Moelis & Co (MC) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, and welcome to the Moelis & Company fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call.

女士們、先生們，下午好，歡迎參加 Moelis & Company 2025 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。

To begin, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Matt Tsukroff.

首先，我將把電話交給馬特·楚克羅夫先生。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Moelis & Company's fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results conference call. On the phone today are Navid Mahmoodzadegan, CEO and Co-Founder; and Chris Callesano, Chief Financial Officer.

下午好，感謝各位參加 Moelis & Company 2025 年第四季及全年財務業績電話會議。今天接聽電話的是執行長兼聯合創始人納維德·馬赫穆德扎德根 (Navid Mahmoodzadegan) 和首席財務官克里斯·卡列薩諾 (Chris Callesano)。

Before we begin, I would like to note that the remarks made on this call may contain certain forward-looking statements, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those identified from time to time in the risk factors section of Moelis & Company's filings with the SEC. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. The firm undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想指出，本次電話會議中發表的言論可能包含某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，包括 Moelis & Company 向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件的風險因素部分中不時列出的風險和不確定性。實際結果可能與目前預期的結果有重大差異。該公司不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Our comments today include references to certain adjusted financial measures. We believe these measures, when presented together with comparable GAAP measures, are useful to investors to compare our results across several periods and to better understand our operating results. The reconciliation of these adjusted financial measures with the relevant GAAP financial information and other information required by Reg G is provided in the firm's earnings release, which can be found on our Investor Relations website at investors.moelis.com.

我們今天的評論中會提及一些調整後的財務指標。我們認為，當這些指標與可比較的 GAAP 指標一起呈現時，有助於投資者比較我們不同時期的業績，並更好地了解我們的經營業績。本公司獲利報告提供了這些調整後的財務指標與相關 GAAP 財務資訊以及 Reg G 要求的其他資訊的核對情況，該報告可在我們的投資者關係網站 investors.moelis.com 上找到。

I will now turn the call over to Navid.

現在我將把通話交給納維德。

Thank you, Matt. It's great to be with you all this afternoon. We closed 2025 with significant momentum and enter 2026 from a position of strength, underscored by elevated levels of client activity, record new business generation and the highest quality talent and breadth of expertise we've ever had. We earned record fourth quarter revenues of $488 million. And for the full year, our adjusted revenues grew 28% to $1.54 billion.

謝謝你，馬特。今天下午能和大家在一起真是太好了。我們在 2025 年末取得了顯著的成就，並以強勁的勢頭進入 2026 年，這體現在客戶活躍度的提高、創紀錄的新業務增長以及我們有史以來最優秀的人才和最廣泛的專業知識。我們第四季營收創歷史新高，達到 4.88 億美元。全年調整後的營收成長了 28%，達到 15.4 億美元。

Our revenues in 2025 were driven by 35% growth in M&A, a record-setting year for our capital markets business and double-digit increases in both average fees and number of completed transactions. Momentum continues to build across our business. Since our last earnings call, we advised on a number of notable M&A transactions, including Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros., Allied Gold sale to Zijin Gold and Ventyx Biosciences sale to Eli Lilly. Outside of M&A, we advised on USA Rare Earth's transformative partnership with the US Department of Commerce, the debt restructuring of King Abdullah Economic City and X-Energy's pre-IPO convert transaction.

2025 年，我們的營收成長主要得益於併購業務 35% 的成長，資本市場業務創紀錄的一年，以及平均費用和已完成交易數量兩位數的成長。我們業務的發展勢頭持續增強。自上次財報電話會議以來，我們為多項值得關注的併購交易提供了諮詢服務，包括 Netflix 收購華納兄弟、Allied Gold 出售給紫金黃金以及 Ventyx Biosciences 出售給禮來公司。除了併購之外，我們還為美國稀土公司與美國商務部的變革性合作、阿卜杜拉國王經濟城的債務重組以及 X-Energy 的 IPO 前轉換交易提供諮詢服務。

Constructive financing markets and strong equity market performance are setting the stage for an active transaction environment in 2026. The breadth and depth of M&A activity that we saw at the end of last year is expanding and accelerating. Strategics are becoming even more active as Boards gain confidence to pursue larger transformational deals to drive scale and best position themselves for rapid technological shifts.

建設性的融資市場和強勁的股票市場表現，為 2026 年活躍的交易環境奠定了基礎。去年底我們看到的併購活動的廣度和深度正在擴大和加速。隨著董事會越來越有信心尋求更大規模的轉型交易以擴大規模並更好地適應快速的技術變革，策略家變得更加活躍。

Sponsor activity is also building as valuation alignment improves and sponsors respond to growing pressure to deploy and return capital to investors. While larger cap transactions have been driving the M&A market, momentum in our pipeline gives us increasing confidence that activity will broaden across transaction sizes as the year progresses.

隨著估值一致性的提高，以及發起人面臨越來越大的壓力需要部署和回報投資者資金，發起人的活動也不斷增加。雖然大額交易一直是併購市場的主要驅動力，但我們目前的交易勢頭讓我們越來越有信心，隨著時間的推移，交易活動將在各個規模上擴大。

In Capital Markets, our team is benefiting from increased investor appetite across growth-oriented sectors with strong capabilities in both the public and private markets. With respect to capital structure advisory, we continue to see a long runway of liability management assignments driven by the significant leverage that exists across many companies, compounded by the accelerating pace of technology disruption. And over time, we anticipate more traditional restructurings as prior out-of-court solutions run their course.

在資本市場領域，我們的團隊受益於投資者對成長型產業的日益增長的興趣，我們在公共和私人市場都擁有強大的實力。就資本結構諮詢而言，由於許多公司普遍存在大量槓桿，再加上技術顛覆的步伐不斷加快，我們看到負債管理的業務需求將持續成長。隨著先前的庭外和解方案逐步失效，我們預期未來會出現更多傳統的重組方式。

Finally, following substantial investment in 2025, our private capital advisory business is gaining meaningful traction and is well positioned to serve our sponsor clients as the GP-led secondary market continues to hit record levels. Our thesis for this business is clearly being validated. Our PCA team is fully integrated with our industry and financial sponsor bankers and our secondaries pipeline is developing rapidly. We continue to invest in this area with the addition of a Managing Director focused on private credit secondaries joining next week. And with another MD joining later this year, we will have a team of seven managing directors dedicated to GP-led secondaries.

最後，在 2025 年進行了大量投資之後，我們的私募資本諮詢業務正在取得顯著進展，並且已經做好充分準備，為我們的發起人客戶提供服務，因為 GP 主導的二級市場繼續創下歷史新高。我們為這項業務制定的理論顯然正在得到驗證。我們的PCA團隊與產業和金融機構贊助銀行家完全融合，我們的二級市場業務正在快速發展。我們將繼續增加對該領域的投資，下週將新增一位專注於私募信貸二級市場的董事總經理。今年晚些時候，隨著另一位董事總經理的加入，我們將擁有一支由七位董事總經理組成的團隊，專門負責全科醫生主導的二級醫療機構。

This growth enhances our ability to support sponsor clients and reinforces our conviction that PCA will be an increasingly important fourth pillar of our firm. Against this constructive backdrop, we see significant opportunity to continue growing our client capabilities and footprint. During 2025, we added 21 managing directors, including nine lateral hires. In the beginning of 2026, we promoted an additional 13 professionals to Managing Director, bringing our total MD count to 178 as of today's call. These promotions, together with our continued hiring, deepen our global centers of excellence and further align the firm with the largest market opportunities.

這一成長增強了我們支持贊助客戶的能力，並鞏固了我們對 PCA 將成為我們公司日益重要的第四大支柱的信念。在這種積極的背景下，我們看到了繼續提升客戶服務能力和擴大業務範圍的巨大機會。2025年，我們新增了21位總經理，其中包括9名從外部招募的總經理。2026 年初，我們又提拔了 13 位專業人士擔任董事總經理，截至今天的電話會議，我們的董事總經理總數達到 178 位。這些晉升，加上我們持續的招聘，深化了我們的全球卓越中心，並使公司更好地與最大的市場機會保持一致。

Given our strong revenue performance and the maturation of our recent investments, we delivered meaningful operating leverage this year, highlighted by a 320 basis points improvement in our adjusted compensation ratio to 65.8%. Our capital position remains strong with no debt and substantial cash, and we materially increased our capital return through significant share buybacks in the fourth quarter.

鑑於我們強勁的收入表現和近期投資的成熟，我們今年實現了有意義的營運槓桿，其中最突出的是我們調整後的薪酬比率提高了 320 個基點，達到 65.8%。我們的資本狀況依然強勁，沒有債務，現金充裕，並且我們在第四季度透過大規模股票回購大幅提高了資本回報。

In summary, our coverage platform and our culture of collaboration have never been stronger. Our business outlook is positive and our pipeline is near record levels. We are confident in our ability to continue driving growth while generating operating leverage and delivering sustained value for our clients, our shareholders and our team over the long term.

總之，我們的報道平台和協作文化從未如此強大。我們的業務前景樂觀，業務儲備接近歷史最高水準。我們有信心在長期內繼續推動成長，同時創造營運槓桿，並為我們的客戶、股東和團隊帶來持續價值。

With that, I'll pass the call to Chris to review our financial results in more detail.

接下來，我將把電話轉給克里斯，讓他更詳細地審查我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Navid, and good afternoon, everyone. We reported record fourth quarter revenues of $488 million, an increase of 11% versus the prior year period. For the full year, our adjusted revenues increased 28% to $1.54 billion. As Navid said, our revenue growth was driven by year over year increases in M&A and capital markets, partially offset by a decline in capital structure advisory. Our business mix for the fourth quarter and full year was approximately two-third M&A and one-third non-M&A.

謝謝納維德，大家下午好。我們公佈了創紀錄的第四季營收，達到 4.88 億美元，比去年同期成長 11%。全年調整後，我們的營收成長了 28%，達到 15.4 億美元。正如納維德所說，我們的收入成長主要得益於併購和資本市場業務的同比增長，但部分被資本結構諮詢業務的下滑所抵消。我們第四季和全年的業務組成大約是三分之二是併購，三分之一是非併購。

Turning to expenses. As Navid mentioned, we saw significant improvement in our adjusted compensation expense ratios, which were 61.1% for the fourth quarter and 65.8% for the full year, down from 69% last year. Adjusted non-compensation expenses were $60 million for the fourth quarter, resulting in a 12.4% non-compensation expense ratio.

接下來談談費用。正如納維德所提到的，我們的調整後薪資費用率有了顯著改善，第四季為 61.1%，全年為 65.8%，低於去年的 69%。第四季調整後的非薪資支出為 6,000 萬美元，非薪資支出率為 12.4%。

Our adjusted non-compensation expenses for full year 2025 were $224 million, resulting in a non-compensation expense ratio of 14.6%, down from 15.9% in the prior year. The main drivers of the expense growth for the year were increased deal-related T&E and client conferences, continued investments in technology and data, including AI and higher occupancy costs due to headcount growth.

經調整後，2025 年全年非薪酬支出為 2.24 億美元，非薪酬支出率為 14.6%，低於前一年的 15.9%。本年度支出成長的主要驅動因素是：與交易相關的差旅費和客戶會議增加、對技術和數據（包括人工智慧）的持續投資以及由於員工人數成長而導致的更高辦公場所成本。

Given our ongoing investments in technology, increased deal activity and headcount, we currently anticipate full year 2026 non-compensation expenses to grow at a similar rate to 2025. Our adjusted pretax margin was 28.6% for the fourth quarter and 21.5% for the full year 2025, representing 510 basis points of improvement from a 16.4% adjusted pretax margin in 2024.

鑑於我們對科技的持續投資、交易活動的增加以及員工人數的增加，我們目前預計 2026 年全年非薪酬支出將以與 2025 年類似的速度成長。我們第四季的調整後稅前利潤率為 28.6%，2025 年全年的調整後稅前利潤率提高了 510 個基點。

Regarding taxes, our normalized corporate tax rate for the year was 29.8% and our effective tax rate was 22.4%. The difference in rates is primarily driven by the excess tax benefit related to the delivery of equity-based compensation in the first quarter of 2025. As a reminder, consistent with prior years, the annual vesting of RSUs will occur later this month, and we expect to recognize an excess tax benefit, which will favorably impact Q1 EPS.

關於稅收，我們本年度的標準化企業所得稅率為 29.8%，實際所得稅率為 22.4%。稅率差異主要源自於 2025 年第一季發放股權誘因所帶來的超額稅收優惠。再次提醒大家，與往年一樣，限制性股票單位的年度歸屬將於本月稍後進行，我們預計將確認超額稅收優惠，這將對第一季每股收益產生有利影響。

Our revenue growth and reductions in both our comp and noncomp expense ratios contributed to EPS gains. For full year 2025, we reported adjusted EPS of $2.99 per share, representing an increase of 64% from the $1.82 per share in 2024. Turning to capital allocation. The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share. During the fourth quarter, we increased buyback activity, repurchasing 716,000 shares in the open market at an average price of $62.96 per share, bringing total repurchases for the year to approximately 950,000 shares.

營收成長以及同工同酬和非同工同酬費用率的降低，都促進了每股盈餘的成長。2025 年全年，我們公佈的調整後每股收益為 2.99 美元，比 2024 年的每股收益 1.82 美元增長了 64%。接下來討論資本配置。董事會宣布派發每股0.65美元的季度常規股息。第四季度，我們加大了股票回購力度，在公開市場上以每股 62.96 美元的平均價格回購了 716,000 股股票，使全年回購總量達到約 950,000 股。

For the 2025 performance year, we will have returned $284 million of capital to shareholders through dividends, net settlement of shares and open market repurchases. Additionally, the Board authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $300 million with no expiration date. And lastly, we continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with $849 million of cash and no debt.

截至 2025 財年，我們將透過分紅、股票淨結算和公開市場回購向股東返還 2.84 億美元的資本。此外，董事會還批准了一項新的股票回購計劃，金額高達 3 億美元，且沒有截止日期。最後，我們繼續保持強勁的資產負債表，擁有 8.49 億美元現金且無任何債務。

With that, let's open the line for questions.

接下來，我們開放提問環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Devin Ryan, Citizens Bank.

Devin Ryan，公民銀行。

Good afternoon Navid, and Chris, how are you?

下午好，納維德，克里斯，你們好嗎？

Good Devin, how are you doing?

Devin，你好嗎？

Doing great. First question, just kind of on the broader advisory outlook. So clearly, a good year in 2025, you're growing 28% year over year, even without having kind of sponsors at their, I'd say, potential, and this is clearly an important customer base for Moelis. So it shows that you guys were able to kind of work with a number of different sizes of customers and types of customers.

一切都很好。第一個問題，是關於更廣泛的諮詢前景。所以很明顯，2025 年是個好年頭，即使沒有贊助商發揮出應有的潛力，你們的年增長率也達到了 28%，這顯然是 Moelis 的一個重要客戶群。這說明你們能夠與各種不同規模和類型的客戶合作。

But on the sponsor specifically, how would you frame kind of the order of magnitude of how much upside there is towards kind of more of a normal level and the impact from Moelis? Because you just -- you're coming off of a very good year, but it still feels like there's probably maybe another step function of sponsors truly reengaged, but just love to get some sense from you and if you can kind of frame out how you think about quantifying that.

但具體到贊助商方面，您會如何描述其上漲空間的大小，使其恢復到更正常的水平，以及 Moelis 的影響？因為你剛剛經歷了一個非常好的年份，但感覺贊助商真正重新參與進來可能還需要一個更大的階段，我很想聽聽你的看法，如果你能大致闡述一下你是如何考慮量化這一點的。

Sure, Devin. Thanks for the question. I think the premise of your question is exactly right. As we -- as 2025 developed, we saw an increasing velocity of sponsor deals. We think there's still a fair amount to go before we get to the kind of volumes that I think will create more equilibrium between capital return and deployment.

當然可以，德文。謝謝你的提問。我認為你問題的前提完全正確。隨著 2025 年的到來，我們看到贊助交易的速度越來越快。我們認為，在達到我認為能夠使資本回報和部署之間更加平衡的規模之前，還有相當大的差距。

I do think both in terms of opening up the aperture to more deals in the middle market, I think that's coming in 2026. That's certainly what we're seeing in our pipelines and our conversations with sponsors. We've talked about it on a lot of the previous earnings calls. There's just a real push from LPs to get capital returned in these portfolio companies. I think we're reaching the point where the financing markets are good.

我認為，無論從哪個角度來看，為中端市場帶來更多交易機會，這都將在 2026 年實現。這正是我們在專案儲備和與贊助商的溝通中看到的。我們在之前的許多財報電話會議上都討論過這個問題。有限合夥人確實迫切希望從這些投資組合公司中獲得資本回報。我認為我們正處於融資市場良好的時期。

The broader economy is good, inflation seems to be under control. And this is the point where valuations are what they are in the market, and I think sponsors are getting their head around what options are available to them to get return back to their LPs. One of those options in addition to M&A is doing a GP-led secondary. And that's one of the reasons why we're super excited about that business. We have now an industry-leading GP-led secondary capability to pair with our industry-leading sponsor coverage and industry-leading M&A capabilities to bring the sponsors to be a solution provider to help solve those issues.

整體經濟狀況良好，通膨似乎得到了控制。而現在，市場估值已經定型，我認為發起人正在逐漸了解他們有哪些選擇可以回報給他們的有限合夥人。除了併購之外，另一個選擇是由普通合夥人主導的二級市場發行。這也是我們對這項業務感到無比興奮的原因之一。我們現在擁有業界領先的GP主導的二級市場能力，結合業界領先的發起人覆蓋範圍和業界領先的併購能力，使發起人成為解決方案提供商，幫助解決這些問題。

And I think we're really seeing an opening of the market. I think that's going to happen in 2026. And I think we're really well advantaged -- well positioned to take advantage of that.

我認為我們確實看到了市場開放的跡象。我認為那件事會在2026年發生。我認為我們確實擁有很大的優勢——我們處於有利地位，能夠充分利用這一點。

That's great color, Navid. And then just as a follow-up on the restructuring liability management, you mentioned kind of a long runway of activity here. Can we maybe just parse through that a little bit more, like how we should be thinking about a base case for the level of activity there? Is it something around what we've been seeing like kind of hold the line or a view that maybe takes a little bit of a step back, but the high -- it stabilizes at a higher base. Just love to kind of think through what kind of that looks like right now.

納維德，這顏色真棒。然後，作為對重組負債管理的後續跟進，您提到這裡還有很長一段時間的活動要做。我們能否再深入分析一下，例如我們應該如何考慮那裡的活動水平的基本情況？是不是就像我們一直看到的那種守住陣地或稍微後退一步，但高點穩定在一個更高的基數上的情況？我只是想仔細想想，現在這種情況會是什麼樣子。

I appreciate there's obviously scenarios where if an economy rolls over, it could be more active, but that probably wouldn't be as good for M&A. So just love to think about kind of the base case for what that long runway suggests.

我明白，如果經濟出現衰退，併購活動可能會更加活躍，但這顯然不利於併購。所以，我很想思考一下，這麼長的跑道究竟代表什麼。

Sure. So as we look at the base case, as you put it, we do think there is this long runway of companies. There's just a number of companies that took advantage of very favorable financing -- a very favorable rate and financing environment to take on a fair amount of leverage over the last many years through the last cycle. There's still -- some of those companies have done various stages of liability management exercises, but you still have a lot of balance sheets that are still out of whack, quite frankly, relative to the size and the earnings of those companies. On top of that, you see technology disruption coming, and it's going to impact some of these sectors pretty dramatically.

當然。所以，正如你所說，從基本情況來看，我們確實認為有很多公司有很長的發展空間。過去多年，在上一個經濟週期中，一些公司利用非常有利的融資條件——非常有利的利率和融資環境——獲得了相當高的槓桿率。雖然有些公司已經進行了不同階段的負債管理工作，但坦白說，相對於這些公司的規模和收益而言，仍有許多公司的資產負債表存在不平衡。除此之外，科技顛覆即將到來，並將對其中一些產業產生相當大的影響。

And so as we look out into the future, I think there's just going to be many, many companies that still have to grapple with their balance sheet. I think some of that's going to happen through amended extends and liability management type exercise out of court. But I think some of those companies are going to tip into more active in-court restructuring assignments. And again, we're well positioned for all of that. In addition, we've significantly bolstered and invested in our creditor side capabilities so that if we're not on the company side in these situations, we have a really good seat working with creditors there.

因此，展望未來，我認為仍會有很多公司需要處理資產負債表問題。我認為其中一些問題將透過修改延期協議和庭外責任管理等方式解決。但我認為其中一些公司將會更積極參與法庭重組程序。再說一遍，我們在這方面已經做好了充分準備。此外，我們也大幅加強並投資了我們在債權人方面的能力，這樣，即使我們在這種情況下不站在公司一方，我們也能很好地與債權人合作。

And we're really excited about the rise of that business and our traction in that business. So a year ago, if you said to me, we remember, we came off a really strong 2024 on the CSA side of the business that we sort of predicted that our business might be down a little bit given the market backdrop. As I look out this year, I'm predicting flat to up as opposed to flat to down in terms of the strength of our business in what we call CSA.

我們對這項業務的崛起以及我們在該業務中取得的進展感到非常興奮。所以一年前，如果你問我，我們還記得嗎？ 2024 年，我們在 CSA 業務方面取得了非常強勁的成績，我們預測，鑑於市場背景，我們的業務可能會略有下滑。展望今年，我預測我們稱之為 CSA 的業務實力將持平或上升，而不是持平或下降。

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

James Yaro，高盛集團。

I wanted to touch a little bit on the M&A composition of 2025 and what we could see for 2026 and beyond. 2025 was a heavily mega cap M&A-driven market. So I'd love to just get your perspective on the outlook for large deals to continue and juxtaposing that versus the outlook for smaller deals, which I think ties into your sponsor comments. And then I guess, if you take a step back, when and why would smaller deals catch up to the big ones?

我想簡單談談2025年的併購組成，以及我們對2026年及以後的展望。 2025年是一個以超大型併購為主導的市場。所以我很想聽聽您對大型交易前景的看法，並將其與小型交易的前景進行對比，我認為這與您之前對贊助商的評論有關。那麼，退一步想，小額交易何時以及為何才能趕上大額交易？

So look, I think as we look out into the next few years, I do think there's a real possibility of the bigger cap type transaction that we've seen a lot of. Last year was really close to a record year on the larger side of the curve of transactions, that continuing. And I think the reason that's going to continue is the motivation to create more scale for these larger companies to serve their customers, to create efficiencies, to best position themselves for technology change. Those motivations are only accelerating. And you have a market environment, a regulatory environment that's allowing those kinds of transactions to happen and who knows how long that's going to last and a financing environment and a stock market that's conducive to promoting those kinds of transactions.

所以，展望未來幾年，我認為很有可能會出現我們已經見過的那種規模更大的交易。去年，大宗交易量非常接近歷史最高紀錄，而且這一趨勢仍在繼續。我認為這種趨勢將會持續下去的原因是，這些大公司有動力擴大規模，以便更好地服務客戶、提高效率，並為技術變革做好更充分的準備。這些動機只會愈演愈烈。而且，市場環境和監管環境都允許這類交易發生，但誰也不知道這種情況會持續多久；融資環境和股票市場也有利於促進這類交易。

So we continue to see very active dialogues with our clients on these bigger type transactions. But I think we're at that point now where this middle market, which we talk about, which has been more muted because there's been sort of a disconnect on buyer seller expectations. We had financing costs that had risen, which make it harder to finance new buyouts of these companies. You had tariffs and inflation and all of those things that make it hard to underwrite a purchase of those kinds of companies. A lot of those issues have dissipated and this pressure from LPs to get money back, the pressure they're putting on the private equity firms is still really there.

因此，我們繼續與客戶就這些較大規模的交易進行非常積極的對話。但我認為我們現在正處於這樣一個階段：我們一直在談論的中間市場，由於買賣雙方的期望存在某種脫節，一直比較低迷。融資成本上升，使得對這些公司進行新的收購變得更加困難。關稅、通貨膨脹以及所有這些因素都使得收購這類公司變得困難。許多此類問題已經消散，但有限合夥人要求收回資金的壓力，以及他們施加給私募股權公司的壓力仍然存在。

And so I think we're at that point where a number of the financial sponsors who own these portfolio companies now for 6, 7, 8, 9 years are finding it hard to do anything other than actually go to market and see what the market will bear in terms of the price for these portfolio companies. And I just think that's increasingly happening. There's really no reason to wait at this point unless there's something specific with that company where you see there's going to be a step function up in the earnings of that company in a year or two. It now is what it is. It's time to monetize, and I think more and more sponsors are bringing those companies to market.

因此，我認為我們現在到了這樣一個階段：許多持有這些投資組合公司 6、7、8、9 年的金融贊助商發現，除了進入市場看看市場對這些投資組合公司的價格能承受多大的價格之外，他們很難做任何其他事情。而且我認為這種情況越來越普遍了。除非你看到那家公司有特殊情況，例如預計該公司一兩年內獲利將出現階躍式成長，否則現在真的沒有理由等待。事情就是這樣了。是時候實現盈利了，我認為越來越多的贊助商正在將這些公司推向市場。

Excellent. Very clear. So you've talked about a lot of areas of positivity here. I just wanted to touch on one area which is evolving a lot recently, which is geopolitical backdrop. When you're in the boardroom, is that having any impact on dialogues? Or is it just that we've seen so many different permutations of geopolitical considerations that boards are getting more comfortable with that at this point?

出色的。非常清楚。所以你在這裡談到了很多積極的方面。我只想談談最近變化很大的一個領域，那就是地緣政治背景。當你在會議室時，這會對對話產生任何影響嗎？或者只是因為我們已經見識了太多不同的地緣政治考量，以至於董事會現在對此越來越習以為常了？

So it's a great question. And of course, geopolitics and what's happening on the world stage is always a topic when we're in boardrooms and we're conversing with clients over potential transactions. Uncertainty is never a friend generally of larger-scale corporate transactions. And so certainly, if there was to be some kind of exogenous shock, some geopolitical flare-up that's significant, that could have an impact on the level of transaction activity as we roll forward. But you're right, I think in a certain respect, there's been over the last year, just a lot of activity and people may be coming a little numb to some of the flare-ups, the short-term flare-ups and sort of saying, look, I got to do what I need to do to position my business the best I can.

這是一個很好的問題。當然，地緣政治和世界舞台上發生的事情始終是我們與客戶在會議室討論潛在交易時的一個話題。不確定性通常對大規模企業交易不利。因此，如果出現某種外生衝擊，例如重大的地緣政治衝突，那麼肯定會對我們未來的交易活動水準產生影響。但你說得對，我認為在某種程度上，過去一年裡發生了很多事情，人們可能對一些短期的疫情爆發感到有些麻木，然後會想，好吧，我必須做我需要做的事情，才能讓我的企業處於最佳狀態。

We know technology changes coming. We have to be prepared for that. We have to position ourselves well for that. We know the equity markets are rewarding focus and execution and growth and simplicity of story. We know that's happening. So let's undertake corporate transactions that help us best position ourselves for equity value creation and for dealing with technology disruption that's coming. And perhaps unless there's a very visible geopolitical thing that's on the horizon, people are kind of playing through that.

我們知道技術變革即將到來。我們必須為此做好準備。我們必須為此做好充分準備。我們知道，股票市場獎勵的是專注、執行、成長以及故事的簡潔性。我們知道這種情況正在發生。因此，讓我們進行一些公司交易，以幫助我們更好地為創造股權價值和應對即將到來的技術變革做好準備。或許，除非出現非常明顯的地緣政治事件，否則人們都在觀望。

Alex Bond, KBW.

Alex Bond，KBW。

Just a question on the revenue backdrop and how you expect the cadence of revenue recognition to play out over the course of the coming year. So it's only been a month to start the year here. But on the announcement side, at the industry level, it's been a little weaker than most had hoped. And from what we can see in the public completion and pipeline data for Moelis, specifically, the first quarter looks like it could be a little bit on the lighter side relative to the past couple of quarters. But with all that said, the overall backdrop obviously remains really constructive. So wondering how you're thinking about this and maybe if you're expecting revenues to potentially be more back half weighted this year as the environment continues to improve? Yes, any color here would be great.

我有個關於營收背景的問題，想請教您預計未來一年營收確認的節奏會如何改變。今年才過了一個月。但就發布方面而言，在產業層面，情況比大多數人預期的要弱一些。從 Moelis 的公開完工和管道數據來看，特別是第一季的數據，與過去幾季相比，似乎會略顯疲軟。但即便如此，整體背景顯然仍然非常具有建設性。所以我想知道您對此有何看法，以及您是否預計隨著環境持續改善，今年的收入可能會更集中在下半年？是的，這裡任何顏色都行。

Yeah. Look, I don't -- I appreciate the question, Alex. I don't -- we don't want to extrapolate too much based on a month or any particular snapshot. Here's what I can tell you. We -- as we've talked about, we see a really constructive and conducive environment for transactions. We see our clients having a lot of motivation to do transactions. We see our new business generation activity at all-time highs, and we see our pipeline at all-time highs.

是的。你看，我並不——我很感謝你的提問，亞歷克斯。我不這麼認為——我們不想根據一個月或任何特定情況進行過多推斷。我可以告訴你的是：正如我們之前討論過的，我們看到了一個非常有建設性且有利於交易的環境。我們發現客戶有很強的交易動機。我們看到新業務開發活動達到歷史最高水平，我們的專案儲備也達到歷史最高水準。

So how that plays out in terms of specific months and specific quarters is always a little tough to predict. But -- and I think you're right, in an improving environment, you tend to see the first quarter be the weakest quarter seasonally and you build through the year. We certainly saw that last year for us. So I don't want to make any predictions about the first quarter versus the second quarter, et cetera. I just think when you look out into the outlook for 2026 and beyond 2026, we're really optimistic.

因此，具體到具體月份和季度，情況如何總是很難預測。但是——而且我認為你是對的，在環境好轉的情況下，你往往會發現第一季是季節性最弱的季度，然後全年都會逐漸好轉。去年我們確實看到了這一點。所以我不想對第一季與第二季等情況做出任何預測。我認為，展望 2026 年及以後的前景，我們真的非常樂觀。

Got it. No, fair enough. That makes sense. And then maybe for a follow-up, just on comp. So really strong leverage there in the quarter and the full year. But thinking about, again, 2026, if the year plays out as expected from a revenue setup and volumes improve at a solid rate, can you just give us your updated view on the cadence of maybe getting to that low 60s kind of normalized range that you've highlighted previously?

知道了。沒錯，說得有道理。這很有道理。然後或許可以做個後續，就當是補償吧。因此，本季和全年都蘊含著非常強勁的槓桿效應。但是，再展望 2026 年，如果這一年的收入安排和銷量都如預期般穩步增長，您能否給我們更新一下您對達到您之前強調的 60 左右的正常化範圍的節奏的看法？

Yeah, sure. Thanks for the question. Look, we're really pleased with our ability to bring that comp ratio down. Just by way of reminder, we did have an elevated comp ratio as market revenues were weaker and we were making substantial investments in the business and saw the opportunity to really catapult our business forward, went from 83% in 2023 to 69% last year and now 65.8%. So we're really pleased with that progress.

當然可以。謝謝你的提問。你看，我們對降低同工同酬率的能力非常滿意。提醒一下，由於市場收入疲軟，我們的同業拆借比率較高，而我們對業務進行了大量投資，看到了真正推動業務向前發展的機會，該比率從 2023 年的 83% 降至去年的 69%，現在是 65.8%。所以我們對這項進展非常滿意。

I think we can continue to do even better than 65.8% to the point of your question. How much better we can do in 2026, I think, will really be dependent on three factors. One is what revenues we produce in 2026. That's always a really important determinant in terms of the leverage we can create in the model. Second, what's the environment for banker pay and competition for bankers.

我認為，就你提出的問題而言，我們可以做得更好，甚至超過 65.8%。我認為，到 2026 年我們能取得多大的進步，將真正取決於三個因素。一是我們預計在 2026 年產生的收入。這始終是我們能夠在模型中創造槓桿作用的一個非常重要的決定因素。其次，銀行家的薪資環境和競爭狀況如何？

It is a competitive market out there. We've pointed that out in previous calls, and we need to obviously protect our base of great bankers we have, and we want to keep growing. And our ability to find great bankers who fit the culture, who are industry leaders in big TAMs, it's not easy to find those people. And when we do find those people and they want to come, if we can make a sensible deal with them, we want to bring them on board. And so how many of those people we can bring on board in 2026 will also impact the specific comp ratio in that given year.

這是一個競爭非常激烈的市場。我們在先前的電話會議中已經指出過這一點，我們顯然需要保護我們現有的優秀銀行家基礎，並且我們希望繼續發展壯大。而且，要找到既符合企業文化又在大型TAM領域處於行業領先地位的優秀銀行家並不容易。當我們找到這些人，而他們也願意加入時，如果我們能與他們達成合理的協議，我們就希望他們加入我們。因此，我們在 2026 年能招募到多少這樣的人才，也會影響到當年的具體薪酬比例。

So we try to balance all that. We want to bring the ratio down. I think we're committed to doing that. But we want to do that in the context of still taking advantage of all the opportunity we see in front of us, all the great dialogues we're having with bankers who want to join the firm and trying to get more and more of those people to join so we can attack this great opportunity we see in front of us.

所以我們努力在所有這些方面之間取得平衡。我們希望降低這個比例。我認為我們致力於做到這一點。但我們希望在充分利用眼前所有機會的前提下做到這一點，與那些想要加入公司的銀行家們進行良好的對話，並努力吸引越來越多的人加入，以便我們能夠抓住眼前這個巨大的機遇。

Brendan O'Brien, Wolfe Research.

Brendan O'Brien，Wolfe Research。

To start, Navid, you alluded to this a bit in your prepared remarks, but just one of the big topics of discussion at the moment is AI disruption and the potential implications for the outlook for M&A activity. On the one side, I understand that this can be a catalyst for more strategic activity. But just given software companies represent a significant portion of PE inventory, there's a risk that they could struggle to exit a significant portion of their portfolios. So I just wanted to get a sense as to how you view these puts and takes and whether you've seen any impact on your discussions around some of these software companies.

首先，Navid，你在事先準備好的發言稿中稍微提到了這一點，但目前討論的一個重要話題是人工智慧帶來的顛覆性影響以及對併購活動前景的潛在影響。一方面，我理解這可以成為更具戰略意義的行動的催化劑。但鑑於軟體公司在私募股權投資中佔很大比例，它們可能難以退出其投資組合中的很大一部分。所以我想了解一下您是如何看待這些買賣交易的，以及您是否看到這些交易對您圍繞某些軟體公司的討論產生了任何影響。

Thanks, Brendan. Look, I think it's an excellent question, and I think your framing of it is spot on. As we talked about earlier, I think in a lot of different parts of the economy and different industries, AI disruption, technology shifts, are an accelerant of M&A activity. And in other parts of the ecosystem, although we haven't seen yet -- there's not one example I can point to where AI has created a restructuring opportunity in the near term. That's probably coming at some point.

謝謝你，布倫丹。我認為這是一個非常好的問題，而且你提出的問題也恰到好處。正如我們之前討論的那樣，我認為在經濟的許多不同領域和不同行業中，人工智慧的顛覆性變革和技術的轉變正在加速併購活動。而在生態系統的其他部分，雖然我們還沒有看到──但我可以指出，人工智慧在短期內創造重組機會的一個例子。那件事遲早會發生。

Software is getting a lot of attention these days. The public markets are clearly devaluing the multiples on software companies and SaaS companies are coming down because people are worried about the threat to the business model that AI brings. At some point, that could impact the ability of those companies to finance themselves, and that could lead to transactions that look more like liability management transactions than M&A transactions. And so we're watching all of that. We're obviously in active dialogue with all our clients about all of those trends.

如今軟體產業備受關注。公開市場顯然正在降低軟體公司的估值倍數，SaaS 公司的股價也在下跌，因為人們擔心人工智慧對商業模式的威脅。在某種程度上，這可能會影響這些公司本身的融資能力，並可能導致一些交易看起來更像是負債管理交易，而不是併購交易。所以我們正在關注這一切。我們顯然正與所有客戶就所有這些趨勢進行積極的對話。

I think you're right to point out that disruption could have a counter effect relative to M&A, but it also could create other opportunities for us to give advice to clients that have to deal with balance sheets in those spaces that are coming under stress. So early days, we're monitoring it really carefully. And more than anything, look, we're in the business of giving advice and disruption creates the opportunity for us to get closer to our clients and help them navigate through those periods.

我認為你指出的沒錯，經濟動盪可能會對併購產生反作用，但它也可能為我們創造其他機會，讓我們能夠為那些在面臨壓力的領域中不得不處理資產負債表的客戶提供建議。現在還處於早期階段，我們正在非常密切地關注它。更重要的是，我們從事的是提供諮詢服務的業務，而變革為我們創造了機會，讓我們更貼近客戶，幫助他們度過這些時期。

That's helpful color. And for my follow-up, I just wanted to get an update on the time line for the PCA build-out. I know you guys have previously indicated that you think this business could get to a couple of hundred million in revenues, but that's likely to be a relatively nonlinear growth curve. So I just wanted to get a sense as to how we should be thinking about the trajectory into next year, how far -- how much or how far along that growth path you could be by 2026?

這是個很有幫助的顏色。另外，我想了解PCA建設的進度安排。我知道你們之前曾表示，你們認為這項業務的收入可能會達到幾億美元，但這很可能是相對非線性的成長曲線。所以我想了解我們該如何看待明年的發展軌跡，到 2026 年，你們在這條成長之路上能走多遠？

I don't want to make a specific prediction on 2026. Here's what I'll say. We love the team that we're putting together. We love the dialogues we're having with additional folks who may want to join the team. And the early reception from our PE clients has been phenomenal.

我不想對2026年做出具體預測。我會這麼說。我們很喜歡我們正在組建的這支團隊。我們很喜歡與那些可能想加入團隊的人進行的對話。我們私募股權客戶的早期反應非常熱烈。

Our thesis here is spot on. We have such great relationships in the sponsor community, and they're so long-standing and deep and our coverage teams do a great job there. We have incredible industry bankers, and we were missing this capability so that we can actually go and have conversations with sponsors about GP-led secondaries. And now we're able to have those and we're winning mandates and we're executing mandates, and it's ramping pretty much exactly the way I thought it would ramp. And I think the opportunity for this to be a very meaningful business for us like our CSA businesses like our capital markets has ramped.

我們的論點完全正確。我們在贊助商群體中建立了非常好的關係，這些關係歷史悠久、根深蒂固，我們的報道團隊也做得非常出色。我們擁有非常優秀的行業銀行家，但我們缺乏這種能力，因此我們無法真正與發起人就 GP 主導的二級市場進行對話。現在我們能夠做到這一點，我們正在贏得授權，我們正在執行授權，而且進展幾乎完全符合我的預期。我認為，這對我們來說是一個非常重要的業務，就像我們的 CSA 業務和資本市場一樣，發展勢頭強勁。

I think it's going to be a business that's just like that in terms of the size and scale and the quality. It's just the question is under what time period that happens. And I'm optimistic we'll be able to achieve that over the next few years.

我認為無論從規模、體量或品質來看，它都會是類似的企業。問題在於，這種情況會在哪個時間段發生。我樂觀地認為，在未來幾年內我們能夠實現這一目標。

Brennan Hawken, BMO Capital Markets.

Brennan Hawken，BMO資本市場。

I think that's the first time we went Brendan to Brennan. So there we go. So I appreciate the comments, Navid, on the comp leverage uncertainty. But given we've got a marketplace that's really active and therefore, it's probably good bankers might be a bit loath to move because they want to be there for their clients, given competition for talent is elevated, so costs are there. Why not maybe ease up on the throttle a little with the recruiting at this just current moment, not necessarily changing the opportunity set, but just saying maybe it's not the best time. How do you balance that?

我想那是我們第一次把 Brendan 叫到 Brennan。好了，就是這樣。納維德，我很感謝你對薪資槓桿不確定性的評論。但鑑於我們擁有一個非常活躍的市場，因此，優秀的銀行家可能不太願意搬遷，因為他們想為客戶提供服務，而且人才競爭也很激烈，所以成本也很高。為什麼不暫時放慢招聘的步伐呢？不一定要改變招募機會，只說現在可能不是最佳時機。你如何平衡這兩方面？

So Brennan, it's a good question. And look, we're only going to do deals that make sense for the firm in the long run and make sense for the culture of the firm. But these individuals, a uniquely talented individual in an area that we want to be in or in a sector that we want to be in that fits our culture, that's a high bar. It's a very, very high bar to cross. And when that person shows up and you start a dialogue with them and you know they're going to trade.

布倫南，問得好。而且，我們只會做那些長遠來看對公司有利、對公司文化有利的交易。但是，對於我們想要進入的領域或行業中具有獨特才能，並且符合我們企業文化的人才來說，這是一個很高的標準。這是一個非常非常高的門檻。當那個人出現，你開始和他/她對話，你知道他/她會和你進行交易。

And by the way, when they trade, they're probably off the market for a number of years. Bankers don't -- they're not like college football players these days where they're trading themselves -- marking themselves to market every year. They're going to be at a firm for a period of time. And so when you find that person who's perfect for your platform, and again, culture is critical. We're just not hiring great bankers.

順便說一句，一旦他們完成交易，他們很可能會好幾年都不會再出現在市場上。銀行家不會——他們不像現在的大學橄欖球運動員那樣進行自我交易——每年都按市值計價。他們將在該公司工作一段時間。所以，當你找到那個非常適合你的平台的人時，再次強調，文化至關重要。我們就是招不到優秀的銀行家。

We're hiring great bankers that want to be part of a team, a collaborative team. And when that person shows up, and you have a good dialogue and they're ready to move for whatever reason. They don't love their firm. They don't feel like they got paid the right way, something happens inside their firms, they don't like it anymore or their firm lets them down on some assignment. When that person shows up, you may lose them for a number of years if you don't move.

我們正在招募優秀的銀行家，他們渴望成為團隊的一份子，一個協作型的團隊。當那個人出現，你們進行了良好的對話，並且他們出於某種原因準備搬家時。他們並不熱愛自己的公司。他們覺得沒有得到應有的報酬，公司內部發生了一些事情，他們不再喜歡這份工作了，或者公司在某些任務上讓他們失望了。如果那個人出現，而你又不搬家，你可能會失去他/她好幾年。

And so we don't always -- can't always dictate the timing and these people are unique. They don't grow on trees. So look, we're very cognizant of the pace of what we do. We're very cognizant of our ability to onboard people the right way and make sure we can get them going the right way with the right support. And we're very cognizant about deal structure.

因此，我們並不總是——也不能總是決定時機，而這些人都是獨一無二的。它們不是長在樹上的。所以你看，我們非常清楚自己工作的節奏。我們非常清楚自己有能力以正確的方式引導新員工，並確保我們能夠為他們提供正確的支持，讓他們走上正確的道路。我們非常重視交易結構。

And beyond that, some of the timing is a little out of our control. Having said that, as we said before, the comp ratio and our ability to get leverage and our ability to make sure we're being prudent there is at the very top of our concerns as we think about growth of the company.

除此之外，有些時間安排是我們無法控制的。話雖如此，正如我們之前所說，薪酬比率、我們獲得槓桿的能力以及確保我們在這方面謹慎行事的能力，是我們考慮公司發展時最關心的問題。

That actually is really helpful in framing it. I appreciate that answer, Navid. And obviously, you guys did a good job on the comp leverage here recently. So we can certainly point to that. Following up on one of Brendan's questions. And if you think about software and IT services within your sponsor franchise, it's kind of tricky because the public data doesn't do a great job of capturing all your activity. How big are those sectors for your banking and activity-driven business?

這確實對建立框架很有幫助。感謝你的解答，納維德。顯然，你們最近在薪資槓桿方面做得很好。所以，我們當然可以指出這一點。這是對 Brendan 提出的一個問題的後續答案。如果你考慮贊助商特許經營範圍內的軟體和 IT 服務，那就有點棘手了，因為公共數據並不能很好地捕捉到你所有的活動。這些行業在您的銀行和以業務活動為導向的企業中規模有多大？

And I know you spoke to the fact that it might be somewhat fluid, it might shift from an M&A discussion to a liability management discussion. So thinking about it broadly just across Moelis, are those a big sector for you? It was always my sense that they were, but curious about sizing.

我知道您也提到過，這種情況可能會有些變化，討論內容可能會從併購轉向負債管理。那麼，從整個 Moelis 的角度來看，這些領域對你們來說是一個很大的板塊嗎？我一直覺得它們是，但對尺寸感到好奇。

Sure, Brennan. Look, as I think you know, we made a major investment, a really great investment in an excellent technology franchise and technology team a few years ago. That build has been really successful. And technology, broadly speaking, is pretty much at the top of the list now of our most productive sectors of the firm. And then within technology, software is a really big piece of that.

當然可以，布倫南。如你所知，幾年前我們對一家優秀的科技公司及其技術團隊進行了一筆重大投資，一筆非常棒的投資。那個專案非常成功。總的來說，科技現在幾乎是我們公司生產力最高的部門之一。而在科技領域，軟體又是非常重要的一環。

So you're right to say that we have a lot of dialogue and a lot of client connectivity to both the sponsors and the companies that fit broadly within the software sector. And then again, I think as you think about products, it's not just liability management. So if you have a sponsor that owns a technology company or a software company, that dialogue can be M&A. It could be raising bespoke capital, more of a capital markets type transaction to either get a sponsor some liquidity or deal with a balance sheet challenge. It could be a CV or it could be liability management, right?

所以你說得對，我們與贊助商以及大致屬於軟體產業的公司都有很多對話和客戶聯繫。而且，我認為在考慮產品時，這不僅僅是責任管理的問題。因此，如果你的贊助商擁有一家科技公司或軟體公司，那麼對話內容可能就是併購。這可能是籌集客製化資金，更像是資本市場類型的交易，目的是為發起人提供一些流動性或應對資產負債表挑戰。可能是履歷，也可能是負債管理，對吧？

And so having the ability now for the first time in our history to be able to be super versatile, super fluid across 4 products that could be applicable to that software company or that technology company. It's the first time in our history, we've been able to really do that in a meaningful way with a top technology franchise with a great sponsor coverage team. So we're going to be there to help our clients find solutions as the market evolves and as they're dealing with the disruption that's coming in that space, for instance.

因此，我們現在歷史上第一次擁有了在 4 款產品上實現超級靈活、超級流暢的能力，這些產品可以適用於任何軟體公司或科技公司。這是我們歷史上第一次能夠以有意義的方式，與一家頂級科技公司和一支優秀的贊助商報道團隊合作。因此，我們將始終陪伴在客戶身邊，幫助他們在市場發展過程中找到解決方案，並應對該領域即將出現的顛覆性變革。

Ryan Kenny, Morgan Stanley.

瑞安‧肯尼，摩根士丹利。

So you've done a lot of hiring over the last few years, and it sounds like you'll be opportunistic going forward. Is there any way that we can think about what percent of MDs currently are ramped and maybe what percent since 2021 are ramped?

所以，過去幾年你們做了很多招募工作，聽起來你們未來也會把握機會。我們能否計算一下目前有多少百分比的醫生正在接受培訓，以及自 2021 年以來有多少百分比的醫生正在接受培訓？

Yeah. Let me give you some stats. Great question, Ryan. So about one-third of our MDs have been MDs on the platform for less than three years and about quarter of our MDs have been MDs on the platform for less than two years. And when I say -- just to clarify, when I say MDs on the platform, that's either lateral hires or internal promotes.

是的。我提供你一些統計數據。瑞恩，問得好。因此，我們平台上約有三分之一的醫學博士加入平台的時間不到三年，約有四分之一的醫學博士加入平台的時間不到兩年。我剛才說的——為了澄清一下——當我說平台上的醫學博士時，指的是從外部招聘的醫學博士或從內部晉升的醫學博士。

So that captures both of those cohorts. And so to this point, we're still a firm that's maturing into its talent base. A very, very meaningful percentage of our MDs are younger MDs or MDs that haven't been on the platform for a long period of time. And so the best years of those MDs, the most productive years of those MDs are really in front of them as they sink into the platform, as they introduce their clients to the platform, as they mature as bankers. And that's one of the things I'm so excited about is just such a high-quality talent level of people whose really brightest days are ahead of them as they partner with their other parts of the firm and as they introduce the firm to their clients.

這樣就涵蓋了這兩個群體。所以到目前為止，我們仍然是一家正在發展壯大自身人才隊伍的公司。我們的醫生中有相當大比例是年輕的醫生，或是在該平台上註冊時間不長的醫生。因此，這些董事總經理最好的時光，他們最有生產力的時光，實際上還在未來，當他們深入了解平台，向客戶介紹平台，當他們成長為成熟的銀行家時。讓我感到興奮的事情之一就是，我們擁有如此高素質的人才，他們未來可期，因為他們將與公司的其他部門合作，並將公司介紹給他們的客戶。

And as you build out PCA, is the time to ramp for MDs and private capital advisory a lot faster than traditional M&A? Just trying to understand as you lean into PCA, is that less of a drag on the comp ratio because the MDs can ramp faster?

隨著 PCA 的發展，MD 和私募資本諮詢業務的拓展速度是否比傳統併購業務快得多？我只是想了解一下，隨著你逐漸轉向PCA，由於MD可以更快地提升性能，這對壓縮比的阻力是否會更小？

Yeah, I think it's a great question because remember, we already have the sponsor relationships, and those are long-standing. You already have the industry relationships. Those are long-standing and a growing platform of industry relationships as we hire great sector bankers. So in fact, it's funny. I brought Matt Wesley, who runs our group and see a client last week.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的問題，因為別忘了，我們已經建立了贊助商關係，而這些關係是長期的。你已經擁有業內人脈關係。這些都是我們長期以來建立的、並且隨著我們聘請優秀的行業銀行家而不斷發展的行業關係平台。所以，這其實還挺搞笑的。上週我帶了我們團隊的負責人馬特‧韋斯利去見了一位客戶。

This is a client we had done capital raising for already, and we were looking at doing M&A for. And the client said, I may want to do a CV and I have Matt there the next day. And so if we -- there's no ramp-up there because that's already a client of the firm. We just were missing that product capability. We would have missed that opportunity if it wasn't there.

這是我們之前已經為其進行過融資的客戶，我們正在考慮為其進行併購。客戶說，我可能需要做一份履歷，隔天馬特就會到我那裡。因此，如果我們——那裡不需要任何啟動資金，因為那已經是公司的客戶了。我們只是缺乏這方面的產品能力。如果沒有那個機會，我們就會錯失良機。

And so I think approp to your question, a lot of the ramp-up there is happening quickly because we're just plugging a product set into an existing set of relationships, and it's working really beautifully.

所以我覺得，就你的問題而言，很多方面的提升都進展得很快，因為我​​們只是將一套產品插入到一套現有的關係中，而且效果非常好。

Nathan Stein, Deutsche Bank.

內森‧斯坦，德意志銀行。

In the release, you specifically called out the M&A and capital markets revenues increasing in 4Q, while capital structure advisory decreasing. Could you just really quick highlight trends in the PCA business relative to the fourth quarter of last year?

在新聞稿中，您特別指出第四季併購和資本市場收入有所成長，而資本結構諮詢收入則有所下降。能否簡要介紹PCA業務相對於去年第四季的發展趨勢？

Yeah. PCA, remember, is still ramping. So that team has really come together towards the back half of this year. And so most of their activity is still winning new mandates, originating new business. You're not going to see a lot of actual revenues in the fourth quarter or in 2025 from that business. I think there'll be much more meaningful revenue growth as we move into 2026 on PCA.

是的。請記住，PCA 仍在逐步普及。所以這支隊伍在今年下半年真正凝聚成了一個整體。因此，他們的大部分活動仍然是贏得新的委託，創造新的業務。你不會在第四季或 2025 年看到該業務帶來很多實際收入。我認為，隨著我們進入 2026 年，PCA 的收入成長將會更加顯著。

Okay. That's fair. And I appreciate the transparency. And for my follow-up, I actually wanted to ask about capital allocation. For the $300 million announced buyback authorization, do you have any thoughts on timing that we can think about?

好的。這很合理。我很欣賞這種透明度。我的後續問題是，我想詢問一下資本配置方面的問題。對於已宣布的 3 億美元回購授權，您在時間表上有什麼想法可以讓我們考慮嗎？

Sure. It might be helpful just again to talk through just how we think about excess capital. So look, we had a good year this year. We're really pleased with our revenue growth. We were able to do all the things we needed to do strategically in terms of hiring, in terms of making technology investments like Chris talked about.

當然。或許再討論一下我們如何看待過剩資本會很有幫助。所以你看，我們今年過得很好。我們對營收成長非常滿意。我們能夠在招募、技術投資等方面，像克里斯所說的那樣，在策略上完成所有需要做的事情。

And so we still have created a lot of excess cash. We have a dividend. So the dividend is the first priority to make sure we maintain and protect that dividend. And then even beyond the dividend, this year, we had a fair amount of excess cash, and we deployed a lot of that excess cash towards share repurchase, especially in the fourth quarter. So I think that's how we're going to think about prioritization going forward is let's grow the business within prudent constructs as we've talked about relative to the previous questions.

因此，我們仍然創造了大量剩餘現金。我們有股息。因此，股利是我們的首要任務，我們要確保維持和保障股利。除了分紅之外，今年我們還有相當多的剩餘現金，我們將其中許多剩餘現金用於股票回購，尤其是在第四季。所以我認為，接下來我們應該這樣考慮優先事項：在審慎的框架內發展業務，就像我們之前討論過的問題一樣。

Let's make those investments that we need to make in our people and our technology, client conferences, those kinds of things, all the things that we need to grow the business long term. The dividend, we're committed to maintaining and then beyond that, we do want to mitigate some of the share dilution from our equity issuances for compensation.

讓我們對員工、技術、客戶會議等等進行必要的投資，這些都是我們實現業務長期成長所必需的。我們承諾維持股息，除此之外，我們還希望減輕因股權發行補償而導致的股份稀釋。

And so we're committed to trying to do that as much as it makes sense to do, all within the context of keeping a really, really, really strong balance sheet. We think that's a real strategic advantage for us. And in a business where there is some cyclicality, we just think it makes all the sense in the world to continue to keep dry powder and keep optionality on the balance sheet and make sure we can withstand any market environment.

因此，我們致力於盡可能地做到這一點，同時保持非常、非常、非常強勁的資產負債表。我們認為這對我們來說是一個真正的戰略優勢。在這樣一個具有週期性的行業中，我們認為繼續保留資金儲備，在資產負債表上保持選擇權，以確保我們能夠抵禦任何市場環境，是完全合理的。

Daniel Kochiaro, Bank of America.

Daniel Kochiaro，美國銀行。

As regulatory scrutiny on the G-SIBs has diminished over the past year, has this coincided with the pickup in competition from the bulge brackets to win more deal mandates? And how would you describe Moelis' ability to gain market share in a deregulatory environment?

過去一年，隨著監管機構對全球系統重要性銀行 (G-SIB) 的審查力度減弱，這是否與大型投行為贏得更多交易委託而加劇競爭同時發生？那麼，您如何評估 Moelis 在放鬆管制的環境下獲得市場份額的能力？

Sure. I don't -- it will probably depend a little bit on which sectors you're talking about and maybe some sectors are different than others. I don't see meaningfully stronger competition than we've seen in recent years from the bulge brackets who already weren't strong. Look, we have strong bulge bracket competition, clearly from a handful of firms. They've always been strong.

當然。我不知道——這可能在一定程度上取決於你指的是哪些行業，有些行業可能與其他行業有所不同。我不認為今年會出現比近年來那些原本就實力不強的大型博彩公司更強勁的競爭。你看，我們面臨著來自少數幾家公司的激烈的投資競爭。他們一直都很強大。

They'll continue to be strong. And so I don't -- I think that's there, and it's the way it has been. With respect to that next set of bulge bracket firms, I don't see that meaningfully being different than it's been in the past. And clearly, the momentum that I see on the client side is really us competing against other independent firms who have really good people and who are entrepreneurial and nimble and have a lot of good intellectual capital and ideas.

他們將繼續保持強勢。所以我不認為——我認為情況就是這樣，一直以來都是如此。至於下一批大型投資公司，我認為它們與過去不會有實質的不同。很明顯，我在客戶方面看到的勢頭，實際上是我們與其他擁有優秀人才、具有創業精神、靈活敏捷、擁有大量優秀知識資本和想法的獨立公司競爭。

And that, to me, feels like where we sit in our part of the market is where a lot of the action is taking place and the incremental market share is being gained. And that -- of course, we compete against the bulge bracket, but a lot of the times, we're competing against independent firms like us.

在我看來，我們所處的市場領域正是許多競爭活動發生的地方，也是我們不斷擴大市場佔有率的地方。當然，我們與大型投行競爭，但很多時候，我們是在與像我們這樣的獨立公司競爭。

Ken Worthington, JPMorgan.

Ken Worthington，摩根大通。

Circling back to comp in the past couple of years, you've determined the comp ratio. You've started the year at that comp ratio. And then as you've moved to either the second half of the year or even the fourth quarter, you've adjusted compensation and the compensation ratio based on the activity levels that you've seen. So as we think about 2026 and where we start the year, where do you anticipate kind of starting that comp ratio just to give us a little help in modeling out the first part of the year.

回顧過去幾年的薪酬情況，您已經確定了薪酬比率。你年初的薪資比率就是這個水準。然後，隨著時間推移，進入下半年甚至第四季度，你根據所看到的業務量調整了薪酬和薪酬比率。所以，當我們展望 2026 年以及新年伊始時，您預期該比率的起始點在哪裡？這可以幫助我們更好地預測今年上半年的情況。

Yeah. I would imagine we would maintain a similar comp ratio to where we ended the year at to that 65.8%. I think Q1, as you mentioned, it's usually too early to predict the remainder of the year. And I'd expect changes to come in later quarters, assuming nothing out of the ordinary takes place. And just an additional reminder, we fully expense our retirement eligible equity that's granted in Q1. So depending on revenues, the Q1 ratio may not be indicative of the full year.

是的。我估計我們會維持與年底類似的薪酬比率，即 65.8%。我認為正如你所說，第一季通常還太早，無法預測今年剩餘時間的情況。如果一切順利，我預計在接下來的幾個季度裡會有一些變化。另外提醒一下，我們在第一季授予的符合退休條件的股權，會全部計入費用。因此，根據營收情況，第一季的比率可能無法代表全年的情況。

And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to Navid for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議交還給納維德，請他作閉幕致詞。

Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. Really appreciate you being on the call and look forward to speaking to you all very soon again. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝大家的參與。非常感謝各位參加電話會議，期待很快能再次與大家交流。謝謝。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。