Blackstone Inc (BX) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome, everyone, to the Blackstone First Quarter 2022 Investor Call hosted by Weston Tucker, Head of Shareholder Relations. My name is Christophe, and I'm the event manager for today. (Operator Instructions) I would like to advise all parties that this conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎大家參加由股東關係主管 Weston Tucker 主持的 Blackstone 2022 年第一季度投資者電話會議。我的名字是 Christophe，我是今天的活動經理。 （操作員說明）我想通知各方，這次會議正在錄製中。

And with that, I'll hand it over to Weston. Please proceed.

有了這個，我會把它交給韋斯頓。請繼續。

Great. Thank you, and good morning, and welcome to Blackstone's first quarter conference call. Joining today are Steve Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO; Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Michael Chae, Chief Financial Officer.

偉大的。謝謝大家，早上好，歡迎參加 Blackstone 第一季度電話會議。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-Q report in a few weeks.

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。我們預計在幾週內提交我們的 10-Q 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. And 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 certain non-GAAP measures, 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。我們還將參考某些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 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 $2.5 billion. Distributable earnings were $1.9 billion or $1.55 per common share, and we declared a dividend of $1.32 per share to be paid to holders of record as of May 2.

在結果方面，我們報告了 25 億美元的季度 GAAP 淨收入。可分配收益為 19 億美元或每股普通股 1.55 美元，我們宣布將向截至 5 月 2 日的記錄持有人支付每股 1.32 美元的股息。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給史蒂夫。

Thanks a lot, Weston, and good morning, and thank you for joining our call.

非常感謝，韋斯頓，早上好，感謝您加入我們的電話。

Blackstone reported an exceptional start to the year, with the first quarter representing one of the 2 best in our 36-year history. This was despite increasing interest rates and ever higher inflation, driving major declines in equity and debt markets. Distributable earnings, as Weston mentioned, in the first quarter rose 63% this year over last year to $1.9 billion, while fee-related earnings increased 55% to $1.1 billion.

Blackstone 報告了今年的出色開局，第一季度是我們 36 年曆史上最好的兩個季度之一。儘管利率上升和通貨膨脹率不斷上升，導致股票和債務市場大幅下跌，但情況仍然如此。正如韋斯頓所說，今年第一季度的可分配收益比去年增長了 63%，達到 19 億美元，而與費用相關的收益增長了 55%，達到 11 億美元。

Inflows, capital deployed and realizations all set new records for the firm for any 12-month period. Most importantly, our investment performance was outstanding, dramatically outperforming public indices. Another example of why alternative assets continue to grow rapidly in a risk-off world. These results are highly atypical in money management. But greater than a single quarter, they represent further proof of concept, Blackstone's position in the financial sector, which I believe we are uniquely placed.

流入、資本部署和變現都為公司創造了任何 12 個月的新記錄。最重要的是，我們的投資表現非常出色，大大超過了公共指數。另一個為什麼替代資產在避險世界中繼續快速增長的例子。這些結果在資金管理中是非常不典型的。但不僅僅是一個季度，它們代表了概念的進一步證明，即黑石在金融領域的地位，我相信我們處於獨特的地位。

So what differentiates us? There are certain attributes that characterize a great financial firm, including strong investment performance over long periods of time; significant growth in assets while maintaining debt performance; the ability to continuously innovate; a trusted brand; loyalty from customers, who themselves are healthy and growing; wide geographic and product reach; a distinctive high-performance culture; the ability to attract and keep great talent; and the capacity to identify and act upon paradigm shifts before others. It is rare even for a great firm to possess several of these pillars of success. At Blackstone, I believe we've demonstrated we have all of them.

那麼我們有什麼不同呢？一家偉大的金融公司具有某些特徵，包括長期強勁的投資業績；資產顯著增長，同時保持債務表現；不斷創新的能力；值得信賴的品牌；客戶的忠誠度，他們本身是健康和成長的；廣泛的地理和產品範圍；獨特的高績效文化；吸引和留住優秀人才的能力；以及在他人之前識別範式轉變並採取行動的能力。即使是一家偉大的公司也很難擁有其中的幾個成功支柱。在 Blackstone，我相信我們已經證明我們擁有所有這些。

As the largest alternative manager in the world, we've built leading businesses across all of the major asset classes with uniformly outstanding returns. Our flagship strategies have significantly outperformed the comparable public indices, including 16% to 17% net returns annually, corporate private equity and global opportunistic real estate for 3 decades, leading the indices by approximately 5% to 9% per year.

作為世界上最大的另類管理公司，我們在所有主要資產類別中建立了領先的業務，並獲得了一致的出色回報。我們的旗艦策略在過去 3 年的表現顯著優於可比的公共指數，包括每年 16% 至 17% 的淨回報率、企業私募股權和全球機會主義房地產，每年領先指數約 5% 至 9%。

As we've grown larger, we have not sacrificed returns. Quite the opposite, in fact. In the first quarter, while nearly every major asset class outside commodities declined, our funds delivered strong performance. This is best highlighted on the one hand by our real estate business, our largest business, for superior sector and asset selection led to our flagship strategies, appreciating 8% to 10% just in the quarter compared to a 4% decline in the REIT index.

隨著我們的規模越來越大，我們並沒有犧牲回報。恰恰相反，事實上。在第一季度，儘管幾乎所有除商品以外的主要資產類別都出現下滑，但我們的基金表現強勁。一方面，我們最大的業務——房地產業務最能突出這一點，因為優越的行業和資產選擇導致了我們的旗艦戰略，僅在本季度就上漲了 8% 至 10%，而房地產投資信託基金指數下降了 4% .

On the other hand, in liquid markets, our hedge fund solutions delivered a positive composite return in the quarter compared to a 5% to 9% decline in the major global equity indices. Strong performance over decades has given us the confidence and ability to innovate. While most companies struggle to build a great business outside of their original success, innovation itself is a core competency at our firm.

另一方面，在流動性市場中，我們的對沖基金解決方案在本季度實現了正的綜合回報，而全球主要股票指數則下跌了 5% 至 9%。幾十年來的強勁表現給了我們創新的信心和能力。雖然大多數公司都在努力在最初的成功之外建立偉大的業務，但創新本身是我們公司的核心競爭力。

Today, we have approximately 60 strategies, and we're constantly developing more, increasingly in the form of perpetual capital vehicles. As we deliver for our clients across more and more strategies, it deepens our relationships with them and creates a powerful network effect, leading to a greater share of wallet. That's why our inflows reached $50 billion in the first quarter alone and $289 billion for the last 12 months.

今天，我們有大約 60 種策略，而且我們還在不斷開發更多策略，越來越多地以永續資本工具的形式出現。隨著我們為客戶提供越來越多的策略，它加深了我們與他們的關係並創造了強大的網絡效應，從而帶來更大的錢包份額。這就是為什麼我們的流入僅在第一季度就達到了 500 億美元，在過去 12 個月達到了 2890 億美元。

Over the past 3 years, our limited partners have entrusted us with $500 billion of inflows, which is greater than the total AUM, any other alternative firm. Above all else, people and reputation are the absolute necessities for finance success. At Blackstone, these are our most important assets and the foundation of everything we've been able to achieve. We have more talented people at the firm today than ever before, operating at the highest level of excellence. And we are reinvesting significantly in our capabilities and people in order to expand our leadership position in every area and further widen our competitive moat.

在過去的 3 年裡，我們的有限合夥人委託我們流入了 5000 億美元，這比任何其他替代公司的總資產管理規模都要大。最重要的是，人員和聲譽是財務成功的絕對必要條件。在 Blackstone，這些是我們最重要的資產，也是我們能夠實現的一切的基礎。今天，我們公司的人才比以往任何時候都多，以最高的卓越水平運作。我們正在對我們的能力和人員進行大量再投資，以擴大我們在各個領域的領導地位，並進一步拓寬我們的競爭護城河。

As the gold standard in financial services, Blackstone is magnet to the industry's best talent as evidenced by 35,000 unique applications for fewer and only 200 positions in our most recent analyst recruiting class. And we've also been named consistently as one of the Best Places to Work in finance.

作為金融服務領域的黃金標準，Blackstone 吸引了業內最優秀的人才，在我們最近的分析師招聘課程中，只有 35,000 份獨特的申請，但只有 200 個職位就證明了這一點。我們也一直被評為金融業最佳工作場所之一。

Taken together, these pillars of success are why Blackstone has continued to post strong results and why we have extraordinary forward momentum despite the current backdrop of rising rates and higher inflation. While no investment manager can be totally immune from these headwinds, we believe the unique balance of our firm and positioning of our portfolio will enable us to mitigate the adverse consequences of these factors.

總而言之，這些成功的支柱是 Blackstone 繼續取得強勁業績的原因，以及儘管當前利率上升和通脹上升的背景下我們仍具有非凡的前進動力的原因。雖然沒有投資經理可以完全免受這些不利因素的影響，但我們相信我們公司的獨特平衡和我們投資組合的定位將使我們能夠減輕這些因素的不利影響。

As we've highlighted previously, in our $200 billion corporate credit business, virtually all of our investments are in floating rate debt, which provides a better return for our customers as interest rates move higher. And our nearly $300 billion real estate business, approximately 80% of the equity portfolio in sectors where rents in the U.S. are growing significantly in excess of the rate of inflation, owning hard assets has historically provided a strong hedge for inflation, which favors our $27 billion infrastructure business as well.

正如我們之前所強調的那樣，在我們 2000 億美元的企業信貸業務中，我們幾乎所有的投資都是浮動利率債務，隨著利率的上升，這為我們的客戶提供了更好的回報。而我們近 3000 億美元的房地產業務，約占美國租金增長速度超過通貨膨脹率的行業的股票投資組合的 80%，擁有硬資產歷來為通貨膨脹提供了強有力的對沖，這有利於我們 27 美元億基礎設施業務。

For our $125 billion corporate private equity platform, our operating companies grew a remarkable 20% -- 22% year-over-year in the first quarter, partially benefiting from reopening tailwinds. While we're seeing the impact of inflation on some of our companies, which we expect to continue, we believe investing in companies with strong revenue growth is the best protection to generate outperformance in the future. And in our $83 billion hedge fund solutions platform, we expect volatile liquid markets to advantage our downside protected strategies, which we saw in the first quarter.

對於我們 1250 億美元的企業私募股權平台，我們的運營公司在第一季度同比增長了 20% - 22%，部分受益於重新開放的順風。雖然我們看到通貨膨脹對我們的一些公司的影響，我們預計這種影響會持續下去，但我們認為，投資於收入增長強勁的公司是未來取得優異表現的最佳保護。在我們 830 億美元的對沖基金解決方案平台中，我們預計波動的流動性市場將有利於我們在第一季度看到的下行保護策略。

Overall, the transformation of our firm continues, which we first outlined at our Investor Day in 2018, with our AUM rapidly shifting to its perpetual strategies and our earnings towards more recurring FRE. Over this 3.5-year period, perpetual AUM is up over 5x, and annual FRE has more than tripled. This transformation makes us more resilient to market cycles and provides additional opportunities to create value for our limited partners.

總體而言，我們公司的轉型仍在繼續，我們在 2018 年的投資者日首次概述了這一點，我們的 AUM 迅速轉向其永久戰略，我們的收益轉向更經常性的 FRE。在這 3.5 年期間，永久 AUM 增長了 5 倍以上，年度 FRE 增長了兩倍多。這種轉變使我們對市場週期更具彈性，並為我們的有限合夥人創造價值提供了更多機會。

In closing, I've never been more pleased with the positioning of our firm or more optimistic about its prospects.

最後，我對我們公司的定位從未如此滿意，對其前景也從未如此樂觀。

Now, I'll turn it over to our television star, Jon Gray.

現在，我將把它交給我們的電視明星 Jon Gray。

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. It's one thing for an investment firm to achieve strong results when markets are all going up. It's quite another to do so in a challenging environment like Q1.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，大家早上好。當市場都在上漲時，投資公司取得強勁的業績是一回事。在像第一季度這樣充滿挑戰的環境中這樣做是另一回事。

Over the past several years, we've been fortifying our business model to deliver for investors in good times and bad. This applies to the way we've deployed capital as well as the businesses we've entered. The power of that model was on full display in the first quarter.

在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在強化我們的商業模式，以便在順境和逆境中為投資者提供服務。這適用於我們部署資本的方式以及我們進入的業務。該模型的力量在第一季度得到了充分展示。

Starting with the portfolio and investment performance. We've been mindful of the prospect of rising interest rates and a normalization of market multiples for several years. This informed our investing, as Steve noted, and we concentrated our deployment towards hard assets in the businesses where revenue could grow faster than inflationary pressures. These include global logistics, life sciences, rental housing, enterprise software, and digital and energy infrastructure. Today, we're benefiting from extraordinarily positive fundamentals in these areas, and they remain significant drivers of appreciation in our funds.

從投資組合和投資業績開始。幾年來，我們一直關注利率上升和市場倍數正常化的前景。正如史蒂夫指出的那樣，這為我們的投資提供了信息，我們將部署集中在收入增長可能快於通脹壓力的業務中的硬資產上。其中包括全球物流、生命科學、出租房屋、企業軟件以及數字和能源基礎設施。今天，我們受益於這些領域非常積極的基本面，它們仍然是我們基金升值的重要推動力。

After the start of the pandemic, we also ramped up deployment in the travel sector, including investments in Bourne Leisure; Signature Aviation; and extended stay hotels; along with pending commitments for Crown Resorts; toll road operator, ASPI; and Visa services firm, VFS. We are now seeing a robust recovery in global travel.

大流行開始後，我們還加大了在旅遊領域的部署，包括對 Bourne Leisure 的投資；簽名航空；和長住酒店；以及對皇冠度假村的未決承諾；收費公路運營商 ASPI；和簽證服務公司VFS。我們現在看到全球旅遊業強勁復甦。

The tremendous value of what we own today is further highlighted by our realization activity. Nowhere is that more apparent than in logistics, our largest investment team comprising 40% of the global real estate portfolio. We first started investing in this sector at scale in 2010 given the expected explosion in e-commerce. And today, we own approximately $170 billion of warehouses. We're also now seeing a surge in corporation's increasing inventory holdings to mitigate supply chain issues. We have harvested gains along the way, including Encore in 2015 and Logicor in 2017, two of the firm's most successful investments. And the largest realization in Q1 was the refinancing of a portion of our U.S. logistics portfolio.

我們今天擁有的東西的巨大價值通過我們的實現活動進一步突出。這一點在物流領域最為明顯，我們最大的投資團隊佔全球房地產投資組合的 40%。鑑於電子商務的預期爆炸式增長，我們於 2010 年首次開始大規模投資該領域。今天，我們擁有大約 1700 億美元的倉庫。我們現在還看到公司增加庫存以緩解供應鏈問題。一路走來，我們收穫頗豐，包括 2015 年的 Encore 和 2017 年的 Logicor，這是該公司最成功的兩項投資。第一季度最大的實現是對我們部分美國物流組合的再融資。

Moreover, in our European portfolio, we expect to complete the EUR 21 billion recapitalization of Mileway, the largest last mile logistics platform on the continent in the next few weeks. We built this platform through 220 separate acquisitions over 5 years. After a fulsome market check process, the portfolio is being acquired by a new perpetual capital vehicle managed by Blackstone along with existing Core+ vehicles with an aggregate EUR 10 billion of equity commitments.

此外，在我們的歐洲投資組合中，我們預計將在未來幾週內完成對歐洲最大的最後一英里物流平台 Mileway 的 210 億歐元的資本重組。我們在 5 年內通過 220 次獨立收購建立了這個平台。經過完善的市場檢查流程，該投資組合將被 Blackstone 管理的新永續資本工具以及現有的 Core+ 工具收購，股權承諾總額為 100 億歐元。

Turning to our business expansion. We've been talking about moving into more open waters in terms of broadening the clients we serve and the investments we can make. This expansion with an emphasis on perpetual strategies has made our business more durable in difficult markets. Last quarter, we highlighted 4 key engines of growth, and I'll briefly give you an update on each.

轉向我們的業務擴展。我們一直在談論在擴大我們服務的客戶和我們可以進行的投資方面進入更開放的水域。這種以永久戰略為重點的擴張使我們的業務在困難的市場中更加持久。上個季度，我們重點介紹了 4 個關鍵的增長引擎，我將簡要介紹一下每個引擎的最新情況。

In retail, investor demand for our products remained strong despite market headwinds. We've continued to raise a total of $4 billion to $5 billion per month of equity capital for our 3 retail perpetual vehicles: BREIT, BCRED and BPIF, including the most recent monthly subscription on April 1. Investors recognize our products are well positioned for the inflationary environment ahead given BREIT's focus on hard assets with short-duration leases, while BCRED is a floating rate vehicle with an average loan-to-value of 43%. BREIT more than doubled in size year-over-year to $63 billion, generating 5.8% appreciation in the first quarter.

在零售方面，儘管市場逆風，投資者對我們產品的需求依然強勁。我們繼續為我們的 3 種零售永續工具（BREIT、BCRED 和 BPIF）每月籌集總計 40 億至 50 億美元的股本，包括 4 月 1 日的最新月度認購。投資者認識到我們的產品非常適合鑑於 BREIT 專注於短期租賃的硬資產，而 BCRED 是一種浮動利率工具，平均貸款價值比為 43%，因此未來的通脹環境。 BREIT 的規模同比增長一倍多，達到 630 億美元，第一季度升值 5.8%。

We have the most powerful brand in the retail channel and an enormous first-mover advantage, selling our products today through a broad network of distribution partners. We are in the early innings of our build-out in this vast and underpenetrated market.

我們擁有零售渠道中最強大的品牌和巨大的先發優勢，今天通過廣泛的分銷合作夥伴網絡銷售我們的產品。我們正處於在這個龐大且未充分滲透的市場中進行擴建的早期階段。

Our institutional perpetual capital platform also continues to grow rapidly, approaching the $100 billion milestone. In infrastructure, we raised $2.5 billion in the quarter and over $9 billion since reopening the vehicle in Q4, bringing the strategy to $27 billion. We've been actively deploying this capital and given the opportunity set and our performance, we expect this business to grow significantly over time.

我們的機構永續資本平台也繼續快速增長，接近 1000 億美元的里程碑。在基礎設施方面，我們在本季度籌集了 25 億美元，自第四季度重新開放車輛以來籌集了超過 90 億美元，使該戰略達到 270 億美元。我們一直在積極部署這筆資金，並鑑於機會和我們的表現，我們預計這項業務將隨著時間的推移而顯著增長。

In real estate, our institutional BPP strategy grew 30% year-over-year to $66 billion with an additional step-up coming this quarter from Mileway.

在房地產領域，我們的機構 BPP 戰略同比增長 30% 至 660 億美元，本季度 Mileway 將進一步提升。

Turning to insurance. AUM on this platform has more than doubled year-over-year to $155 billion. We believe we're uniquely positioned in our sector as an asset-light investment manager serving multiple insurance clients. We are focused on delivering for them and expect to find additional growth opportunities over time on a balance sheet-light basis.

轉向保險。該平台上的 AUM 同比增長一倍多，達到 1550 億美元。我們相信，作為服務多個保險客戶的輕資產投資管理公司，我們在行業中具有獨特的定位。我們專注於為他們提供服務，並期望隨著時間的推移在輕資產負債表的基礎上找到額外的增長機會。

Moving to our drawdown funds, where we spent the last 36 years building what we believe is the best platform in the world. Last quarter, we highlighted moving into a new flagship fundraising cycle, targeting approximately $150 billion in aggregate. Despite the more crowded fundraising environment in the private equity area today, our confidence in this target remains extremely high. This is reflective of the strength of our brand, track record, the breadth of our platform and the geographic reach of our capital raising.

轉到我們的提款基金，在過去的 36 年裡，我們在那裡建立了我們認為是世界上最好的平台。上個季度，我們強調進入新的旗艦籌資週期，總目標約為 1500 億美元。儘管當今私募股權領域的籌資環境更加擁擠，但我們對該目標的信心仍然非常高。這反映了我們的品牌實力、業績記錄、我們平台的廣度以及我們融資的地理範圍。

In fact, we expect significant closings for our 2 largest flagships, global real estate and corporate private equity, in the next few months. Our third-largest private equity secondaries has closed on $14 billion to date and is on track to reach approximately $20 billion later this year, which would be the largest secondaries vehicle ever raised.

事實上，我們預計在未來幾個月內，我們最大的兩家旗艦公司——全球房地產和企業私募股權將大量關閉。迄今為止，我們第三大私募股權二級市場已完成 140 億美元的融資，並有望在今年晚些時候達到約 200 億美元，這將是有史以來最大的二級市場融資工具。

Fundraising momentum has never been stronger at Blackstone. The firm's breadth also positions us well to deploy capital as illustrated by the new -- the nearly $150 billion invested over the past 12 months. Major new commitments in the first quarter were in some of our favorite neighborhoods: rental housing, logistics, life sciences and software. Looking forward, we have an active pipeline and the market volatility is creating opportunities, including several public company situations.

Blackstone 的籌款勢頭從未如此強勁。該公司的廣度也使我們能夠很好地部署資本，正如新的所示——過去 12 個月投資了近 1500 億美元。第一季度的主要新承諾是在我們最喜歡的一些社區：出租房屋、物流、生命科學和軟件。展望未來，我們有一個活躍的管道，市場波動正在創造機會，包括一些上市公司的情況。

Earlier this week, we announced a $13 billion total enterprise value take private of the largest student housing platform in the United States. And last week, in partnership with the Benetton family, we launched a tender offer to privatize Atlantia, one of the largest transportation infrastructure companies.

本週早些時候，我們宣布以 130 億美元的總企業價值將美國最大的學生公寓平台私有化。上週，我們與貝納通家族合作，發起了一項將最大的交通基礎設施公司之一亞特蘭蒂亞私有化的要約收購。

In closing, we expect to move into a higher inflation. Higher rate environment will create challenges, but the fundamentals at our firm remain exceptionally strong. Investors continue to look to alternatives in Blackstone in particular to deliver the investment solutions they need, and we are building simple, repeatable, scalable businesses to serve them.

最後，我們預計將進入更高的通脹。更高的利率環境將帶來挑戰，但我們公司的基本面仍然異常強勁。投資者繼續尋找 Blackstone 的替代方案，特別是提供他們需要的投資解決方案，我們正在建立簡單、可重複、可擴展的業務來為他們服務。

For our shareholders, we've continued to grow earnings rapidly while remaining true to our capital-light model. This has allowed us to return 100% of earnings over the past 4 years through dividends and share buybacks while keeping the share count flat and incurring virtually no net debt and no insurance liabilities. This highly attractive model gives us great confidence in the future.

對於我們的股東來說，我們在保持我們的輕資本模式的同時，繼續快速增長收益。這使我們能夠通過股息和股票回購在過去 4 年中實現 100% 的收益回報，同時保持股票數量持平，幾乎沒有產生淨債務和保險負債。這種極具吸引力的模式讓我們對未來充滿信心。

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.

謝謝，喬恩，大家早上好。

Two key dynamics have underpinned the evolution of our business over the past several years. First, the development of an entire platform of perpetual capital strategies, and the scaling of those strategies has fundamentally transformed the firm's FRE trajectory. Second, the growing breadth of our business and ways to win overall is fueling an expansion of the firm's store value and performance revenue potential. The net result is higher earnings, higher quality earnings and greater resiliency through market cycles.

在過去的幾年裡，有兩個關鍵的動力支撐了我們業務的發展。首先，整個永續資本策略平台的開發以及這些策略的擴展從根本上改變了公司的 FRE 軌跡。其次，我們業務範圍的不斷擴大以及贏得整體的方式正在推動公司的商店價值和業績收入潛力的擴大。最終結果是更高的收益、更高質量的收益和更大的市場週期彈性。

The firm's outstanding first quarter results perfectly illustrate these dynamics. First, with respect to perpetual capital and FRE. Perpetual AUM more than doubled year-over-year to $338 billion across 18 vehicles. These strategies now comprise 43% of the firm's fee-earning AUM, and their impact on the repeatability of our capital metrics and earnings can't be overstated.

該公司出色的第一季度業績完美地說明了這些動態。首先，關於永續資本和FRE。 18 輛汽車的永久資產管理規模同比增長一倍以上，達到 3380 億美元。這些策略現在占公司收費 AUM 的 43%，它們對我們資本指標和收益的可重複性的影響怎麼強調都不為過。

In terms of capital metrics, over half of the firm's record LTM inflows and record deployment was from perpetual strategies. It was only 4 years ago that we first surpassed $100 billion of inflows in a single year. The firm is now raising that or more from our perpetual strategies alone. Moreover, nearly all of these vehicles continuously fundraise, creating much more consistency of inflows from quarter-to-quarter.

在資本指標方面，該公司創紀錄的 LTM 流入和創紀錄的部署中有一半以上來自永續策略。僅僅在 4 年前，我們首次在一年內的流入量就超過了 1000 億美元。該公司現在僅從我們的永久戰略中就可以提高這一點或更多。此外，幾乎所有這些工具都在持續籌集資金，從而使每季度的資金流入更加一致。

In terms of earnings, the perpetualization of our business is similarly driving a meaningful step-up in the magnitude and resiliency of earnings. As we've outlined before, these strategies generate management fees that compound with both inflows and NAV appreciation, which set a higher and higher baseline for fee revenues as we go. The combined fee-earning AUM of 4 flagship perpetual capital strategies, BREIT, BPP, BCRED and our infrastructure platform, BIP, nearly doubled in the last 12 months to over $160 billion including a $27 billion increase from appreciation.

在收益方面，我們業務的永續化同樣推動了收益規模和彈性的有意義的提升。正如我們之前所概述的，這些策略產生的管理費用與資金流入和資產淨值升值相結合，這為我們的費用收入設定了越來越高的基準。過去 12 個月，4 個旗艦永續資本策略 BREIT、BPP、BCRED 和我們的基礎設施平台 BIP 的總收費資產管理規模幾乎翻了一番，達到超過 1600 億美元，其中包括因升值而增加的 270 億美元。

In addition to NAV-based management fees, 10 of the perpetual vehicles generate fee-related performance revenues, which, by definition, crystallize on a recurring basis without asset sales. Importantly, in the first quarter, BREIT moved from its prior annual crystallization schedule occurring in the fourth quarter of each year to a quarterly crystallization similar to BCRED.

除了基於資產淨值的管理費外，10 種永續工具產生與費用相關的業績收入，根據定義，這些收入在沒有資產出售的情況下經常性地結晶。重要的是，在第一季度，BREIT 從之前每年第四季度的年度結晶時間表轉變為類似於 BCRED 的季度結晶。

The combination of these factors and the exceptional range of growth engines firing across the firm overall is powering continued robust increases in total fee revenues and FRE. Management fees rose 25% year-over-year to a record $1.5 billion. Fee-related performance revenues more than tripled year-over-year to $558 million. And even if you were to adjust the prior period for the BREIT change, they more than doubled. FRE rose 55% year-over-year to $1.1 billion in the quarter or $0.95 per share. We are now approaching a quarterly run rate of $1 per share in this high-quality earnings stream, which is in the area of full year FRE at the time of our Investor Day.

這些因素的結合，以及整個公司內異常廣泛的增長引擎，正在推動總費用收入和 FRE 的持續強勁增長。管理費同比增長 25%，達到創紀錄的 15 億美元。與費用相關的業績收入同比增長兩倍多，達到 5.58 億美元。即使你要調整 BREIT 變化的前期，它們也增加了一倍多。 FRE 本季度同比增長 55% 至 11 億美元或每股 0.95 美元。在這個高質量的收益流中，我們現在接近每股 1 美元的季度運行率，在我們的投資者日時，這在全年 FRE 區域內。

Moving to performance revenues and the growing store value. In the first quarter, net realizations increased 73% year-over-year to nearly $1 billion. Fund realizations reached a record $23 billion and included the refinancing of our U.S. logistics portfolio, the partial sale of fintech company, IntraFi and the monetization of stakes in various private and public holdings across the firm. The dramatic expansion in the number and scale of the firm strategies and commensurate increase in aggregate deployment has led to a record $481 billion of performance revenue eligible value in the ground, up 50% year-over-year.

轉向績效收入和不斷增長的商店價值。第一季度，淨實現同比增長 73%，達到近 10 億美元。基金變現達到創紀錄的 230 億美元，其中包括我們美國物流投資組合的再融資、金融科技公司 IntraFi 的部分出售以及公司內各種私人和公共控股的股份的貨幣化。公司戰略的數量和規模的急劇擴張以及總體部署的相應增加導致當地業績收入合格價值達到創紀錄的 4810 億美元，同比增長 50%。

At the same time, sustained investment outperformance across the platform on this growing base of invested capital has driven a continued expansion of the firm's store value. In the first quarter, $1.9 billion of net performance revenues lifted the balance sheet receivable 9% sequentially to $9.5 billion or nearly $8 per share, the highest level in our history.

與此同時，在不斷增長的投資資本基礎上，整個平台的持續投資表現推動了公司存儲價值的持續擴張。第一季度，19 億美元的淨業績收入使應收資產負債表環比增長 9%，達到 95 億美元或每股近 8 美元，這是我們歷史上的最高水平。

On a year-over-year basis, the receivable increased to 84%, notwithstanding $4.3 billion of net realized distributions. Taken together, remarkable growth in both FRE and net realizations drove a 63% year-over-year increase in distributable earnings in the first quarter to $1.9 billion or $1.55 per share. For the LTM period, DE reached $5.36 per share, a record for any 12 months in our history. Looking forward, strong FRE momentum, coupled with a robust near-term realization pipeline, give us great confidence in the outlook.

與去年同期相比，應收賬款增加至 84%，儘管實現了 43 億美元的淨分配。總而言之，FRE 和淨實現的顯著增長推動第一季度可分配收益同比增長 63% 至 19 億美元或每股 1.55 美元。在 LTM 期間，DE 達到每股 5.36 美元，創下我們歷史上任何 12 個月的記錄。展望未來，強勁的 FRE 勢頭，加上強勁的近期變現渠道，讓我們對前景充滿信心。

In closing, I'll go back to where I started with the ongoing transformation of the firm. We are on a path characterized by rising AUM milestones, a path to $1 trillion this year and ultimately well beyond with commensurate significant elevation in earnings power and earnings quality each step of the way. We have 4 robust growth engines driving us forward. And in all of them, we continue to deliver outstanding results and have the full support of our LPs. Despite the uncertainties of today's world, we feel great about Blackstone's future.

最後，我將回到我開始進行公司轉型的地方。我們正走在一條以 AUM 里程碑上升為特徵的道路上，今年將達到 1 萬億美元，並最終遠遠超過盈利能力和盈利質量的相應顯著提升。我們有 4 個強勁的增長引擎推動我們前進。在所有這些方面，我們都繼續取得出色的成績，並得到我們有限合夥人的全力支持。儘管當今世界充滿不確定性，但我們對 Blackstone 的未來充滿信心。

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) The first question is coming from Glenn Schorr from Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Glenn Schorr。

My gut is you have about 50 billion answers to this, but there's been plenty of conversation for the industry that LPs have some cash flow constraints as recent vintages, money was put to work at like a record pace. And now there's less exit, so cash flow coming back to them. So that -- logic would say that would either elongate capital raises, reduce capital raise, make LPs choose. Clearly, it didn't affect you, but I wonder if you could talk to that issue in the market.

我的直覺是，您對此有大約 500 億個答案，但業內有很多談話表明，有限合夥人在最近幾年受到一些現金流限制，資金以創紀錄的速度投入使用。現在退出的機會減少了，所以現金流又回到了他們身上。所以 - 邏輯會說要么延長融資，減少融資，讓有限合夥人選擇。顯然，它並沒有影響到你，但我想知道你是否可以在市場上討論這個問題。

So Glenn, that's a really good question. By the way, I would point out another factor in the private equity challenge is just how well the sector has done. And so the appreciation has meant also that they're above their targets. But I guess I'd start with the comments from the remarks. As you heard, our fundraising momentum has never been stronger. And I guess I would point to a couple of things as to why this is the case.

所以格倫，這是一個非常好的問題。順便說一句，我要指出私募股權挑戰的另一個因素是該行業的表現如何。因此，升值也意味著他們超出了目標。但我想我會從評論中的評論開始。正如您所聽到的，我們的籌款勢頭從未如此強勁。我想我會指出一些關於為什麼會這樣的事情。

First off, in general, there's this continued movement into alternatives. It has not stopped. And these challenges you described are more focused, I would say, in the private equity market and amongst U.S. pension funds. I think for us, what we've got is this really great reservoir of goodwill from our clients because we've delivered performance over a long period of time. We're also raising capital very broadly at Blackstone in real estate, in secondaries, in credit, in infrastructure, in life sciences growth, and that platform helped.

首先，總的來說，這種趨勢會持續轉向替代品。它並沒有停止。你描述的這些挑戰更集中在私募股權市場和美國養老基金中。我認為對我們來說，我們得到的是來自客戶的非常好的善意，因為我們已經在很長一段時間內交付了業績。我們還在 Blackstone 的房地產、二級市場、信貸、基礎設施、生命科學發展方面廣泛籌集資金，該平台提供了幫助。

We also raised capital all over the world. So not just in the U.S., in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, and we also raised capital not just from institutional clients but also from retail clients, insurance clients, and we have both drawdown funds and perpetual funds.

我們還在世界各地籌集資金。因此，不僅在美國、歐洲、亞洲、中東，我們不僅從機構客戶那裡籌集資金，還從零售客戶、保險客戶那裡籌集資金，我們既有提取基金也有永續基金。

And then the other point I'd make is lots of our products are really well positioned for the environment we're going into, which would be, if you think about owning hard assets like infrastructure, real estate, owning floating rate debt, like we do in our direct lending platform, that's really attractive. What I would really say, and this applies even in the most challenged sectors like corporate private equity and growth, the goodwill that we have from our customers is very strong. And that's why we believe the vintages of our -- both our next private equity fund and our next growth fund will be larger than the previous despite this challenging environment.

然後我要說的另一點是，我們的許多產品都非常適合我們即將進入的環境，如果你考慮擁有基礎設施、房地產等硬資產，擁有浮動利率債務，比如我們在我們的直接借貸平台上做，這真的很有吸引力。我真正想說的是，即使在企業私募股權和增長等最具挑戰性的領域也是如此，我們從客戶那裡得到的善意非常強烈。這就是為什麼我們相信我們的下一個私募股權基金和下一個成長基金的年份將比以前更大，儘管環境充滿挑戰。

The next question is coming from Craig Siegenthaler from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Craig Siegenthaler。

We have a big picture question on FRE. The macro backdrop has changed a lot since 4Q. We have higher inflation, less economic growth and an emerging denominator effect with institutional allocations, which, Jon, you just referenced in the last response. How has all of this impacted your fee-related earnings growth trajectory, if at all?

我們有一個關於 FRE 的大問題。自第四季度以來，宏觀背景發生了很大變化。我們有更高的通貨膨脹，更少的經濟增長和機構分配的新興分母效應，喬恩，你剛剛在上一個回復中提到。如果有的話，所有這些對您與費用相關的收入增長軌蹟有何影響？

Thanks, Craig, and nice to hear from you in your new spot. I think the headline here, Craig, is notwithstanding the backdrop, which is dynamic, the structural and fundamental upward trajectory we're on as it relates to FRE just continues to be robust. And I'd sort of step back and say, looking forward, this year and the years beyond, we're really looking at sort of a one-two punch in a good way. And that is the continued scaling of perpetual capital strategies; and second, the cycle of flagship fundraising, the $150 billion across 18 strategies that Jon referenced. So you take those sort of one at a time.

謝謝，克雷格，很高興在你的新位置收到你的來信。我認為這裡的標題，克雷格，儘管背景是動態的，但我們正處於與 FRE 相關的結構性和基本面上升軌跡繼續強勁。我會退後一步說，展望今年和以後的幾年，我們真的正在以一種很好的方式看待一兩拳。這就是永續資本策略的持續擴展；第二，旗艦融資週期，Jon 提到的 18 種策略中的 1500 億美元。所以你一次拿一個。

In perpetual capital, which is really in 2022, kind of the main event on FRE growth, in the first quarter, and we mentioned this in different ways, we had almost $300 billion of fee-earning AUM in perpetual capital. That's up 124% year-over-year. And in that, BREIT, BPP, infrastructure, BCRED area, those 4 sort of flagship funds almost double year-over-year. And we'll also have the full year effect of the insurance partnerships we entered into in Q4 for the full year.

在永久資本中，實際上是在 2022 年，這是第一季度 FRE 增長的主要事件，我們以不同的方式提到了這一點，我們擁有近 3000 億美元的永續資本的收費資產管理規模。同比增長 124%。其中，BREIT、BPP、基礎設施、BCRED 領域，這 4 種旗艦基金幾乎同比翻了一番。我們還將獲得我們在第四季度建立的全年保險合作夥伴關係的全年影響。

So what you have right now, let's call it a doubling of that base of fee-earning AUM in perpetual, we expect that to continue to scale as we add platforms, as we obviously fund raise continuously in many of these areas and with appreciation and income. And so that is a really significant story for this year and beyond.

所以你現在所擁有的，讓我們稱之為永久收費資產管理規模的兩倍，我們希望隨著我們添加平台而繼續擴大規模，因為我們顯然在許多這些領域不斷籌集資金，並且讚賞和收入。所以這是今年及以後的一個非常重要的故事。

Second, on the drawdown side, as Jon mentioned, as we mentioned, that flagship fundraising cycle over the next 12 to 18 months, which, in aggregate, that $150 billion which we've expressed great confidence in achieving, that will be, as we said, I think, last quarter, about 25% larger than the predecessor funds before them. So that, from a timing standpoint, between fee holidays, the pace of fundraising and when we actually like the funds and start investing them, as you know, that's not so much a 2022 event as a 2023 and '24 event, but that is coming. That is structural.

其次，正如 Jon 提到的那樣，正如我們提到的那樣，在縮編方面，未來 12 到 18 個月的旗艦籌款週期，總的來說，我們對實現充滿信心的 1500 億美元，這將是我們說過，我認為，上個季度比他們之前的前任基金大 25% 左右。因此，從時間的角度來看，在收費假期、籌款速度以及我們真正喜歡這些基金並開始投資它們之間，正如你所知，這與其說是 2022 年的事件，不如說是 2023 年和 24 年的事件，但那是未來。那是結構性的。

So those 2 things are really powerful, really powerful one-two punch, I would call it, but the punches sort of repeat themselves. They're not onetime events. And even though in any given quarter, some subsection of FRE, as we all know, is mathematically affected by NAV in some cases and fundraising in a given quarter. The underlying trajectory and the fundamentals are very, very positive.

所以這兩件事真的很強大，真的很強大的一二拳，我會稱之為，但拳會重複自己。它們不是一次性事件。眾所周知，即使在任何給定季度，FRE 的某些子部分在某些情況下在數學上受到資產淨值和給定季度籌款的影響。基本軌跡和基本面非常非常積極。

The next question is coming from Alexander Blostein from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的 Alexander Blostein。

I was hoping we could talk for a couple of minutes about opportunities you guys might see to recycle assets from some of the opportunistic strategies into core and perpetual strategies like you potentially could do with Mileway in Europe. I think, Jon, I think you mentioned it's about a EUR 10 billion commitment in equities from other LPs in a separate account kind of format. So it's a compelling transaction, obviously, to crystallize the gains, but more importantly, create additional perpetual FRE stream.

我希望我們能花幾分鐘討論一下你們可能會看到的機會，將資產從一些機會主義戰略中回收到核心和永久戰略中，就像你們在歐洲的 Mileway 可能做的那樣。我想，喬恩，我想你提到它是關於其他 LP 以單獨賬戶形式的 100 億歐元股票承諾。因此，顯然，這是一項引人注目的交易，以使收益結晶，但更重要的是，創造額外的永久 FRE 流。

How are you thinking about that across both real estate and private equity? Are there other opportunities like that on the supply side? And I guess on the demand side from a structure, how is the demand from LPs for these type of vehicles, kind of a single asset SMAs?

您如何看待房地產和私募股權？在供應方面還有其他類似的機會嗎？我猜在結構的需求方面，有限合夥人對這類車輛的需求如何，一種單一資產的 SMA？

So Alex, what I would say about this is the first order of business for us is to deliver maximum returns for our investors in those strategies in private equity and real estate private equity. And what's nice about these outcomes for them is if we do it, they're able to get all cash as opposed to doing a listing and waiting a number of years to get out and the overhang issues. That's, I think, really important. We also have done, on all of these, some level of market check. We've done just a handful of these because we do think that it's really only for special long-term assets, but the process has to be handled in the right way, that's something really important to us.

所以亞歷克斯，我要說的是，我們的首要任務是在私募股權和房地產私募股權的這些策略中為我們的投資者提供最大的回報。對他們來說，這些結果的好處是，如果我們這樣做，他們能夠獲得所有現金，而不是進行上市並等待數年才能退出和懸而未決的問題。我認為，這非常重要。我們還對所有這些進行了一定程度的市場檢查。我們只做了其中的一小部分，因為我們確實認為它真的只針對特殊的長期資產，但這個過程必須以正確的方式處理，這對我們來說非常重要。

What I would say is I think the interest from investors is high if it's in the right segment. So it's got to be something like life science offices, last-mile European logistics. So in those cases, it's very big platforms that are hard to exit other than through the public markets. And then on the buy side, there are investments where our clients want to be invested long term. The other positive for the existing investors is they roll over. And in these, we've done -- the existing investors has ended up being the majority investor. So I would say it's an opportunity, but it's selective. It's for very large platforms that are harder to exit from and also are long-term attractive for new investors who want to deploy capital or the existing investors.

我想說的是，如果它在正確的領域，我認為投資者的興趣很高。所以它必須是生命科學辦公室，最後一英里的歐洲物流。所以在這些情況下，除了通過公共市場之外，很難退出的非常大的平台。然後在買方方面，我們的客戶希望進行長期投資。對現有投資者而言，另一個積極因素是他們翻身。在這些方面，我們已經做到了——現有投資者最終成為了多數投資者。所以我會說這是一個機會，但它是有選擇性的。它適用於難以退出的非常大的平台，並且對想要部署資金的新投資者或現有投資者俱有長期吸引力。

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

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Michael Cyprys。

I wanted to come back to a point that Steve made about paradigm shifts and a point that Jon made about moving into higher inflation environment creating challenges. So I guess the question is just curious what paradigm shifts you're seeing take hold today in the midst of rising rates, inflation, supply chain challenges, geopolitics and the return of great power complex. What are the implications that you see for investing from all of that? What new risks and challenges does that create? And if you could talk a little bit about how you are evolving and positioning Blackstone to capitalize on all of that, but also manage through what appears to be a higher risk environment.

我想回到史蒂夫關於範式轉變的觀點和喬恩關於進入更高通脹環境帶來挑戰的觀點。所以我想這個問題只是好奇，在利率上升、通貨膨脹、供應鏈挑戰、地緣政治和大國複合體回歸的今天，你所看到的範式轉變是什麼。您認為所有這些對投資有何影響？這會帶來哪些新的風險和挑戰？如果你能談談你是如何發展和定位 Blackstone 以利用所有這些，但也可以通過似乎更高風險的環境進行管理。

That's a big question, Mike. But let me take a shot at it. I think, as you know, we've been talking about inflation for a long time. We were actually talking about rising rates, even pre-COVID period. Certainly, we've been talking about it more for the last 15 months with concerns about inflation. And so this is something we're really mindful of. If you think about overall investing, there are only 2 things that drive asset prices higher, it's either rising cash flows or rising multiples. And in an inflationary rising rate environment, multiples tend not to go up.

這是個大問題，邁克。但讓我試一試。我想，如你所知，我們談論通貨膨脹已經有很長時間了。我們實際上是在談論利率上升，甚至是在 COVID 之前的時期。當然，在過去的 15 個月裡，我們一直在談論它，擔心通貨膨脹。所以這是我們真正要注意的事情。如果你考慮整體投資，只有兩件事會推動資產價格走高，要么是現金流增加，要么是倍數增加。在通貨膨脹率上升的環境中，倍數往往不會上升。

And so the importance of owning things where cash flow will grow is super important. And so if you look at our portfolio in the quarter, it was not a coincidence, as Steve laid out why we performed well and better than the market. In credit, we've really focused on floating rate debt. In real estate, 80% of our portfolio is in sectors with really good fundamentals and short-duration leases. In private equity, we've made big focus in areas like travel, technology, energy infrastructure that have done quite well. And in infrastructure itself, it's been energy, transportation and digital infrastructure, hard assets with pricing power.

因此，擁有現金流會增長的東西的重要性非常重要。因此，如果您查看我們在本季度的投資組合，這並非巧合，因為史蒂夫闡述了為什麼我們表現出色且優於市場。在信貸方面，我們真正關注的是浮動利率債務。在房地產領域，我們 80% 的投資組合屬於基本面非常好的和短期租賃的行業。在私募股權領域，我們將重點放在旅遊、技術、能源基礎設施等領域，這些領域做得很好。在基礎設施本身，它是能源、交通和數字基礎設施，具有定價權的硬資產。

And so to us, you have to think about how you deploy capital in this changing environment. And particularly, if you think about the retail channel, what we're doing there, it's very reflective of that. The 2 main products are really positioned to be inflation-protection products. In BREIT, what you have is logistics and rental housing representing more than 80% of the portfolio. And in BCRED, you're 99% floating rate debt. So as the Fed raises rates, you get to reprice.

所以對我們來說，你必須考慮如何在這個不斷變化的環境中部署資本。特別是，如果您考慮零售渠道，我們在那裡所做的事情，就可以很好地反映這一點。兩大主打產品真正定位為防通脹產品。在 BREIT，您所擁有的是物流和出租房屋，佔投資組合的 80% 以上。在 BCRED，你是 99% 的浮動利率債務。因此，隨著美聯儲加息，你可以重新定價。

So I think you have to assume that we are in a higher inflationary environment that rates will be moving higher. But in that environment, if you can own businesses where cash flows can reset higher and outrun that inflation, you can still deliver positive performance. That's what we've been doing. That's what we'll continue to do. And if you look at the big deals that we've done since the beginning of the year, be it the casino deal in Australia, last-mile logistics in Europe, transportation infrastructure in Europe, student housing this week in the U.S., they all fall into that bucket. We're mindful of cost, focused on good fundamentals and not owning fixed income-oriented assets or businesses without pricing power and a lot of exposure to input costs.

所以我認為你必須假設我們處於一個更高的通脹環境中，利率將會走高。但在那種環境下，如果你可以擁有現金流可以重置更高並超過通脹的企業，你仍然可以提供積極的業績。這就是我們一直在做的。這就是我們將繼續做的事情。如果你看看我們自今年年初以來所做的大筆交易，無論是澳大利亞的賭場交易、歐洲的最後一英里物流、歐洲的交通基礎設施，還是本周美國的學生宿舍，它們都有掉進那個桶裡。我們關注成本，專注於良好的基本面，不擁有沒有定價權和大量投入成本風險的以固定收益為導向的資產或業務。

So this is clearly, as an investment firm, top of mind for us. It has been for a while. I think that's why we performed so well. And back to the earlier question about fundraising, when you perform well in this business, it leads to flows, which is why we always talk about performance first.

因此，作為一家投資公司，這顯然是我們的首要考慮。已經有一段時間了。我認為這就是我們表現如此出色的原因。回到之前關於籌款的問題，當你在這項業務中表現良好時，就會帶來流量，這就是為什麼我們總是首先談論業績。

The next question is coming from Gerald O'Hara from Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Gerald O'Hara。

So perhaps a question on retail investment in hiring in this kind of -- this sector has clearly been a theme across the peer set, and Blackstone has clearly been out ahead on this opportunity. But perhaps you can give us a little bit of an update on how you're thinking about this strategically and sort of what investments might still be out there on a go-forward basis.

因此，也許一個關於零售投資在這種招聘方面的問題——這個行業顯然是整個同行的一個主題，而黑石集團顯然已經在這個機會上遙遙領先。但是，也許您可以向我們提供一些最新信息，說明您是如何從戰略上考慮這一點的，以及在前進的基礎上可能仍然存在哪些投資。

Sure. So what I would say on retail is we really entered this space, as you know, much earlier than others. And having a first-mover advantage is really important. I also would say the brand, which I think is sometimes hard financially to analyze the value and power of the brand, but in a channel like this, the Blackstone brand means a lot.

當然。所以我在零售方面要說的是，正如你所知，我們真正進入了這個領域，比其他人要早得多。擁有先發優勢非常重要。我也會說品牌，我認為有時在財務上很難分析品牌的價值和力量，但在這樣的渠道中，黑石品牌意義重大。

So what we did was design products. We've been selling drawdown funds into this channel for a long time. But in the last 5-plus years, we moved to these perpetual products that provided 1099s on the tax front, greater yield, greater liquidity, and we brought the cost down pretty significantly. People haven't really focused much on that. But retail customers, generally, when they were exposed to alternatives were charged much, much higher than institutional clients. And it generally ended up with the investors taking too much risk to get over what they were charging, and the outcome was poor for investors. And we really changed that, bring Blackstone quality and institutional sort of pricing to individual customers and create products that work.

所以我們所做的就是設計產品。長期以來，我們一直在向該渠道出售回撤資金。但是在過去 5 年多的時間裡，我們轉向了這些永久產品，這些產品在稅收方面提供了 1099，更高的收益，更大的流動性，並且我們大大降低了成本。人們並沒有真正關注這一點。但是，一般來說，零售客戶在接觸替代品時所收取的費用要比機構客戶高得多。它通常最終導致投資者冒太大風險來克服他們收取的費用，結果對投資者來說很糟糕。我們真的改變了這一點，將 Blackstone 的質量和製度性定價帶給個人客戶，並創造出有效的產品。

And what that's led to is really great performance in the case of the individual products we have, and we've gotten on the shelf. And I would point out, unlike the institutional market where there can be thousands of private equity managers, it's more challenging for our distribution partners. They really want to work with 2 or 3 different products in this segment, and we expect to be on the shelf for each of these.

就我們擁有的單個產品而言，這導致了非常出色的性能，而且我們已經上架了。我要指出，與可能有數千名私募股權經理的機構市場不同，這對我們的分銷合作夥伴來說更具挑戰性。他們真的想在這個細分市場中使用 2 或 3 種不同的產品，我們希望這些產品都能上架。

And that is all why I think today, we're running at about 10x our nearest competitor in terms of monthly sales. So we're obviously operating in a different space today. We acknowledge we compete with some amazing firms. We're sure they're going to come up with products. But if we continue to deliver given the strength of what we've invested in, our push globally, by the end of the year, we'll have 300 dedicated people in private wealth.

這就是我今天認為的全部原因，就月銷售額而言，我們的銷售額是最接近的競爭對手的 10 倍左右。因此，我們今天顯然是在不同的領域開展業務。我們承認我們與一些了不起的公司競爭。我們確信他們會推出產品。但是，如果我們繼續提供我們所投資的力量，我們在全球範圍內的推動，到今年年底，我們將擁有 300 名專注於私人財富的人。

And the products that we can create, given the scale of our platform, I think there's more to do. We've just started with our European real estate platform. I think there are other spaces we could move into, but it all starts and ends with performance. We have to create products that work. If we do that, we can deliver for these customers. And I would just say, overall, this is an $80 trillion market that I think is 1% penetrated in alts today. It feels to us like a very large market, and we're in a unique position today to capitalize on that.

鑑於我們平台的規模，我們可以創造的產品，我認為還有更多工作要做。我們剛剛開始使用我們的歐洲房地產平台。我認為我們可以進入其他空間，但這一切都以表演開始和結束。我們必須創造出有效的產品。如果我們這樣做，我們可以為這些客戶提供服務。我只想說，總的來說，這是一個 80 萬億美元的市場，我認為今天的替代品滲透率為 1%。對我們來說，這感覺就像一個非常大的市場，我們今天處於一個獨特的位置來利用它。

Yes. The other thing I would add to that, we've been doing this for 10 years. It sort of leaves us alone. And the reason why that's important, it's more than just having a product, it's how you deliver it to these large sales forces and how you have an organization that's coherent, that can service individual comments and questions that owners have, which is really important in that channel. And we've done a huge amount of what we call the X universities teaching individual FAs at all of the major institutions, how these products work and why they should have confidence in it. And we're the source of that kind of information. It's turned out to be a fantastic asset allocation for them.

是的。我要補充的另一件事是，我們已經這樣做了 10 年。它有點讓我們孤單。這很重要的原因不僅僅是擁有一個產品，而是你如何將它交付給這些大型銷售隊伍，以及你如何擁有一個連貫的組織，可以為業主提出的個人意見和問題提供服務，這在那個頻道。我們已經完成了大量我們稱之為 X 大學的工作，在所有主要機構教授個人 FA，這些產品如何工作以及為什麼他們應該對它充滿信心。我們是這類信息的來源。事實證明，這對他們來說是一個了不起的資產配置。

And so sort of 10 years of good works basically alone in the whole alternative business now enabling us to adequately expand what we're doing with the current product site. So I think as you think through where people are positioned in this, there's a reason of supplementing what Jon said in terms of the great performance by why people turn to us. It's not like foreign exchange trader bidding for rate that it just sort of moves and happens. Long time to develop this type of trust with customers.

因此，在整個替代業務中基本上僅靠 10 年的出色工作，現在使我們能夠充分擴展我們在當前產品站點上所做的事情。所以我認為當你思考人們在這方面的定位時，有一個理由來補充喬恩所說的關於人們為什麼轉向我們的出色表現。這不像外匯交易員競標匯率，它只是一種移動和發生。長期以來與客戶建立了這種信任。

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

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Brian Bedell。

Maybe just to stay on the retail theme, a 2-part question. The first, Michael, I think you were talking about the recrystallization of BREIT to a quarterly level. If I heard you right, I think there were 10 vehicles within that perpetual capital base overall, and correct me If I'm wrong, at $160 billion of AUM. And the question is, are they all on a quarterly crystallization? Or are there still some more vehicles to change?

也許只是為了保持零售主題，一個兩部分的問題。首先，邁克爾，我認為您是在談論 BREIT 再結晶到季度水平。如果我沒聽錯，我認為整個永久資本基礎中有 10 輛車，如果我錯了，請糾正我，資產管理規模為 1600 億美元。問題是，它們都在季度結晶嗎？還是還有更多車輛需要更換？

And then the second part of the question on that retail theme broadly is can this become a much larger asset class of funds in this quarterly performance fee style? And I believe you're working on a retail private equity product as well that will have some liquidity features. So I just wanted to get an update on that, if that's coming soon.

然後關於該零售主題的問題的第二部分廣泛地是，這能否成為這種季度業績費風格的更大資產類別的基金？而且我相信您正在開發一種零售私募股權產品，該產品將具有一些流動性特徵。所以我只是想獲得關於它的更新，如果它很快就會到來。

Brian, on the first part, the $160 billion actually referred only to those 4 sort of flagship products, BREIT, BPP, VIP and BCRED. Perpetual capital overall, as we mentioned, $338 billion of AUM. BREIT and BCRED and some other direct lending products are sort of the main ones with a quarterly crystallization now. And that's obviously where the biggest growth trajectory has been. Funds like BPP and VIP maintain sort of those every 3- to 5-year anniversaries around the crystallization.

Brian，在第一部分，1600 億美元實際上僅指這 4 種旗艦產品，BREIT、BPP、VIP 和 BCRED。正如我們所提到的，永續資本的總資產為 3380 億美元。 BREIT和BCRED以及其他一些直接貸款產品是目前季度結晶的主要產品。這顯然是最大的增長軌跡。像 BPP 和 VIP 這樣的基金每隔 3 到 5 年就會在結晶前後維持一次。

The only thing I would add to that is as we raise more of those, they almost -- it's like a layering of a cake. So you'll see more and more of those institutional ones coming along in each quarter. It's probably going to be a little trickier to model as we build more and more of these products over time. So in the retail area, I think this is a pretty substantive change we've made that allow for BREIT to be paid quarterly.

我唯一要補充的是，隨著我們籌集更多這些，它們幾乎 - 這就像一層蛋糕。所以你會看到越來越多的機構在每個季度出現。隨著時間的推移，隨著我們構建越來越多的此類產品，建模可能會有點棘手。所以在零售領域，我認為這是我們做出的一項相當實質性的改變，允許 BREIT 按季度支付。

Yes. And I would say this move is -- just stepping back, a big positive, and I think will make us less tricky to model around this important area.

是的。我會說這一舉措是——只是退後一步，一個很大的積極因素，我認為這將使我們在這個重要領域的建模變得不那麼棘手。

Right. Right. Yes. And then on the private equity side on retail?

對。對。是的。然後在零售的私募股權方面？

On the private equity side, what I'd say is we're not ready to comment on that publicly. It's obviously an area where investors would like more exposure, individual investors. I think the idea, if you did something would be to create something broad-based that included the whole range of sort of private equity capital P, capital E, including secondaries, more structured equity growth. And having a really broad platform, I think, would be helpful. But at this point, we don't have anything to say. Hopefully, in the future over this year, we'll have something to talk about.

在私募股權方面，我想說的是我們還沒有準備好公開對此發表評論。這顯然是投資者希望獲得更多投資的領域，個人投資者。我認為這個想法，如果你做了一些事情，那就是創造一些基礎廣泛的東西，包括所有類型的私募股權資本 P、資本 E，包括二級市場，更結構化的股權增長。我認為，擁有一個非常廣泛的平台會很有幫助。但在這一點上，我們無話可說。希望在今年的未來，我們有話要說。

The next question is coming from Robert Lee from KBW.

下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Robert Lee。

So I guess this is really mainly for Michael, but maybe it's getting a little bit in the weeds, but on the BREIT recast of their -- the crystallization quarterly, is there like high watermarks or anything that we should be kind of thinking about as we model it going forward that such extraordinary performance in Q1 is up almost 8%, next quarters more subdued? Just trying to think that through.

所以我想這真的主要是為了邁克爾，但也許它有點雜草叢生，但是在 BREIT 重鑄他們的結晶季刊時，是否有像高水位線或任何我們應該考慮的東西我們預測第一季度如此非凡的業績增長了近 8%，接下來的幾個季度會更加低迷嗎？只是想通過它。

And then second part, maybe if there's any color you could maybe provide if we think about the Mileway impact, Atlantia, how we should think about that maybe from a financial or FRE impact?

然後是第二部分，如果我們考慮 Mileway 的影響，Atlantia，我們應該如何從財務或 FRE 影響來考慮這一點，如果您可以提供任何顏色？

Yes. Rob, first on the BREIT change and really asking about mechanics. I mean, overall, it's the same terms as we've started with from inception. The same annual hurdle rate. It's now just calculated still annually, but crystallized quarterly. So -- and from a mechanical standpoint, in the sort of unlikely or uncommon event that on an intra-year basis, performance fees that are crystallized quarterly, but not ultimately earned against the annual calculations. Then the -- that initial crystallization map will be recouped by investors through an offset to future performance fees with a long period of time to do that. So -- but the bottom line is from a sort of economic standpoint and a preferred return standpoint, same terms as before on an annual basis.

是的。 Rob，首先是關於 BREIT 的變化，並真正詢問了機制。我的意思是，總的來說，它與我們從一開始就使用的術語相同。相同的年門檻率。它現在只是每年計算一次，但每季度計算一次。所以 - 從機械的角度來看，在這種不太可能或不常見的事件中，在年度內，績效費按季度計算，但最終不會根據年度計算獲得。然後——最初的結晶圖將被投資者通過在很長一段時間內抵消未來的業績費用來收回。所以 - 但底線是從某種經濟角度和優先回報的角度來看，每年的條款與以前相同。

Great. And then maybe just second part was if there's any way to kind of think of quantifying the Mileway, Atlantia, kind of net impact going forward?

偉大的。然後也許只是第二部分，是否有任何方法可以考慮量化 Mileway，Atlantia，未來的淨影響？

Yes. I think on individual deals, Rob, we stay away from that. Obviously, should both deals happen, the -- on day 1, the NAV will reflect the equity invested by our LPs and our funds in both those deals and as perpetual capital will add to the fee-earning AUM.

是的。我認為在個人交易中，Rob，我們遠離那個。顯然，如果兩筆交易都發生，那麼在第一天，資產淨值將反映我們的 LP 和我們的基金在這兩筆交易中投資的股權，因為永續資本將增加賺取費用的資產管理規模。

The next question is coming from Adam Beatty from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Adam Beatty。

I wanted to ask about the secondaries business. Obviously, strong overall momentum and you just did some more fundraising. An earlier question, you talked about potential liquidity constraints among LPs. And I was just wondering if maybe that's even had the effect of accelerating some activity around secondaries or if you would expect it to do so in the future. And then maybe overall on the mix of GP versus LP-led secondaries and whether that's changing at all?

我想問一下二級業務。顯然，強勁的整體勢頭，你只是做了更多的籌款。之前的一個問題，您談到了有限合夥人之間潛在的流動性限制。我只是想知道這是否可能會加速一些次級活動，或者你是否希望它在未來這樣做。然後可能是 GP 與 LP 主導的二級市場的整體組合，這是否會發生變化？

You're right. In your question, Adam. What we're seeing is LPs who want to stick with managers, but maybe over their allocation targets because of strong performance in private equity saying, "I'm going to sell some of my older vintage private equity funds, and we have seen an acceleration of deal flow in the secondaries market, which is why having a large fund for Vern Perry and our team in secondaries is very important. We like the space because as alternatives grow, the need for liquidity grows. And it's a difficult business to invest in. You need a lot of knowledge, particularly once you move beyond the 10 or 20 largest funds. And so we think the dynamic for investors is quite favorable.

你是對的。在你的問題中，亞當。我們看到的是 LP 想要堅持與經理人合作，但可能因為私募股權的強勁表現而超過了他們的分配目標，他們說：“我將出售我的一些老式私募股權基金，我們已經看到加速二級市場的交易流，這就是為什麼為 Vern Perry 和我們的二級市場團隊提供大型基金非常重要。我們喜歡這個空間，因為隨著替代品的增長，對流動性的需求也在增長。而且這是一項難以投資的業務你需要很多知識，尤其是當你超越 10 或 20 只最大的基金時。因此我們認為投資者的動態非常有利。

In terms of the mix of GP/LP-led, clearly, now there are more GP-led deals than there were in the past. We expect that to continue. We've raised and are in the process of raising a small GP-led fund that will co-invest with our main secondaries private equity fund. And we think that's an interesting area as well.

就 GP/LP 主導的組合而言，顯然，現在由 GP 主導的交易比過去要多。我們預計這種情況會繼續下去。我們已經籌集並正在籌集一個由 GP 主導的小型基金，該基金將與我們的主要二級私募股權基金共同投資。我們認為這也是一個有趣的領域。

And so I think it's, again, one of the great strengths of our firm that in an environment where there may be some headwinds around private equity fundraising, it benefits another part of our firm, our secondaries business which has, again, delivered really great performance over time because of the structural inefficiencies in the market. So this is a business unit that I think has a lot of growth potential for us.

因此，我認為這也是我們公司的一大優勢，在私募股權融資可能存在一些不利因素的環境中，它有利於我們公司的另一部分，我們的二級業務，再次，交付非常好由於市場的結構性低效率，業績隨著時間的推移而變化。所以這是一個我認為對我們有很大增長潛力的業務部門。

The next question is coming from Patrick Davitt from Autonomous.

下一個問題來自 Autonomous 的 Patrick Davitt。

Insurance regulators are increasingly focused from the relationship between alternative managers and insurance companies, potential conflicts of interest, and I think making sure the assets are getting the proper capital treatment. Some observers have suggested that an outcome of these reviews could be a requirement of more skin in the game for the managers, particularly those that aren't consolidated with their insurance counterparties. So first, what is your position on this focus? Do you think there's a risk that regulators will require more skin in the game? And last, would you be willing to reevaluate the balance sheet-light approach if that is the outcome?

保險監管機構越來越關注替代經理和保險公司之間的關係、潛在的利益衝突，我認為要確保資產得到適當的資本處理。一些觀察家認為，這些審查的結果可能是要求經理在遊戲中擁有更多的皮膚，特別是那些沒有與保險對手合併的經理。那麼首先，你對這個焦點的立場是什麼？您是否認為監管機構會要求更多參與遊戲的風險？最後，如果這是結果，您是否願意重新評估輕資產負債表的方法？

What I would say on this is we are an investment manager. And when I look at the regulatory framework, being a third-party investment manager is that there's a long history of that in the insurance business. If you look at large firms like BlackRock, PIMCO, Goldman Sachs, they manage enormous amounts of capital for insurance companies. And I don't foresee regulators requiring that they essentially make investments in order to be investment managers.

我想說的是，我們是一名投資經理。當我查看監管框架時，作為第三方投資經理在保險業務中有著悠久的歷史。如果你看看像貝萊德、太平洋投資管理公司、高盛這樣的大公司，他們為保險公司管理著巨額資金。而且我預計監管機構不會要求他們必須進行投資才能成為投資經理。

So from our standpoint as a third-party investment manager, we think the relationship is sound. In some cases, we do have minority investments here. But we think the framework that has worked over a long time for insurance company, third-party managers, should work going forward. And so I don't really see -- and by the way, I would not envision a world, just a short answer, on us becoming balance sheet-heavy and taking on hundreds of billions of insurance liabilities. That's not something we would be willing to do.

因此，從我們作為第三方投資經理的角度來看，我們認為這種關係是健全的。在某些情況下，我們確實有少數股權投資。但我們認為，長期以來為保險公司、第三方經理工作的框架應該會繼續發揮作用。所以我真的沒有看到——順便說一句，我不會設想一個世界，只是一個簡短的答案，我們會變得資產負債表沉重並承擔數千億的保險負債。這不是我們願意做的事情。

And I'd just add -- it's Michael, I'd add on to that further and stepping back. We feel even better about our third-party asset-light approach to the insurance opportunity than ever and, I would say, including in the context of appropriate regulatory focus on this area. And we have arm's length arrangements, contracts with very large sophisticated great partners in this area. And in the industry overall, what you're seeing increasingly in life and annuities is a recognition that the asset management capability part of the equation is essential to having -- to being competitive in the marketplace day to day. So in that context, in that environment, we feel like we're a terrific competitor, a great solution provider for these clients.

我想補充一下——是邁克爾，我會進一步補充並退後一步。我們對保險機會的第三方輕資產方法的感覺比以往任何時候都好，我想說，包括在該領域適當監管的背景下。我們有公平交易安排，與該領域非常成熟的優秀合作夥伴簽訂合同。在整個行業中，您在人壽保險和年金保險中看到的越來越多的是，認識到資產管理能力部分對於擁有——對於在市場上每天保持競爭力來說是必不可少的。因此，在這種情況下，在那種環境下，我們覺得我們是一個了不起的競爭對手，是這些客戶的優秀解決方案提供商。

The next question is coming from Brian McKenna from JMP Securities.

下一個問題來自 JMP Securities 的 Brian McKenna。

And just a follow-up on the secondaries business. I'm curious how much of the business is tied to private equity specifically? And then what's the opportunity longer term to further expand into additional asset classes?

只是對二級業務的跟進。我很好奇有多少業務與私募股權相關？那麼從長遠來看，進一步擴展到其他資產類別的機會是什麼？

Today, I would say it's about 80% of our business. We've got a real estate secondaries business. We have an infrastructure secondaries business. I think both of those areas have the opportunity to grow over time. There are sectors that are tougher credit because you don't end up having longer duration vintages. But you could see in areas like growth, more of this continuation activity grow over time. But the main event today is primarily in private equity, and I don't really envision that changing. But these other areas will grow, I think, as well as those markets grow.

今天，我想說這是我們業務的 80%。我們有一個房地產二級業務。我們有基礎設施二級業務。我認為這兩個領域都有機會隨著時間的推移而增長。有些行業的信貸更嚴格，因為您最終不會擁有更長的年份。但是您可以在增長等領域看到，隨著時間的推移，更多的這種持續活動會增長。但今天的主要事件主要是私募股權，我並不真正設想這種變化。但我認為，這些其他領域將會增長，這些市場也會增長。

Next question is coming from Bill Katz from Citigroup.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Bill Katz。

Most have been asked and answered. But just circling back to maybe retail, just 2-part question, one tactical, one structural. In terms of BREIT, the move to the quarterly crystallization, how should we think about any kind of shift in the comp payout or FRE margin? And the bigger picture is, I certainly appreciate you have a dominant and early-mover advantage here, are you seeing any pricing pressure at the product level given a ramp of competition?

大多數人都被問過並回答過。但只是回到零售，只是兩部分的問題，一個戰術，一個結構。就 BREIT 而言，轉向季度結晶，我們應該如何看待補償支出或 FRE 利潤率的任何變化？更大的圖景是，我當然很欣賞你在這裡擁有主導和先發優勢，在競爭加劇的情況下，你是否看到產品層面的定價壓力？

Yes, Bill, the short answer on your first question, we don't see any shift in that in relation to this quarterly change.

是的，比爾，你的第一個問題的簡短回答，我們沒有看到與這個季度變化有關的任何變化。

And the second question was on pricing pressure. I would say the short answer is, particularly on our established products, no, we don't. Where we've gotten to, how we're delivering for financial advisers and their clients is greatly valued. It's possible over time in newer products, there'll be a little more competition. But I think this again is the power of the Blackstone brand, something that I think I would just emphasize is underestimated. And it allows us to do things to be a capital-light manager and insurance to access the retail channel in a very cost-efficient way. The fact that the world wants to invest with Blackstone products is very helpful for us. And I think it's a powerful reason why you see us growing at this very rapid rate.

第二個問題是定價壓力。我想說簡短的回答是，特別是在我們的成熟產品上，不，我們沒有。我們已經到了哪裡，我們如何為財務顧問及其客戶提供服務是非常有價值的。隨著時間的推移，新產品可能會出現，競爭會更加激烈。但我認為這又是黑石品牌的力量，我想我只是強調的一點被低估了。它使我們能夠做一些事情，成為一個輕資本的經理和保險，以非常具有成本效益的方式進入零售渠道。全世界都想用 Blackstone 產品投資這一事實對我們非常有幫助。我認為這是你看到我們以如此快速的速度增長的一個強有力的原因。

The next question is coming from Finian O'Shea from Wells Fargo Securities.

下一個問題來自 Wells Fargo Securities 的 Finian O'Shea。

A question on platform reinvestment and the growth of BCRED. Can you talk about how you're expanding your direct lending origination opportunity set and if you see yourself going beyond middle market sponsor finance?

關於平台再投資和 BCRED 成長的問題。您能否談談您如何擴大直接貸款發起機會集，以及您是否認為自己超越了中間市場贊助商融資？

So we have grown our direct lending capabilities quite a bit in the last couple of years as BCRED has grown. We also have BXSL, a public BDC that has -- is a source of capital. We have certainly moved beyond middle market. I think in the quarter, we committed as part of groups to 7 deals that were $1 billion or more direct lending. The greatest area for strength for us is in some of the good neighborhoods. We really like some of the faster-growing technology companies who have a lot of enterprise value, but maybe not as much trailing EBITDA. And so we can use our capabilities of underwriting companies and get comfortable lending given the strength of seeing enterprise software business.

因此，隨著 BCRED 的發展，我們在過去幾年中大大提高了直接貸款能力。我們還有 BXSL，這是一個公共 BDC，它擁有——是一種資金來源。我們當然已經超越了中間市場。我認為在本季度，我們作為集團的一部分承諾了 7 筆 10 億美元或更多直接貸款的交易。對我們來說，最大的優勢領域是一些好的社區。我們真的很喜歡一些成長較快的科技公司，它們具有很多企業價值，但可能沒有那麼多尾隨 EBITDA。因此，鑑於看到企業軟件業務的實力，我們可以利用我們承銷公司的能力並獲得舒適的貸款。

I also think the current market plays well to direct lending platforms. When markets become more volatile, financial institutions who are really important, but because they're in the moving business, they need to give the borrowers off and say, "Hey, look, I need a lot of flex pricing because I don't know where the market is today." As a direct lender, you can offer certainty to a borrower. And in an environment like that, it becomes really important.

我也認為目前的市場對直接借貸平台的作用很好。當市場變得更加動盪時，那些非常重要的金融機構，但因為他們從事的是搬家業務，他們需要讓借款人離開並說，“嘿，看，我需要很多靈活定價，因為我不知道今天的市場在哪裡。”作為直接貸方，您可以向借款人提供確定性。在這樣的環境中，它變得非常重要。

So I do think you'll see us continue to write larger and larger checks. And I think BCRED offer something very valuable to the borrowers and something very compelling to the investors, which is why we think this momentum will continue.

所以我認為你會看到我們繼續開出越來越大的支票。而且我認為 BCRED 為藉款人提供了非常有價值的東西，並且對投資者非常有吸引力，這就是為什麼我們認為這種勢頭將持續下去的原因。

Our final question is coming from Rufus Hone from BMO.

我們的最後一個問題來自 BMO 的 Rufus Hone。

I wanted to ask about the private wealth business and the FRE margin. Clearly, you've invested a lot in the product and distribution over the last decade and continue to do so. I was curious about the margin profile of this business now that it's grown to around $200 billion of AUM. Is it now accretive to your FRE margin? Or is retail still a drag on your margins? And as retail becomes a larger piece of the business, is this going to provide long-term upside to your FRE margin?

我想問一下私人財富業務和FRE保證金。顯然，在過去十年中，您在產品和分銷上投入了大量資金，並且還在繼續這樣做。我對這項業務的利潤率感到好奇，因為它已經增長到大約 2000 億美元的 AUM。它現在是否增加了您的 FRE 保證金？還是零售業仍然拖累您的利潤？隨著零售業務在業務中所佔比重越來越大，這是否會為您的 FRE 利潤率提供長期上行空間？

Yes. Rufus, I think you really have to think about it holistically. And the margins we show in our businesses are reflected and are "burdened" by the investment, the substantial investment we've made over the years in our PWS distribution capabilities. And so it is overall a very much profitable, healthy margin endeavor. And I think the overall -- I think when you look holistically at the trajectory of the margin to the firm, which are up 1,000 basis points over the last 6 or 7 years, a big driver of that is this effort.

是的。魯弗斯，我認為你真的必須從整體上考慮它。我們在業務中顯示的利潤反映並受到投資的“負擔”，這些投資是我們多年來在 PWS 分銷能力方面所做的大量投資。因此，總體而言，這是一項非常有利可圖的、健康的利潤率努力。而且我認為整體 - 我認為當你從整體上看公司的利潤率軌跡時，在過去 6 或 7 年中上升了 1,000 個基點，其中一個重要的驅動力就是這種努力。

Thank you. And with that, I would like to hand it back to Weston Tucker for some closing remarks.

謝謝你。有了這個，我想把它交還給 Weston Tucker 做一些結束語。

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

偉大的。好吧，謝謝大家今天加入我們，並期待在電話會議後跟進。