脹做好了準備。我們的持股集中在長期增長強勁的領域，這些領域更能抵禦不斷上升的投入成本。我們的運營公司報告第四季度收入同比增長 23%。這真的很驚人，23% 的收入。 2/3 的利潤在今年有所增長。在我們近 2,000 億美元的企業信貸業務中，隨著利率因通貨膨脹而走高，我們預計我們的回報將受益。我們對企業信貸的絕大多數投資都是浮動利率債務，這有助於保護資本並隨著基準利率的提高提供越來越好的回報。雖然較高的利率可能對流動性市場構成不利影響，但我們擁有 1360 億美元的干資本——整個公司的干粉資本，當定價變得更有利時，我們可以迅速採取行動進行投資。

From a fundraising perspective, I expect our strong momentum to continue in the current environment. In the institutional channel, LPs are increasing their allocations to alternatives. In fact, 80% of LPs according to a recent survey [buy frequent.] In most cases, they are concentrating capital with fewer managers, which favors Blackstone.

從籌款的角度來看，我預計我們的強勁勢頭將在當前環境中持續下去。在機構渠道中，有限合夥人正在增加對替代品的配置。事實上，根據最近的一項調查，80% 的 LP [頻繁購買]。在大多數情況下，他們將資金集中在較少的管理人員身上，這對 Blackstone 有利。

In the retail channel, individuals in the U.S. have accumulated $2.8 trillion of excess savings since the start of the pandemic. Our perpetual products in real estate and credit are uniquely designed with inflation in mind to protect capital and generate substantial current income. In total, we raised $50 billion of equity capital in this channel last year. And despite the uncertainty in the markets, financial advisers have very high confidence in the attractiveness of our products.

在零售渠道中，自大流行開始以來，美國個人已經積累了 2.8 萬億美元的超額儲蓄。我們在房地產和信貸方面的永久產品設計獨特，考慮到通貨膨脹，以保護資本並產生可觀的當前收入。去年，我們通過這個渠道總共籌集了 500 億美元的股權資本。儘管市場存在不確定性，但財務顧問對我們產品的吸引力非常有信心。

I have personally lived through many cycles here at Blackstone in the past 36 years. And each time, our firm has come out stronger than before. Markets often overcorrect in a way that is disconnected from fundamentals. When you look at our firm's progression, including today's exceptional results, it should be clear that the fundamentals of Blackstone are dramatically accelerating. We've been telling you for years about these powerful trends, and what we've told you has come true.

在過去的 36 年裡，我個人在 Blackstone 經歷了許多周期。每一次，我們的公司都比以前更強大。市場經常以與基本面脫節的方式過度修正。當您看到我們公司的進步，包括今天的非凡業績時，應該清楚的是，Blackstone 的基本面正在急劇加速。多年來，我們一直在告訴您這些強大的趨勢，而我們告訴您的已經成為現實。

At our Investor Day a little over 3 years ago, we shared our vision of reaching $1 trillion of AUM in 8 years. We now believe we will reach $1 trillion of AUM this year, in half the time we predicted. We've nearly tripled annual FRE and doubled DE over this period. Our profit margins have continued to expand and today are 3x higher than the median of the largest 100 U.S. public companies.

在 3 年前的投資者日上，我們分享了在 8 年內達到 1 萬億美元資產管理規模的願景。我們現在相信，今年我們的 AUM 將達到 1 萬億美元，時間是我們預測的一半。在此期間，我們的年度 FRE 幾乎翻了三倍，DE 翻了一番。我們的利潤率持續擴大，如今比美國最大的 100 家上市公司的中位數高出 3 倍。

Blackstone has an unrivaled position in our industry. Our prospects are extraordinary. We have the most recognized brand, which has been continually reinforced through market cycles. Our firm is regularly acknowledged by third parties for the strength of our franchise, including by Morgan Stanley who has repeatedly selected us as 1 of the 30 best companies in any industry. And our unique culture continues to set us apart, characterized by the highest standards of excellence and integrity, unwavering dedication to our clients, new product innovation and a commitment to preserve capital.

Blackstone 在我們的行業中擁有無與倫比的地位。我們的前景是非凡的。我們擁有最受認可的品牌，並在市場週期中不斷得到加強。我們公司的特許經營實力經常得到第三方的認可，包括摩根士丹利，他多次將我們選為任何行業 30 家最佳公司之一。我們獨特的文化繼續使我們與眾不同，其特點是最高標準的卓越和誠信、對客戶堅定不移的奉獻精神、新產品創新和保護資本的承諾。

In closing, as we move into 2022, the market landscape will undoubtedly present challenges but will also provide opportunities that we are very well positioned to capitalize upon. The firm has never been in a stronger position. Every part of our business has ambitious plans, remarkable momentum and an unquestionable will to win. I have never had deeper confidence in our future and pride in our people.

最後，隨著我們進入 2022 年，市場格局無疑將帶來挑戰，但也將提供我們非常有能力利用的機會。該公司從未處於更強大的地位。我們業務的每個部分都有雄心勃勃的計劃、非凡的動力和不容置疑的獲勝意願。我從未對我們的未來充滿信心，對我們的人民感到自豪。

Thank you for your support. With that, I'll turn it over to Jon.

感謝您的支持。有了這個，我會把它交給喬恩。

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. It was another tremendous quarter for Blackstone and our investors, highlighted by extraordinary growth. AUM increased $150 billion in 3 months, the equivalent of a top 10 global alternatives firm, as we continue to expand the platform with a significant focus on perpetual capital strategies. This is driving a meaningful step-up in the growth and quality of our earnings, with both distributable earnings and FRE reaching record levels for the quarter and year.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，大家早上好。對 Blackstone 和我們的投資者來說，這是另一個巨大的季度，以非凡的增長為亮點。 AUM 在 3 個月內增加了 1500 億美元，相當於全球前 10 大另類公司，因為我們繼續擴大平台，重點關注永續資本策略。這推動了我們收益增長和質量的顯著提升，可分配收益和 FRE 在本季度和年度均達到創紀錄水平。

We've achieved these results while sticking to our model: managing third-party capital, relying on our brand and track record to grow. With minimal net debt, no insurance liabilities, we have no need to retain capital and have been able to return 100% of earnings to shareholders.

我們在堅持我們的模式的同時取得了這些成果：管理第三方資本，依靠我們的品牌和業績增長。憑藉最少的淨債務，沒有保險負債，我們無需保留資本，並且能夠將 100% 的收益返還給股東。

Of course, the foundation of our business remains investment performance, and our funds posted outstanding returns in 2021. We continue to benefit from our thematic approach to deployment, emphasizing faster-growing areas of the economy, which were again the largest drivers of appreciation in our funds.

當然，我們業務的基礎仍然是投資業績，我們的基金在 2021 年取得了可觀的回報。我們繼續受益於我們的主題部署方法，強調經濟增長較快的領域，這再次成為升值的最大推動力我們的資金。

Nowhere is that more apparent than in real estate, which led the firm's returns in the fourth quarter. In my 30-year career, I've never seen real estate fundamentals in the sectors where we are focused as strong as they are today. The strength of our returns powers the Blackstone innovation machine, allowing us to expand who we serve and where we can invest.

這一點在房地產領域最為明顯，房地產是該公司第四季度的回報率。在我 30 年的職業生涯中，我從未見過我們關注的行業的房地產基本面像今天這樣強大。我們的回報力量為 Blackstone 的創新機器提供動力，使我們能夠擴大我們的服務對象和投資領域。

10 years ago, our business primarily consisted of episodic drawdown funds, pursuing opportunistic returns. While this remains a terrific and vital business to us, we've added 3 more engines, all growing rapidly. I'll briefly touch on all 4.

10年前，我們的業務主要是階段性回撤基金，追求機會回報。雖然這對我們來說仍然是一項了不起且至關重要的業務，但我們又增加了 3 個引擎，所有引擎都在快速增長。我將簡要介紹所有 4 個。

Starting with retail. Investor demand for institutional-quality income solutions, coupled with the Blackstone brand, is a potent combination. We raised over $13 billion of equity capital in the fourth quarter across 3 products: BREIT, BCRED and BPIF, the equivalent of a large drawdown fund every quarter. BREIT more than doubled last year to $54 billion of NAV on the back of exceptional performance, generating a 30% net return and was the largest contributor to earnings in the quarter.

從零售開始。投資者對機構質量收入解決方案的需求，加上黑石品牌，是一個強有力的組合。我們在第四季度通過 3 種產品籌集了超過 130 億美元的股本資本：BREIT、BCRED 和 BPIF，相當於每個季度的大筆提款基金。由於表現出色，BREIT 去年的資產淨值增加了一倍多，達到 540 億美元，淨回報率為 30%，是本季度收益的最大貢獻者。

Moving to our institutional perpetual funds. This evergreen platform is approaching and should surpass the $100 billion milestone this year. There is significant investor demand for long-dated strategies that compound in value. In infrastructure, we reopened new capital in the fourth quarter, raising nearly $7 billion and bringing the strategy to $23 billion of perpetual capital after only 4 years.

轉向我們的機構永續基金。這個常青平台正在接近並應在今年超過 1000 億美元的里程碑。投資者對價值複合的長期策略有著巨大的需求。在基礎設施方面，我們在第四季度重新開放了新資本，籌集了近 70 億美元，僅用了 4 年時間，就使該戰略達到了 230 億美元的永久資本。

A few weeks ago, we announced a $3 billion investment in Invenergy, the largest private renewables company in North America. In real estate, we talk a lot about BREIT, but don't forget the power of our institutional Core+ strategy, BPP, which grew over 30% last year to $61 billion.

幾週前，我們宣布向北美最大的私營可再生能源公司 Invenergy 投資 30 億美元。在房地產領域，我們經常談論 BREIT，但不要忘記我們的機構 Core+ 戰略 BPP 的力量，該戰略去年增長了 30% 以上，達到 610 億美元。

Turning to our drawdown funds. Given the strong pace of deployment across the firm, we're now moving into a new flagship fundraising cycle. Over the next 18 months, we expect to have launched and substantially complete fundraising for nearly all of the firm's major drawdown strategies, 17 funds targeting approximately $150 billion in aggregate, reflecting a 25% increase over the prior cycle. We expect to start raising our 2 largest flagships, global real estate and corporate private equity, this quarter.

轉向我們的提款資金。鑑於整個公司的強勁部署步伐，我們現在正進入一個新的旗艦籌款週期。在接下來的 18 個月中，我們預計該公司幾乎所有的主要撤資策略都將啟動並基本完成籌資，17 只基金的目標總額約為 1500 億美元，比上一個週期增加了 25%。我們預計本季度將開始籌集我們最大的 2 個旗艦產品，即全球房地產和企業私募股權。

Our third-largest private equity secondaries launched in the fourth quarter, raising $13 billion in Q4 and is on track to reach approximately $20 billion, which would be the largest secondaries vehicle ever raised. Other vehicles in this pipeline include real estate Asia, real estate Europe, real estate credit, private equity energy, growth equity, tactical opportunities, real estate and infrastructure secondaries, SP's GP continuation strategy, European credit, clean energy credit, BAM ceding and stake strategies and life sciences. The breadth of the firm today is truly remarkable.

我們在第四季度推出了第三大私募股權二級市場，在第四季度籌集了 130 億美元，並有望達到約 200 億美元，這將是有史以來最大的二級市場融資工具。此管道中的其他工具包括房地產亞洲、歐洲房地產、房地產信貸、私募股權能源、增長股權、戰術機會、房地產和基礎設施二級市場、SP 的 GP 延續戰略、歐洲信貸、清潔能源信貸、BAM 分出和股權戰略和生命科學。今天公司的廣度確實令人矚目。

Finally, in insurance, our business more than doubled last year to approximately $160 billion with the closing of the AIG and Everlake mandates. AIG has committed an additional $42 billion, and we expect to find additional growth opportunities in this area over time on a capital-light basis. Together, these 4 engines helped drive total inflows of $155 billion in the fourth quarter and $270 billion for the year. This expansion has also opened up many new avenues to invest. And the fourth quarter was our busiest ever, with $66 billion deployed and an additional $19 billion committed to pending transactions. The largest new commitments were in some of our favorite secular neighborhoods, including renewables, rental housing, logistics and content creation.

最後，在保險方面，隨著 AIG 和 Everlake 授權的結束，我們的業務去年翻了一番多，達到約 1600 億美元。 AIG 已承諾追加 420 億美元，隨著時間的推移，我們預計將在該領域在輕資本基礎上找到更多增長機會。這 4 個引擎共同推動了第四季度 1550 億美元和全年 2700 億美元的總流入。這種擴張也開闢了許多新的投資途徑。第四季度是我們有史以來最繁忙的季度，部署了 660 億美元，另有 190 億美元用於未決交易。最大的新承諾是在我們最喜歡的一些世俗社區，包括可再生能源、出租房屋、物流和內容創作。

In closing, when we look at what's in front of us and our momentum in 4 distinct verticals, we could not be more excited about the future. We believe it is a mistake to underestimate the power of this brand and the potential of this business.

最後，當我們審視眼前的情況以及我們在 4 個不同垂直領域的發展勢頭時，我們對未來感到無比興奮。我們認為低估這個品牌的力量和這項業務的潛力是錯誤的。

And with that, I will turn things over to Michael.

有了這個，我會把事情交給邁克爾。

Thanks, Jon, and good morning, everyone. Over the past several years, we've been highlighting transformation of the firm's capital base and earnings power with a focus on 3 important dynamics: first, that sustained robust AUM growth and the scaling of perpetual strategies would accelerate fee-related earnings; second, that our growing breadth of funds and investment firepower, combined with strong returns on greater deployed capital, would expand the firm's store value and performance revenue potential; and third, that we would grow in a capital-light way with a definitive focus on delivering value to shareholders. The firm's record results are a perfect reflection of these dynamics at work.

謝謝，喬恩，大家早上好。在過去幾年中，我們一直強調公司資本基礎和盈利能力的轉變，重點關註三個重要動態：第一，持續強勁的 AUM 增長和永續策略的擴展將加速與費用相關的盈利；其次，我們不斷增長的資金廣度和投資火力，加上更大部署資本的強勁回報，將擴大公司的存儲價值和業績收入潛力；第三，我們將以輕資本的方式增長，明確關注為股東創造價值。該公司的創紀錄業績完美地反映了這些動態。

First, with respect to FRE, which reached $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter and rose a remarkable 71% for the year to $4.1 billion or $3.37 per share. It was only a year ago that we effectively hit our Investor Day target of $2 per share. And since then, AUM is up 42%, fee-earning AUM is up 38%, and perpetual capital AUM more than doubled to $313 billion across 18 separate vehicles. Petrol strategies now comprise 42% of the firm's fee-earning AUM, and their growth in number and scale is contributing to FRE in 2 important ways: management fees that compound with accelerating inflows and appreciation in NAV and fee-related performance revenues that crystallize on a recurring basis without asset sales.

首先，FRE 在第四季度達到 18 億美元，全年增長 71%，達到 41 億美元或每股 3.37 美元。就在一年前，我們有效地達到了每股 2 美元的投資者日目標。從那時起，AUM 增長了 42%，收費 AUM 增長了 38%，永續資本 AUM 增加了一倍多，達到 18 種不同工具的 3130 億美元。汽油策略現在占公司收費 AUM 的 42%，其數量和規模的增長在兩個重要方面對 FRE 做出了貢獻：管理費與資產淨值的加速流入和升值相結合，以及與費用相關的業績收入具體體現在沒有資產出售的經常性基礎。

In total, management fees rose 26% for the year to $5.2 billion. Fee-related performance revenues increased more than fivefold to $2 billion driven by BREIT, which crystallizes these revenues annually in 4Q, along with a significant contribution from the BPP funds; the direct lending platform in credit; and in the fourth quarter, infrastructure. The combination of 60% year-over-year growth in total fee revenues and the firm's robust margin position drove FRE margins to 56.3% for the year, the highest level ever.

全年管理費總計上漲 26% 至 52 億美元。在 BREIT 的推動下，與費用相關的業績收入增長了 5 倍以上，達到 20 億美元，這些收入在第四季度每年都得到體現，同時 BPP 基金也做出了重大貢獻；信貸直接借貸平台；第四季度，基礎設施。總費用收入同比增長 60% 和公司強勁的利潤率狀況共同推動 FRE 利潤率達到 56.3% 的年度最高水平。

Looking forward, the outlook for FRE is strong. In the context of the 4 growth verticals that Jon discussed, across 3 of them, the majority of capital is perpetual with a significant and compounding financial contribution that I described. Combined NAV of BREIT and BCRED alone tripled in 2021, setting a higher baseline for fee revenue entering the year. Alongside that, we expect to see a material future benefit from the upcoming flagship fundraising cycle, with $150 billion targeted to be raised and respective investment periods activated over time.

展望未來，FRE 的前景強勁。在 Jon 討論的 4 個增長垂直領域的背景下，在其中 3 個垂直領域中，大部分資本是永久性的，具有我所描述的重大且複合的財務貢獻。僅 BREIT 和 BCRED 的總資產淨值在 2021 年就增長了兩倍，為進入這一年的費用收入設定了更高的基準。除此之外，我們預計即將到來的旗艦籌資週期將為未來帶來重大利益，目標是籌集 1500 億美元，並隨著時間的推移激活相應的投資期。

Moving to performance revenues and the growing store value. Net realizations more than doubled in 2021 to $2.9 billion, powered by record fund realizations of $77 billion. For the fourth quarter, fund realizations were $21 billion, including the sale of consumer finance platform, Exeter; several holdings in Tac Opps, including specialty retailer Diamond Direct; an upstream energy platform in credit; and certain U.S. logistics and multifamily assets. We also monetized stakes in various public holdings and refinanced a number of portfolio companies.

轉向績效收入和不斷增長的商店價值。在創紀錄的 770 億美元基金實現的推動下，淨實現在 2021 年翻了一番多，達到 29 億美元。第四季度，基金變現為 210 億美元，包括出售消費金融平台埃克塞特；持有 Tac Opps 的多項股份，包括專業零售商 Diamond Direct；信貸上游能源平台；以及某些美國物流和多戶資產。我們還將各種公共控股公司的股份貨幣化，並為一些投資組合公司再融資。

The Blackstone innovation machine is creating a level of activity that is unprecedented for both the firm and our industry at large, driving a meaningful elevation of our performance revenue potential. The dramatic expansion of the firm's strategies has driven a more than threefold increase in aggregate deployment from $45 billion in 2018 to $144 billion in 2021. This, in turn, has led to a more than doubling of performance revenue-eligible value in the ground over this period to approximately $450 billion despite almost $200 billion of realizations.

Blackstone 的創新機器正在為公司和整個行業創造前所未有的活動水平，從而顯著提升我們的業績收入潛力。公司戰略的急劇擴張推動總部署規模從 2018 年的 450 億美元增長到 2021 年的 1440 億美元，增長了三倍多。這反過來又使符合條件的業績收入增長了一倍以上。儘管實現了近 2000 億美元，但這一時期約為 4500 億美元。

Importantly, as the firm has grown, there's been no diminution of investment performance, the measure of the ongoing value creation in the capital we've cumulatively deployed. On the contrary, the firm's returns in 2021 were some of our best. The BREP opportunistic funds appreciated 44%; corporate private equity, 42%; secondaries, 50%; Tac Opps, 35%; infrastructure, 30%; growth equity, 28%; real estate Core+, 25%; and private credit, 22%. The BAAM Composite rose 8% gross for the year, outperforming the HFRX Global Index by over 400 basis points with significantly lower volatility than the broader market, consistent with BAAM's mandate.

重要的是，隨著公司的發展，投資業績並沒有減少，這是衡量我們累積部署的資本中持續創造價值的衡量標準。相反，該公司在 2021 年的回報是我們最好的。 BREP 機會型基金升值 44%；企業私募股權，42%；中學，50%； Tac Opps，35%；基礎設施，30%；增長股權，28%；房地產核心+，25%；和私人信貸，22%。 BAAM 綜合指數全年上漲 8%，比 HFRX 全球指數高出 400 多個基點，波動性明顯低於大盤，這與 BAAM 的使命一致。

In BREP and corporate private equity, we reported the best annual returns in over a decade, in secondaries, Core+ and Tac Opps since inception of the strategies and in private credit since 2013. Strong investment performance powered $2.2 billion of net performance revenues in the fourth quarter and lifted the balance sheet receivable to $8.7 billion or $7.28 per share, the highest level in our history. This balance more than doubled year-over-year, notwithstanding $3.5 billion of realized distributions. Together, outstanding growth in both FRE and net realizations drove distributable earnings for the year up 85% to a record $6.2 billion or $4.77 per share.

在 BREP 和企業私募股權領域，我們報告了十多年來最好的年回報率，自戰略實施以來的二級市場、Core+ 和 Tac Opps 以及自 2013 年以來的私人信貸領域。強勁的投資業績推動了第四季度 22 億美元的淨業績收入季度並將應收資產負債表提高至 87 億美元或每股 7.28 美元，這是我們歷史上的最高水平。儘管實現了 35 億美元的分配，但這一餘額同比增長了一倍以上。 FRE 和淨實現的顯著增長共同推動了當年的可分配收益增長 85%，達到創紀錄的 62 億美元或每股 4.77 美元。

Finally, on delivering value to shareholders. Our strong financial position and limited use of capital have allowed us to fully distribute our earnings to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. These totaled $6.5 billion with respect to 2021, a record year for the firm and we believe by far the largest capital return by any public asset manager in a single year.

最後，關於為股東創造價值。我們強大的財務狀況和有限的資本使用使我們能夠通過股息和股票回購將我們的收益充分分配給股東。相對於 2021 年，這些總額達到 65 億美元，這是該公司創紀錄的一年，我們相信迄今為止任何公共資產管理公司在單年內最大的資本回報。

In closing, the firm is truly firing on all cylinders. Our momentum has never been stronger with enormous structural tailwinds and multiple engines of growth. We are very optimistic about the future of Blackstone.

最後，該公司確實在全力以赴。憑藉巨大的結構性順風和多種增長引擎，我們的勢頭從未如此強勁。我們對黑石的未來非常樂觀。

With that, we thank you for joining the call and would like to open it up now for questions.

有了這個，我們感謝您加入電話會議，並希望現在打開它以提問。

(Operator Instructions) And your first question comes from Craig Siegenthaler from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Craig Siegenthaler。

Congrats on the $155 billion raise this quarter.

祝賀本季度籌集了 1550 億美元。

Thank you, Craig.

謝謝你，克雷格。

Thanks, Craig.

謝謝，克雷格。

So my question is on capital deployment. $66 billion is an impressive number over a 90-day period. But can you talk about some of Blackstone's scale advantages with investing and how you can deploy so much capital across so many businesses, and mostly private assets at scale?

所以我的問題是關於資本部署。在 90 天內，660 億美元是一個令人印象深刻的數字。但是，您能否談談 Blackstone 在投資方面的一些規模優勢，以及如何在如此多的企業（主要是大規模私人資產）中部署如此多的資本？

It's a really important question. I think the key thing, Craig, is the expansion of the platform we keep talking about. What's interesting, if you look in the fourth quarter, half the money we deployed was in strategies that didn't exist 5 years ago. So it was BREIT, BCRED and our infrastructure business; 2 retail, 1 institutional, all perpetual. And those platforms, as you know, tend to have, I'd describe as maybe simpler products that are repeatable and scalable, which is different than what we do opportunistically. Fortunately, our returns, as you know, in private equity -- real estate, private equity in those areas have been extraordinary. But these platforms allow us to deploy significant amounts of capital. And we own assets for long periods of time, particularly in the equity-oriented funds.

這是一個非常重要的問題。克雷格，我認為關鍵是我們一直在談論的平台的擴展。有趣的是，如果您查看第四季度，我們部署的資金中有一半用於 5 年前不存在的策略。所以是 BREIT、BCRED 和我們的基礎設施業務； 2 個零售，1 個機構，都是永久的。如您所知，這些平台往往具有，我將其描述為可重複和可擴展的更簡單的產品，這與我們投機取巧的做法不同。幸運的是，如你所知，我們在私募股權——房地產、私募股權領域的回報非常出色。但這些平台使我們能夠部署大量資金。而且我們長期持有資產，尤其是股票型基金。

And so when we buy, for instance, a ports business or a data center business or an apartment platform, we can deploy capital through the existing portfolio companies, which is different than in typical drawdown buy it, fix it, sell it model. So scale here and the nature of the capital is allowing us to deploy more capital.

因此，例如，當我們購買港口業務、數據中心業務或公寓平台時，我們可以通過現有的投資組合公司部署資金，這與典型的縮編購買、修復、出售模式不同。因此，這裡的規模和資本的性質使我們能夠部署更多的資本。

There's also just the breadth of the private markets, what we're seeing. Secondaries had a record deployment quarter, and that's not a surprise because we talked about it last quarter. Many institutions have seen extraordinary performance from their private equity pools and some are looking to make new allocations, but they're selling older funds, and that's led to huge deal volume there.

我們所看到的還有私人市場的廣度。輔助系統的部署季度創紀錄，這並不奇怪，因為我們在上個季度談到了它。許多機構從他們的私募股權池中看到了非凡的表現，一些機構正在尋求新的配置，但他們正在出售舊基金，這導致那裡的交易量很大。

And then I would say at our scale, there is this really interesting network effect that we talked about the last couple of weeks in our Management Committee. And we're now -- because we have so many different types of capital, so many different parts of the capital structure, geography, we're a full-service solution provider to anybody who needs capital. It could be controlled private equity, it could be a minority stake, it could be structured equity in Tac Opps, it could be credit. Obviously, it runs across the gamut. And so that, again, is giving us more power.

然後我會說，在我們的規模上，我們在管理委員會的最後幾週談到了這種非常有趣的網絡效應。而且我們現在 - 因為我們擁有如此多不同類型的資本，如此多不同的資本結構部分，地理位置，我們是任何需要資金的人的全方位服務解決方案提供商。它可以是受控的私募股權，可以是少數股權，可以是 Tac Opps 的結構性股權，也可以是信貸。顯然，它跨越了整個領域。因此，這再次賦予了我們更多的權力。

So it's the whole combination. It's sort of this flywheel that's been created here. It's the intellectual capital we've built up where we have great expertise in markets. It's the fact for so many counterparties we've become a one-stop solution. Using real estate as an example, we may engage with somebody on something that starts as equity, and then they decide to actually want to borrow money. We have our real estate debt business. So there's something really powerful that's happening here at our scale, and the way we work together is helping that. So our optimism of deploying capital is high. And obviously, if markets dislocate in that regard, it's helpful also.

所以這是整個組合。這是在這裡創建的這種飛輪。這是我們在市場上擁有豐富專業知識而積累起來的智力資本。對於如此多的交易對手，我們已經成為一站式解決方案，這是事實。以房地產為例，我們可能會與某人就股權開始的事情進行接觸，然後他們決定真正想要藉錢。我們有房地產債務業務。因此，在我們的規模上正在發生一些非常強大的事情，而我們合作的方式正在幫助實現這一點。因此，我們對部署資本的樂觀情緒很高。顯然，如果市場在這方面出現錯位，那也是有幫助的。

And your next question comes from the line of Alex Blostein from Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的 Alex Blostein。

So I appreciate the updated target on reaching $1 trillion in AUM this year. And obviously, $150 billion in flagship is great. But I was hoping we could dig in a little more into the fundraising backdrop in the current environment. I guess understanding that the secular underpinnings remain quite strong, but how sensitive do you think the momentum we've seen, particularly in retail, for Blackstone over the last 12 months and some of the other products will sustain in the more turbulent market backdrop that we've seen so far in January? So really was hoping to dig in a little more of what you're hearing real time from your institutional LPs as well as your retail distribution partners.

因此，我很欣賞今年 AUM 達到 1 萬億美元的更新目標。很明顯，1500 億美元的旗艦店是很棒的。但我希望我們可以在當前環境下更深入地了解籌款背景。我想了解長期基礎仍然相當強勁，但您認為我們在過去 12 個月中看到的黑石勢頭（尤其是在零售方面）以及其他一些產品的勢頭將在更加動蕩的市場背景下維持多久？一月份到目前為止我們見過嗎？因此，真的希望從您的機構 LP 以及您的零售分銷合作夥伴那裡實時聽到更多信息。

Well, right now, we're not hearing any change. We talk to our institutional and retail customers every day. In fact, I try to talk to a CEO, at least 1 or 2, every day because it's important to stay close to your customers.

好吧，現在，我們沒有聽到任何變化。我們每天都與我們的機構和零售客戶交談。事實上，我每天都嘗試與至少 1 或 2 位 CEO 交談，因為與客戶保持密切聯繫很重要。

And to put things in context, of course, the S&P despite the trade-off, total return is up nearly 40% in 2 years. And also, I would say what's interesting is, remember, our clients, institutional and retail clients, have large exposure to fixed income. So many of them are thinking about, how can I change that? Think about our private credit business, which is so well positioned with direct lending. We're the leading player in leveraged loans and CLOs. So clients are thinking about those things.

當然，把事情放在上下文中，標準普爾儘管進行了權衡，但總回報在 2 年內增長了近 40%。而且，我想說有趣的是，請記住，我們的客戶、機構客戶和零售客戶對固定收益有很大的敞口。很多人都在想，我該如何改變呢？想想我們的私人信貸業務，它在直接貸款方面處於有利地位。我們是槓桿貸款和 CLO 的領先者。所以客戶正在考慮這些事情。

I think I would also just point to the fact that alternatives have consistently delivered for customers, and that's built up a lot of loyalty over time. This year -- 2021, of course, was no exception. It was our best year for appreciation.

我想我還要指出這樣一個事實，即替代品始終如一地為客戶提供，並且隨著時間的推移建立了很多忠誠度。今年——2021年，當然也不例外。這是我們最欣賞的一年。

And so I would say our clients tend to take a longer-term view. Obviously, if markets trade off a lot, that can have an impact. But if you remember back in 2020, despite not being able to visit with our clients, despite all the turmoil, we still had a very good year raising capital.

所以我想說我們的客戶傾向於採取更長遠的觀點。顯然，如果市場進行大量交易，就會產生影響。但是，如果您還記得 2020 年，儘管無法拜訪我們的客戶，儘管經歷了所有的動盪，但我們仍然度過了非常好的融資年。

And so I just think we've gotten to a place, as you hear from us. You listen to that list of 17 drawdown funds, you think about all the different perpetual vehicles, think about all the different channels, this has really changed fundamentally as a business. We're just raising capital from many different sources.

所以我只是認為我們已經到了一個地方，正如你從我們那裡聽到的那樣。你聽了 17 支提款基金的清單，你想到了所有不同的永續工具，想到了所有不同的渠道，這真的從根本上改變了一個企業。我們只是從許多不同的來源籌集資金。

And I think for individual investors, as context, that's an $80 trillion market that today is probably, I don't know, 1% to 2% allocated to retail. And when you look at our products in those particular areas, focus on the larger ones now, BREIT and BCRED, those products are actually quite well targeted for a higher-growth, higher-inflationary environment.

我認為對於個人投資者來說，作為背景，這是一個 80 萬億美元的市場，我不知道，今天可能有 1% 到 2% 分配給零售。當您查看我們在這些特定領域的產品時，請關注現在較大的 BREIT 和 BCRED，這些產品實際上非常適合更高增長、更高通脹的環境。

Steve talked about ownership in BREIT of the kind of assets. BREIT's more than 80% logistics and rental housing, the kind of assets -- the hard assets you want to own in a rising rate environment. BCRED is all floating rate debt. So as the Fed raises rates, it benefits from that. And of course, the performance of those products has been remarkable.

史蒂夫談到了 BREIT 對這類資產的所有權。 BREIT 80%以上的物流和出租房屋，就是那種資產——在房價上漲的環境下你想擁有的硬資產。 BCRED 是所有浮動利率債務。因此，隨著美聯儲加息，它會從中受益。當然，這些產品的性能非常出色。

And so yes, is it possible, as markets trade off a lot, you'll see some slowdown. But I would say overall, on the ground today, we're continuing to see very positive momentum, and our outlook is quite good given where we sit.

所以是的，有沒有可能，隨著市場的大量交易，你會看到一些放緩。但我要說的是，總體而言，今天在實地，我們繼續看到非常積極的勢頭，考慮到我們所處的位置，我們的前景非常好。

Your next question comes from the line of Gerry O'Hara from Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Gerry O'Hara。

I wanted to pick up a little bit on the fundraising. Specific to the secondaries fund, I think if I heard you correct, roughly a $20 billion target, which looks to be roughly double, I think, the prior vintage. So hoping you might be able to just kind of unpack the dynamics of that market a little bit and why you feel such a large fund is, I guess, appropriately positioned or sized for the opportunity.

我想了解一下籌款活動。具體到二級基金，我想如果我沒聽錯的話，大約是 200 億美元的目標，我認為這看起來大約是之前年份的兩倍。因此，希望您能夠稍微了解一下該市場的動態，以及為什麼您覺得這麼大的基金，我猜，對於這個機會的定位或規模是適當的。

Yes. We talk a lot about megatrends in good neighborhoods, and people often associate it just with maybe technology or life sciences, clean energy. But one of the great neighborhoods is alternatives. Alternatives today are a $10 trillion industry, which sounds big, except they're basically equal in size to 5 technology companies on the West Coast of the United States, and they compare to $250 trillion of stocks and bonds that are out there.

是的。我們經常談論好社區的大趨勢，人們經常將其與技術或生命科學、清潔能源聯繫起來。但最好的社區之一是替代品。今天的替代品是一個價值 10 萬億美元的行業，這聽起來很大，但它們的規模基本上與美國西海岸的 5 家科技公司相當，而它們與 250 萬億美元的股票和債券相比。

And so the industry, as you know, has been growing at double-digit rates for a long time. It feels like, certainly based on our results, that's accelerating. And yet at the same time, liquidity for those who want to exit early from funds is pretty limited. And so there's a very small percentage of outstanding NAV that trades every year. Today, it's between 1% and 2%.

因此，如您所知，該行業長期以來一直以兩位數的速度增長。感覺就像，當然根據我們的結果，這正在加速。然而與此同時，那些想要提前退出基金的人的流動性非常有限。因此，每年交易的優秀資產淨值的比例非常小。今天，它在 1% 到 2% 之間。

And so what's happening is you have an asset class that's growing very large and liquidity that was already too small for the existing asset class, and that's creating a huge tailwind. So what's interesting in our secondaries fund, not only did we realize the most, we also deployed the most capital because investors are trying to free up capacity.

所以正在發生的事情是，你的資產類別正在增長，而流動性對於現有資產類別來說已經太小了，這就產生了巨大的順風。因此，我們二級基金的有趣之處在於，我們不僅意識到最多，而且還部署了最多的資金，因為投資者正試圖釋放產能。

So we see this as a market that is going to continue to scale. We're not surprised investors are responding. What they've responded to -- Vern Perry and the team have delivered outstanding returns to customers, 16 net for a very long time, even higher in the most recent vintages.

因此，我們認為這是一個將繼續擴大的市場。我們對投資者的反應並不感到驚訝。他們的反應是——弗恩·佩里和他的團隊為客戶帶來了出色的回報，很長一段時間內淨收益為 16，在最近的年份中甚至更高。

So it's a market we like a lot. There seems to be some structural inefficiency because of the lack of liquidity, and it's growing fast. So this is another area of Blackstone that I think has a lot of potential relative to where it sits today.

所以這是一個我們非常喜歡的市場。由於缺乏流動性，似乎存在一些結構性的低效率，而且它正在快速增長。所以這是 Blackstone 的另一個領域，我認為相對於它今天所處的位置具有很大的潛力。

Your next question comes from Brian Bedell from Deutsche Bank.

您的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Brian Bedell。

Congrats on a great quarter again and a year. Maybe just circling back on some of the inflationary comments that you made earlier. Just in thinking about the potential positive correlation of inflation and real estate performance and maybe in the context of BREIT, in particular, given the performance fees that were generated, how should we think about that return profile for BREIT as we go into '22 and potentially have an inflationary backdrop that persists for the year? And I guess the punchline is, should we think of inflation as being positively correlated with performance fees for BREIT? And then maybe if you just want to talk about just capacity of BREIT as well in terms of where -- if there are any capacity constraints on that fund in the next 1 to 2 years given the fundraising profile of it.

再次祝賀一個偉大的季度和一年。也許只是回想一下你之前發表的一些通脹評論。僅僅考慮通貨膨脹和房地產業績的潛在正相關關係，也許在 BREIT 的背景下，特別是考慮到產生的業績費用，我們應該如何考慮 BREIT 的回報情況，因為我們進入 '22 和可能存在持續一年的通脹背景？我想關鍵是，我們是否應該認為通貨膨脹與 BREIT 的績效費用呈正相關？然後，如果您只想談談 BREIT 的能力以及在哪裡——考慮到它的籌資情況，該基金在未來 1 到 2 年內是否存在任何能力限制。

Great. So what I would say on BREIT, back to the earlier comments, is the fund has been really well positioned by our real estate team. The leadership of our real estate group, Ken Caplan, Kathleen McCarthy, Nadeem Meghji who runs our U.S. business, they've set up this product now with more than 80% in rental housing and logistics. And yes, those asset classes are performing extraordinarily well.

偉大的。所以我要在 BREIT 上說的是，回到之前的評論，我們的房地產團隊已經很好地定位了該基金。我們的房地產集團領導層，Ken Caplan、Kathleen McCarthy、Nadeem Meghji 經營我們的美國業務，他們現在已經建立了這個產品，超過 80% 用於出租房屋和物流。是的，這些資產類別的表現非常好。

We said it -- Steve said it in his remarks, the rents are growing 2 to 3x the rate of inflation. And not only are the market rents growing, in many cases, the rents, of course, in place are well below the market rents. And because we're in this inflationary environment and there are supply chain challenges, it's hard for new supply to respond as quickly as one would expect. In fact, in logistics, we think in some markets, between landing cost -- replacement cost has gone up close to double. I'd say aggregately in the asset classes we like, it's probably up more than 30% in the last couple of years. So owning these kind of short-duration hard assets with pricing power is very positive.

我們說過——史蒂夫在他的講話中說過，租金的增長速度是通貨膨脹率的 2 到 3 倍。不僅市場租金在增長，在許多情況下，租金當然遠低於市場租金。而且由於我們處於這種通脹環境中並且存在供應鏈挑戰，因此新供應很難像人們預期的那樣迅速做出反應。事實上，在物流方面，我們認為在一些市場，到貨成本——重置成本之間已經上漲了近一倍。我想說的是，在我們喜歡的資產類別中，過去幾年它可能上漲了 30% 以上。所以擁有這種具有定價權的短期硬資產是非常積極的。

That being said, I wouldn't want to say we're going to produce the same kind of extraordinary performance that happened in 2021 because that was really special. And there will be some headwinds from rising rates on values. But overall, we feel very confident about the BREIT portfolio and continuing to deliver for shareholders in the kind of environment we face today.

話雖如此，我不想說我們將產生與 2021 年相同的非凡表現，因為那真的很特別。房價上漲也會帶來一些不利因素。但總體而言，我們對 BREIT 投資組合充滿信心，並在我們今天面臨的那種環境中繼續為股東提供服務。

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Lee from KBW.

您的下一個問題來自KBW 的Robert Lee。

Can you hear us?

你能聽見我們嗎？

Sorry about that. Congrats on another good quarter. Just kind of curious, I guess, the SEC recently came out with some proposals on new disclosure for private equity or private investments maybe is the way to describe it. And since, I guess, my experience, no good financial services business seems to go unpunished over time. What is it that kind of keeps you up at night, if anything, if you look at the kind of regulatory environment out there, both here and outside the U.S.? Is there anything that kind of you're particularly focused on?

對於那個很抱歉。祝賀另一個好季度。只是有點好奇，我想，SEC 最近提出了一些關於私募股權或私人投資新披露的建議，這可能是描述它的方式。而且，我想，根據我的經驗，隨著時間的推移，沒有一個好的金融服務企業似乎不受懲罰。是什麼讓你徹夜難眠，如果有的話，如果你看看美國本土和美國以外的監管環境？你有什麼特別關注的嗎？

So what I'd say on that is that the technical, I think, change they announced yesterday that they're seeking comment on is mostly around systemic risk and reporting systemic risk so -- applied to a range of industries, private equity, hedge funds and others.

所以我要說的是，我認為他們昨天宣布的技術變化，他們正在徵求意見，主要是圍繞系統性風險和報告系統性風險 - 適用於一系列行業，私募股權，對沖資金等。

I think for us, what we focus on is the fact that we've done such a good job for customers for such a long period of time, that we've delivered solid returns. You obviously see that in our public financials. Our investors get even more detail. And that to us is really important.

我認為對我們來說，我們關注的是這樣一個事實，即我們在很長一段時間內為客戶做了這麼好的工作，我們已經提供了可觀的回報。您顯然可以在我們的公共財務中看到這一點。我們的投資者可以獲得更多細節。這對我們來說真的很重要。

And the second factor that I think is very important is we're always striving. It's been something very important to Steve since the day I joined this firm 30 years ago, and even going back longer for him, operating at the highest levels of integrity, transparency and disclosures, that is a core value of this firm. And thus, whatever comes out from a regulatory environment, we will adapt and we will, of course, comply and that's just the way we run our business. So we understand that we're in an environment of heightened scrutiny, and we will obviously respond to it in the right way.

我認為非常重要的第二個因素是我們一直在努力。自從我 30 年前加入這家公司的那一天起，這對史蒂夫來說就非常重要，甚至可以追溯到更長時間，以最高水平的誠信、透明度和信息披露，這是這家公司的核心價值。因此，無論監管環境產生什麼，我們都會適應，當然，我們也會遵守，這正是我們經營業務的方式。因此，我們知道我們正處於一個受到嚴格審查的環境中，我們顯然會以正確的方式做出回應。

Your next question comes from Michael Cyprys from Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Michael Cyprys。

Just wanted to ask about retail, more broadly, maybe just taking a step back, looking at retail client portfolios. They seem to face the challenge around providing income for an aging demographic for some time now. I guess to what extent do you see rising interest rates as alleviating those challenges and improving the relative attractiveness of more traditional fixed income products and a higher rate backdrop? And then bigger picture, what unmet needs do you see from the retail client space and white space more broadly for Blackstone to provide other solutions to retail customers over time?

只是想更廣泛地詢問零售，也許只是退後一步，看看零售客戶組合。一段時間以來，他們似乎面臨著為老齡化人口提供收入的挑戰。我猜你認為利率上昇在多大程度上可以緩解這些挑戰並提高更傳統的固定收益產品的相對吸引力和更高的利率背景？然後從更大的角度來看，您從零售客戶空間和更廣泛的空白空間中看到了哪些未滿足的需求，以便 Blackstone 隨著時間的推移為零售客戶提供其他解決方案？

Thanks, Mike. I think the response from investors to this kind of environment as it relates to their fixed income portfolio is they're going to be looking for ways to maintain yield but not take duration risk. And so the problem is if they go into long-term corporate or government fixed income, they may get some yield. Today, it's still small. Maybe it goes up. But if rates continue to move, if inflation stays high, they have risk of capital impairment.

謝謝，邁克。我認為投資者對這種與其固定收益投資組合相關的環境的反應是，他們將尋找維持收益率但不承擔久期風險的方法。所以問題是，如果他們進入長期的企業或政府固定收益，他們可能會獲得一些收益。今天，它仍然很小。也許它會上漲。但如果利率繼續變動，如果通脹居高不下，它們就有資本減值的風險。

And so the idea of trading some liquidity for a yield-oriented product, where yield actually grows with rising interest rates, I think, becomes increasingly attractive. And that bodes, I think, very well for our credit products. And we have obviously -- we have our nontraded BDC, BCRED. We also have a public BDC, Blackstone Secured Lending Trust. So I think both of these are well positioned in this kind of environment.

因此，我認為，用一些流動性換取以收益率為導向的產品（收益率實際上隨著利率上升而增長）的想法變得越來越有吸引力。我認為，這預示著我們的信貸產品非常好。我們顯然有 - 我們有我們的非交易 BDC，BCRED。我們還有一個公共 BDC，即 Blackstone 擔保貸款信託。所以我認為這兩者都很好地適應了這種環境。

More broadly in retail, what I would say is you're not going to be surprised that this place is focused on innovation and growth. We have gotten to a place in the retail market that is very differentiated. The fact that we've been at this for more than a decade; that we've got several hundred people already dedicated to private wealth under Joan Solotar, we should be the 300 people by the end of the year; that we've created products, not just our traditional drawdown but these perpetual vehicles that meet customer needs that have taken, I think, a much more investor-friendly approach on fees and also have delivered Blackstone best-in-class focus on returns has really made a difference.

更廣泛地說，在零售業，我想說的是，這個地方專注於創新和增長，你不會感到驚訝。我們已經在零售市場中佔有一席之地，這是非常差異化的。事實上，我們已經在這方面工作了十多年；在 Joan Solotar 的領導下，我們已經有數百人致力於私人財富，到今年年底我們應該是 300 人；我們創造了產品，不僅僅是我們傳統的提款，而是這些滿足客戶需求的永久工具，我認為，這些產品在費用上採取了對投資者更友好的方法，並且還提供了 Blackstone 一流的回報關注真的有所作為。

And we've started -- Steve talked about shelf space. We've got really unique shelf space in these platforms, relationships with the distributors, the financial institutions, with the financial advisers and with the underlying customers. And so because of the confidence we've built, that enables us to offer other products like a really great consumer brand company.

我們已經開始——史蒂夫談到了貨架空間。我們在這些平台上擁有非常獨特的貨架空間，與分銷商、金融機構、財務顧問和潛在客戶的關係。因此，由於我們建立了信心，這使我們能夠提供其他產品，就像一家真正偉大的消費品牌公司一樣。

And so we're working on a number of things. Some are geographic in nature. Use BPIF as an example. That is the European version of BREIT. It's just started. Nobody's talking much about it. It's now at $700 million. It's on a couple of platforms. It will grow over time.

所以我們正在做很多事情。有些是地理性質的。以 BPIF 為例。那就是歐洲版的 BREIT。它才剛剛開始。沒有人談論它。現在是7億美元。它在幾個平台上。它會隨著時間的推移而增長。

And we're looking at different areas. We're not ready to talk about those, but I could just say that don't be surprised if you see other introductions into this area as we try to meet client needs and try to create products that often offer yield, and they offer an element of liquidity that you can't see in traditional alternative drawdown products. And customers are responding in a positive way. So we see this area as having very significant potential.

我們正在研究不同的領域。我們還沒有準備好談論這些，但我只能說，如果您看到該領域的其他介紹，請不要感到驚訝，因為我們試圖滿足客戶需求並嘗試創造通常提供收益的產品，並且它們提供您在傳統的替代回撤產品中看不到的流動性元素。客戶正在以積極的方式做出回應。因此，我們認為該領域具有非常巨大的潛力。

Yes. Mike, this is Steve. If you look at it from the perspective of the distributors, they want to have products that are oriented to protecting capital but going up continually along with increases from the Fed. And we've had some very unusual conversations because the retail channel is dramatically underallocated to alternatives. And the kinds of increases that some of the distributors are hopeful of achieving is at 3x, 4x increase. And this is a massive pool of capital. And it's essential they come up with good products. And that's what we do.

是的。邁克，這是史蒂夫。如果從分銷商的角度來看，他們希望擁有以保護資本為導向但隨著美聯儲加息而不斷上漲的產品。我們進行了一些非常不尋常的對話，因為零售渠道對替代品的分配嚴重不足。而一些分銷商希望實現的增長是3倍、4倍的增長。這是一個龐大的資本池。他們必須拿出好的產品。這就是我們所做的。

And so I think [in a way,] this is less about us and more about them and what the world thinks it's going to need, particularly if you look forward to more volatility. And it's sort of where do you put your money, where you think it's safe and where you're playing with the trends. And that's what we're doing, and we're doing it all over the world. So I think this is an enduring kind of trend.

所以我認為 [在某種程度上] 這不是關於我們，而是更多關於他們以及世界認為它將需要什麼，特別是如果你期待更多的波動。這有點像你把錢放在哪裡，你認為它安全的地方，以及你在玩趨勢的地方。這就是我們正在做的事情，我們正在世界各地做這件事。所以我認為這是一種持久的趨勢。

And as Jon said, we've taken the approach of bringing our institutional-quality products to the retail market. And after 10 years of investment, plus the other thing we've been doing over that time period is running in effect, we call it Blackstone University, where we have the FAs from different firms at our firm, spending a day or 2 learning about selling these types of products, which for some of them was new, and the fact they've been rewarded with performance. So it makes them want to sell more of our products. And so it's a virtuous circle. And we're really extremely engaged with new product development that will meet the needs of these types of customers. So when Jon's really excited about this, he's got a reason to be.

正如喬恩所說，我們採取了將我們機構質量的產品推向零售市場的方法。經過 10 年的投資，再加上我們在那段時間裡一直在做的另一件事正在生效，我們稱之為黑石大學，我們公司有來自不同公司的 FA，花一兩天時間學習銷售這些類型的產品，對其中一些人來說是新的，而且他們已經獲得了業績獎勵。因此，這使他們想要銷售更多我們的產品。所以這是一個良性循環。我們真的非常熱衷於滿足這些類型客戶的需求的新產品開發。因此，當喬恩對此感到非常興奮時，他有理由這樣做。

Your next question comes from the line of Devin Ryan from JP -- JMP Securities.

您的下一個問題來自 JP - JMP Securities 的 Devin Ryan。

This is Brian Mckenna for Devin. So looking at the broader private equity portfolio, I know you've been allocating more capital to growth investments. But I'm curious as to how the mix of the portfolio has evolved over time on this front. And then has there been any pickup in deployment opportunities into growth recently, just given the dislocation in the public markets?

這是德文的布賴恩·麥肯納。所以看看更廣泛的私募股權投資組合，我知道你一直在將更多的資本分配給成長型投資。但我很好奇投資組合的組合在這方面是如何隨著時間的推移而演變的。鑑於公共市場的混亂，最近是否有任何部署機會進入增長？

Well, we've been really thematic, Brian, in where we deploy capital. And so yes, technology has grown as a greater percentage of the mix. But it hasn't just been a technology story, and that area has served us really well. It's one of the reasons when you look at our returns in our private equity flagship -- corporate private equity area, we've seen such great returns. But it's also other thematic areas. We've been doing a bunch around sustainability in terms of investing in software and other businesses that provide support to the green energy transition that's underway.

好吧，布賴恩，我們在我們部署資金的地方真的很主題。所以，是的，技術在組合中的比例越來越大。但這不僅僅是一個技術故事，而且該領域對我們的服務非常好。當您查看我們在私募股權旗艦——企業私募股權領域的回報時，我們看到瞭如此豐厚的回報，這也是原因之一。但它也是其他主題領域。在投資軟件和其他為正在進行的綠色能源轉型提供支持的業務方面，我們一直在圍繞可持續性開展大量工作。

We've been deploying capital in the housing supply and construction chain in a very meaningful way. We have a large company in Europe that's done quite well. We've been focused on leisure and all forms of travel. And we've done this in real estate but also in private equity. We closed on a sizable transaction with a company called VFS that processes visas for people from developing markets to visit developed markets. And what we're anticipating, of course, there thematically is a big recovery of travel as we come out of COVID.

我們一直在以一種非常有意義的方式在住房供應和建設鏈中部署資金。我們在歐洲有一家做得很好的大公司。我們一直專注於休閒和各種形式的旅行。我們已經在房地產和私募股權領域做到了這一點。我們與一家名為 VFS 的公司完成了一筆大額交易，該公司為來自發展中市場的人處理前往發達市場的簽證。當然，我們期待的是，隨著我們從 COVID 中走出來，從主題上講，旅行將大幅復甦。

And so the good news is we haven't been really big into industrials and areas where exposure to rising input costs, labor and materials can really squeeze margin. We've tried to focus on businesses with secular tailwinds where we have pricing power. And that's why we feel quite good about the positioning of our private equity portfolio even as we move into this bit of a different environment.

所以好消息是，我們在工業和投入成本、勞動力和材料不斷上升的領域確實會擠壓利潤。我們試圖專注於我們擁有定價權的長期順風的企業。這就是為什麼我們對我們的私募股權投資組合的定位感到非常滿意的原因，即使我們進入了這個不同的環境。

Your next question comes from Finian O'Shea from Wells Fargo.

您的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Finian O'Shea。

On the market environment again, can you talk about the impact so far on market activity or deal flow? Are you seeing any changes in pricing or transaction volumes at this point?

再次談到市場環境，您能否談談迄今為止對市場活動或交易流的影響？您是否看到此時定價或交易量有任何變化？

So I think it's a little early. As I commented earlier, the real estate market, certainly not. I think in private equity, there was just such a surge at the end of last year. Some of that people thought in anticipation of tax changes, there were probably more sellers. I think if the economy stays healthy, we'll still see decent transaction volume.

所以我覺得有點早了。正如我之前評論的那樣，房地產市場肯定不是。我認為在私募股權領域，去年年底就出現了這樣的激增。其中一些人在預期稅收變化時認為，可能會有更多的賣家。我認為，如果經濟保持健康，我們仍然會看到可觀的交易量。

I do think in the technology and growth areas, as the public markets had a more dramatic reset that there, it may take a little bit more time to adjust the private market to the public market pricing. I think that bodes very well for our growth equity business that's positioned well.

我確實認為在技術和增長領域，由於公開市場在那裡進行了更為劇烈的重置，可能需要更多時間來調整私人市場以適應公開市場的定價。我認為這對我們定位良好的增長股權業務來說是個好兆頭。

I would say the good news is from our teams on the ground, seeing stocks off materially has definitely engaged more conversations with us and companies out there. So sometimes, this seed planning takes a little bit of time. But my expectation is there should be a decent year for deal volume. We may see a little bit of a slowdown on the corporate side here as people readjust, but then I would expect at some point, it would probably pick back up.

我想說好消息來自我們的實地團隊，看到股票大幅下跌肯定與我們和那裡的公司進行了更多的對話。所以有時候，這個種子計劃需要一點時間。但我的預期是交易量應該是不錯的一年。隨著人們重新調整，我們可能會看到企業方面的放緩，但我預計在某個時候，它可能會回升。

Your next question comes from Glenn Schorr from Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Glenn Schorr。

Maybe I could just ask one quick follow-up on rates and growth stocks because you just touched on it. But -- so you mentioned in higher rates, you have a lot of inflation-protected assets that do well, rents going up 2 and 3x inflation and how BCRED is a lot of floating rates. So all that's great. I think one, not all, but one of the reasons where lots of growth stocks have cracked, as you noticed, was just a higher discount rate and its impact on multiples. So Blackstone partially pivoted more towards growth investing as another avenue for growth. So just kind of curious on how you weigh what's happened in the market and impact of rates on all kinds of levered investments versus the specific opportunities that you see ahead of you? Sorry if some of that is repetitive.

也許我可以問一個關於利率和成長股的快速跟進，因為你剛剛談到它。但是——所以你提到了更高的利率，你有很多表現良好的通脹保護資產，租金上漲了 2 倍和 3 倍通脹，以及 BCRED 是如何大量浮動利率的。所以這一切都很棒。正如你所注意到的，我認為一個，不是全部，而是許多成長型股票破裂的原因之一，只是較高的貼現率及其對倍數的影響。因此，Blackstone 將部分重點更多地轉向增長投資，將其作為另一種增長途徑。所以只是好奇你如何權衡市場上發生的事情以及利率對各種槓桿投資的影響與你看到的具體機會之間的關係？對不起，如果其中一些是重複的。

Yes. Look, I think the question on tech is really important in some of these faster-growing industries. And I'd make a couple of comments. We tend to focus on companies that have positive cash flow and make money, particularly in private equity when we invest in tech, and it's often tech services businesses. Even in our growth equity business, we focus on companies that either make money or have high gross margins. And the companies that are facing the greatest pressure today are those that are more speculative in nature that have to keep raising capital over time and where the increase in discount rate impacts value. So where we focus, I think, is really important.

是的。看，我認為技術問題在這些快速發展的行業中非常重要。我會發表一些評論。我們傾向於關注擁有正現金流和賺錢的公司，尤其是當我們投資科技時的私募股權，而且通常是科技服務業務。即使在我們的成長股權業務中，我們也專注於賺錢或毛利率高的公司。而今天面臨最大壓力的公司是那些本質上更具投機性的公司，它們必須隨著時間的推移不斷籌集資金，而且貼現率的增加會影響價值。因此，我認為，我們關注的重點非常重要。

I would also point out that even in some of our tech companies we've taken public, as they've traded off, we still have very significant embedded gains given where we bought these businesses. And when you look at the performance of our more tech-oriented investments, in the fourth quarter, revenues in our tech companies in private equity were up 20% and in growth, up 40%. And that's not a surprise because even though there's been a pullback in markets, there are big secular trends that are still underway. All of us are getting more Amazon boxes to our home. E-commerce is growing 15%, 20%. Cloud migration continues to accelerate.

我還要指出，即使在我們已經上市的一些科技公司中，由於它們已經進行了權衡，考慮到我們購買這些業務的地點，我們仍然擁有非常可觀的嵌入式收益。當您查看我們更多以技術為導向的投資的表現時，在第四季度，我們的私募股權科技公司的收入增長了 20%，增長了 40%。這並不令人意外，因為即使市場出現回調，但仍存在重大的長期趨勢。我們所有人都在家裡買了更多的亞馬遜盒子。電子商務正在增長15%、20%。雲遷移繼續加速。

I was talking to our Head of Technology, John Stecher, yesterday, who estimates our portfolio companies are spending 15% to 20% more on technology this year. That is an awful big number. Consumers -- education's moving online. When you talk about schools, what's happening, we've made a big push into edtech. They've gone from spending 5% to 7% more on software and digital today to 15-plus percent. Digital infrastructure, of course, benefiting because you need data centers and towers. And so there is secular growth in these areas.

昨天，我與我們的技術主管 John Stecher 進行了交談，他估計我們的投資組合公司今年在技術上的支出增加了 15% 到 20%。這是一個可怕的大數字。消費者——教育正在線上化。當您談論學校時，正在發生的事情，我們已經大力推動教育科技。他們現在在軟件和數字方面的支出從 5% 到 7% 增長到 15% 以上。數字基礎設施當然會受益，因為您需要數據中心和塔。因此，這些領域存在長期增長。

Yes, some of these stocks certainly got to levels that didn't make sense. We've now seen a pullback. But I wouldn't now say, therefore, technology, technology services, content creation, this stuff doesn't make sense to invest in. We think it could lead to more opportunities and more rational pricing. And we really like the portfolio of businesses we're invested in.

是的，其中一些股票肯定達到了沒有意義的水平。我們現在看到了回調。但我現在不會說，因此，技術、技術服務、內容創作，這些東西沒有投資意義。我們認為它可以帶來更多的機會和更合理的定價。我們真的很喜歡我們投資的業務組合。

And Glenn, I'd just -- this is Michael. I'd just add to that, that particularly in private equity, yes, these are businesses with great secular tailwinds that grew in the fourth quarter in the order of 20% top line, but they're highly profitable. They're at scale. And we -- importantly, we bought them at reasonable prices. We're still value investors since we bought them at reasonable prices and multiples of things like EBIT that you rarely -- the metric you rarely hear about in this space and cash flows. And as always, with all investments for 35 years, we underwrote them to long-term exit multiples that assume normalization of rates and multiples and so forth. So -- and as a result, we feel we have significant embedded gain in the portfolio overall, notwithstanding fluctuations in markets.

還有格倫，我只是 - 這是邁克爾。我只想補充一點，特別是在私募股權領域，是的，這些業務具有巨大的長期順風，在第四季度增長了 20% 的收入，但它們的利潤很高。他們是有規模的。我們 - 重要的是，我們以合理的價格購買了它們。我們仍然是價值投資者，因為我們以合理的價格購買了它們，並且是您很少聽到的 EBIT 之類的倍數——這是您在這個領域和現金流中很少聽到的指標。與往常一樣，對於 35 年的所有投資，我們為它們提供長期退出倍數的擔保，假設利率和倍數正常化等等。所以 - 因此，儘管市場波動，我們認為我們在整體投資組合中獲得了顯著的嵌入式收益。

And your next question comes from the line of Arnaud Giblat from BNP.

您的下一個問題來自 BNP 的 Arnaud Giblat。

Could I ask, please, on the wealth and mass affluent channels in Europe? They seem to be developing very well. Could you give us a bit more color on how -- on what you're doing in Europe? You mentioned earlier BPIF hitting $700 million. How far could this go? What other products are you launching? Are you getting closer to entering partnerships with some of the key European wealth managers?

請問，歐洲的財富和大眾富裕渠道？他們似乎發展得很好。您能否就您在歐洲所做的事情向我們提供更多信息？您之前提到 BPIF 達到 7 億美元。這能走多遠？您還推出了哪些其他產品？您是否越來越接近與一些主要的歐洲財富管理機構建立合作夥伴關係？

Yes. Europe is, I think, an area of real opportunity for us over time, but I do want to acknowledge that it's more challenging in the sense almost every EU country has its own regulations about private wealth. They are not all synchronized. Obviously, there are different languages as well. And you have much less consolidation generally amongst distributors, wealth managers.

是的。我認為，隨著時間的推移，歐洲對我們來說是一個真正機遇的領域，但我確實想承認，它更具挑戰性，因為幾乎每個歐盟國家都有自己的私人財富法規。它們並非全部同步。顯然，也有不同的語言。而且，分銷商、財富管理機構之間的整合通常要少得多。

And so the amount of boots on the ground you need to distribute this, and the legal work you need to do is significant. The good news is we've got some terrifically talented people leading that effort for us in Europe, and we have been committing significant resources to this. And we will continue to move. And I think this is another market where we could have a meaningful first-mover advantage where the strength of the brand really matters, the products really matter.

因此，您需要在當地分發這些靴子的數量，以及您需要做的法律工作非常重要。好消息是，我們有一些非常有才華的人在歐洲為我們領導這項工作，我們一直在為此投入大量資源。我們將繼續前進。我認為這是另一個我們可以擁有有意義的先發優勢的市場，其中品牌的實力真的很重要，產品真的很重要。

We have distributed with some of the global firms our BREIT product, our BCRED products, but now having more targeted products in Europe in euros will make a difference. But I wouldn't expect it to move as quickly just because it requires a lot of effort country by country. But we are, as Steve likes to say, a persistent bunch. So this is something we're really focused on.

我們已經與一些全球公司分發了我們的 BREIT 產品和 BCRED 產品，但現在在歐洲擁有更多以歐元為單位的目標產品將會產生影響。但我不認為它會因為它需要逐個國家的大量努力而迅速行動。但正如史蒂夫喜歡說的那樣，我們是一群堅持不懈的人。所以這是我們真正關注的事情。

And your next question comes from Adam Beatty from UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Adam Beatty。

You gave some context earlier about how the firm has grown and evolved in the past few years since the Investor Day. It would be great to get your thoughts on how the organization has grown and evolved at the same time to be able to support the much larger AUM, the doubling of number of products, et cetera, and maybe in particular, the role of technology in that.

您之前提供了一些背景信息，介紹了自投資者日以來公司在過去幾年中是如何發展和發展的。如果您能了解組織如何同時成長和發展，以便能夠支持更大的 AUM、產品數量翻倍等，尤其是技術在那。

So that is something you might imagine we spend a lot of time talking about. Because the most important thing as we grow is to maintain our culture, attracting great talent, making sure they have a wonderful experience here, the best people want to come, that we continue to be a meritocracy and also making sure we maintain our investment discipline. We never want to be a franchise business. We still have centralized investment control. We've got to make sure we maintain process and discipline as we grow because that's the way investment managers get into trouble.

所以這就是你可能想像的我們花了很多時間談論的事情。因為隨著我們的成長，最重要的是保持我們的文化，吸引優秀的人才，確保他們在這裡有美好的經歷，最優秀的人想來，我們繼續成為精英，同時確保我們保持我們的投資紀律.我們永遠不想成為特許經營企業。我們仍然有集中的投資控制權。我們必須確保我們在成長過程中保持流程和紀律，因為這是投資經理陷入困境的方式。

So what are we doing in this regard? I would say there's a multitude of things. Obviously, it's a bottom-up -- we've been expanding our analyst class meaningfully, but also our training and onboarding, something Steve has been really focused on, we put a lot of effort on to make sure we have people as integrated as possible. We've been doing more in the way of lateral hiring. We've hired a number of senior leaders to lead new initiatives or to move into existing businesses, something in the past we hadn't done as much of, but given our rate of growth, we need to do that.

那麼我們在這方面做了些什麼呢？我會說有很多東西。顯然，這是自下而上的——我們一直在有意義地擴展我們的分析師課程，還有我們的培訓和入職培訓，這是史蒂夫真正關注的事情，我們付出了很多努力來確保我們的人員像可能的。我們在橫向招聘方面做得更多。我們聘請了許多高級領導來領導新計劃或進入現有業務，這是過去我們沒有做過的事情，但鑑於我們的增長率，我們需要這樣做。

And then we stay highly integrated, Management Committee, Operating Committee. Every Monday morning, we do our BXTV. You might have seen our holiday video that made fun of us about it. We are focused on keeping this firm connected. And then the investment committees are still run out of New York, centralized, different investment committees for different groups but a number of people who are similar, including folks on this call, on multiple of these investment committees.

然後我們保持高度整合，管理委員會，運營委員會。每個星期一早上，我們都會做 BXTV。您可能已經看過我們取笑我們的假期視頻。我們專注於保持這家公司的聯繫。然後投資委員會仍然在紐約之外，集中，針對不同群體的不同投資委員會，但許多相似的人，包括這次電話會議的人，在這些投資委員會中的多個。

And so we're thinking about our process, how to streamline it in certain ways, but maintain the same investment discipline that we've always had over time. And the great news is we've had a lot of continuity with people here, and we're also attracting all this wonderful talent. So the number we talk about, 29,000 young people last year applying for 120 jobs, that's an incredible number. And I'm happy when I applied way back when that wasn't the number. But it's really important to maintain, control and discipline as we have these really tremendous levels of growth.

因此，我們正在考慮我們的流程，如何以某種方式對其進行簡化，同時保持我們長期以來一直擁有的相同投資紀律。好消息是我們與這裡的人有很多連續性，我們也吸引了所有這些優秀的人才。所以我們談論的數字，去年有 29,000 名年輕人申請了 120 個工作，這是一個令人難以置信的數字。當我申請回來的時候，我很高興那不是數字。但保持、控制和自律非常重要，因為我們擁有這些真正巨大的增長水平。

And your final question comes from Chris Kotowski from Oppenheimer.

最後一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Chris Kotowski。

I guess it's a question for Michael, probably. But I wanted to understand the fee-related performance fees a bit better. Because I recognize, obviously, it was a great quarter and a great year. But the first 9 months were pretty darn good. And as of end of the third quarter, the -- I think the accrued performance fees in BREIT was something like $500 million. And then it ended up -- the year-end performance fee ended up being $1.5 billion. And I'm -- was that just because you had kind of accrued too conservatively in the first part of the year? Or was there a jump in the fourth quarter? Or what drove that?

我想這可能是邁克爾的問題。但我想更好地了解與費用相關的績效費用。因為我承認，顯然，這是一個偉大的季度和偉大的一年。但前 9 個月非常好。截至第三季度末，我認為 BREIT 的應計業績費用約為 5 億美元。然後它結束了——年終績效費最終達到了 15 億美元。我是——僅僅是因為你在今年上半年的積累過於保守了嗎？還是在第四節有跳躍？或者是什麼驅動了它？

No. I think -- well, first of all, you have to look, obviously, the difference between gross and net. And so when you see the NAPR receivable that we disclose every quarter, that's obviously on a net basis. And what you see on consolidated and by segment basis in our 8-K, when that becomes realized revenues, is gross revenues, and so with the cost and comp against that in the overall fee-related compensation line.

不。我認為——嗯，首先，你必須看看，很明顯，總和淨之間的區別。因此，當您看到我們每季度披露的 NAPR 應收賬款時，這顯然是按淨值計算的。在我們的 8-K 中，您在合併和分部的基礎上看到的是總收入，以及與費用相關的整體薪酬線中的成本和補償。

So you can see it coming on a net basis in the prior quarter. There was also an incentive fee in the fourth quarter from infrastructure that you would have also seen on the receivable in the prior quarter. But then add to that, of course, in the fourth quarter, you also get the benefit of the further appreciation and inflows and growth in asset base.

所以你可以看到它在上一季度以淨值的形式出現。第四季度還有來自基礎設施的激勵費，您也會在上一季度的應收賬款中看到。但除此之外，當然，在第四季度，您還將受益於資產基礎的進一步升值和流入以及增長。

So it's there. We're cognizant that over time and confident that over time, for a number of different factors, the visibility and sort of predictability of this, I think, will only be enhanced over time even as it scales and grows.

所以它就在那裡。我們認識到，隨著時間的推移，並且相信隨著時間的推移，對於許多不同的因素，我認為，即使隨著時間的推移，它的可見性和可預測性也會隨著時間的推移而增強，即使它會擴展和增長。

Okay. Great. And on the private equity side, the $212 million, is that -- which category drove that? And what's our tracking mechanism towards that? And should that be a once-a-year thing? Or is that a quarter-by-quarter thing from here?

好的。偉大的。在私募股權方面，2.12 億美元，是哪個類別推動的？我們對此的跟踪機制是什麼？這應該是一年一次的事情嗎？或者這是一個季度一個季度的事情？

Right, Chris. So as I mentioned in my remarks and then just now to your -- the first part of your question, that was the incentive fee from infrastructure -- from our infrastructure fund. And that is in that category along with the BPP funds that has periodic but recurring incentive fee events, typically 3 years from the -- 3-year anniversary of the investor inflows or in some cases 5 years, but principally 3 years -- in the case of infrastructure, 3 years.

對，克里斯。正如我在我的發言中提到的，然後是剛才提到的——你問題的第一部分，這是來自基礎設施的激勵費——來自我們的基礎設施基金。這與 BPP 基金一起屬於該類別，這些基金具有定期但經常性的激勵費用事件，通常是投資者流入 3 週年後的 3 年，或者在某些情況下是 5 年，但主要是 3 年。基礎設施案例，3 年。

I'd just say overall, in terms of this area, as I mentioned, you saw NAV growth ingest BREIT and BCRED of triple in the year. So $21 billion between those 2 strategies went to $67 billion entering this year. We had inflows on January 1 between the 2 strategies of $4 billion. And obviously, as we've talked about, we feel great about the positioning of the portfolios and the further appreciation. So you combine those 3 factors, and notwithstanding that we have a tougher compare relative to that terrific BREIT return, we feel really good about the growing fee base and the outlook ahead.

我只想說總體而言，就這一領域而言，正如我所提到的，你看到今年 NAV 增長吸收了 BREIT 和 BCRED 的三倍。因此，這兩種策略之間的 210 億美元今年進入了 670 億美元。 1 月 1 日，我們在 40 億美元的 2 個策略之間有資金流入。顯然，正如我們已經談到的，我們對投資組合的定位和進一步升值感覺很好。因此，您將這 3 個因素結合起來，儘管相對於 BREIT 的出色回報，我們的比較更加艱難，但我們對不斷增長的費用基礎和未來前景感到非常滿意。

And now I'd like to hand back to Weston for closing comments.

現在我想請 Weston 結束評論。

Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining us and look forward to following up after the call.

偉大的。謝謝大家加入我們，並期待在電話會議後跟進。

Goodbye. Thank you. Thank you, Weston, and thank you to all your speakers. And thank you, everyone. That concludes your conference call for today. You may now disconnect. Thank you for joining, and enjoy the rest of your day.

再見。謝謝你。謝謝你，韋斯頓，謝謝你所有的演講者。謝謝大家。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。感謝您的加入，祝您度過愉快的一天。