StepStone Group Inc (STEP) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first fiscal quarter 2025 StepStone Group, Inc earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised, today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加行健資本 (StepStone Group, Inc) 2025 年第一財季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Seth Weiss, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，投資者關係副總裁 Seth Weiss。請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. Joining me on today's call are Scott Hart, Chief Executive Officer; Jason Ment, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer; Mike McCabe, Head of Strategy; and David Park, Chief Financial Officer. During our prepared remarks, we will be referring to a presentation, which is available on our Investor Relations website at shareholders.stepstonegroup.com.

謝謝你，下午好。與我一起參加今天電話會議的是執行長 Scott Hart； Jason Ment，總裁兼聯合營運長；麥克‧麥凱布，策略主管；和財務長大衛·帕克。在我們準備好的發言中，我們將參考一份演示文稿，該演示文稿可在我們的投資者關係網站股東.stepstonegroup.com 上找到。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call as well as the presentation contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current plans, estimates and expectations and are inherently uncertain and are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and assumptions.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議以及簡報包含有關公司未來時期的預期營運和財務表現的某些前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述反映了管理層目前的計劃、估計和預期，本質上具有不確定性，並受到各種風險、不確定性和假設的影響。

Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to changes in circumstances or a number of risks or other factors that are described in the Risk Factors section of StepStone's periodic filings. These forward-looking statements are made only as of today. And except as required, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of them.

由於情況變化或行健資本定期文件的風險因素部分中描述的一些風險或其他因素，未來時期的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。這些前瞻性陳述僅在今天作出。除非有要求，我們不承擔更新或修改其中任何內容的義務。

Today's presentation contains references to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, our presentation, and our filings with the SEC.

今天的演示包含對非公認會計準則財務指標的引用。我們的收益報告、簡報以及向 SEC 提交的文件中均包含與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調整。

Turning to our financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Beginning with slide 3, we reported GAAP net income of $48.0 million. GAAP net income attributable to StepStone Group Inc. was $13.3 million or $0.20 per share.

轉向 2025 財年第一季的財務表現。從幻燈片 3 開始，我們報告的 GAAP 淨利潤為 4800 萬美元。公認會計原則行健資本集團淨利為 1,330 萬美元，即每股 0.20 美元。

Moving to slide 5. We generated fee-related earnings of $71.7 million, up 61% from the prior year quarter, and we generated an FRE margin of 40%. The quarter reflected retroactive fees primarily from our private equity secondaries fund, special situation real estate secondaries fund and infrastructure co-investment fund. Retroactive fees contributed $19.1 million to revenue, which compares to retroactive fees of $2.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

轉到投影片 5。我們產生了 7,170 萬美元的費用相關收入，比去年同期成長 61%，FRE 利潤率為 40%。本季反映的追溯費用主要來自我們的私募股權二級基金、特殊情況房地產二級基金和基礎設施聯合投資基金。追溯費用為收入貢獻了 1,910 萬美元，而 2024 財年第一季的追溯費用為 280 萬美元。

Finally, we earned $57.2 million in adjusted net income for the quarter or $0.48 per share. This is up from $29.4 million or $0.26 per share in the first fiscal quarter of last year, driven by both higher fee-related earnings and higher realized performance fees.

最後，我們本季調整後淨利為 5,720 萬美元，即每股 0.48 美元。這比去年第一財季的 2,940 萬美元或每股 0.26 美元有所增加，這是由於費用相關收益和已實現的績效費用增加所致。

I'll now hand the call over to Scott.

我現在將把電話轉給斯科特。

Thanks, Seth. We carried over the momentum from last year as we enter our new fiscal period with very strong operating and financial performance. Our first quarter was a record period on several key fronts: with our strongest period ever for fundraising, our strongest period ever for net contribution to fee earning assets, which surpassed $100 billion, and our strongest period ever for net additions to undeployed fee earning capital, which reached our highest level ever of $27.6 billion. This sets StepStone up for a strong fiscal 2025 and for sustained growth beyond this year.

謝謝，塞思。當我們進入新的財務時期時，我們延續了去年的勢頭，擁有非常強勁的營運和財務表現。我們的第一季在幾個關鍵方面都創下了歷史記錄：籌款規模達到歷史最高水平，收費資產淨貢獻達到歷史最高水平（超過 1000 億美元），未部署收費資本淨增加達到歷史最高水平。 ，達到了276 億美元的歷史最高水準。這使得行健資本能夠在 2025 財年實現強勁成長，並在今年後實現持續成長。

Our diverse array of offerings, supportive client base and in-demand strategies and asset classes all contributed to our results. In the quarter, we generated a record $12.6 billion of gross AUM additions. Fundraising was strong across commercial structures with commingled funds raising over $3 billion and separately managed accounts raising over $9 billion.

我們多樣化的產品、支援性的客戶群以及受歡迎的策略和資產類別都為我們的業績做出了貢獻。本季度，我們的管理資產總額增加了創紀錄的 126 億美元。各種商業結構的籌款活動都很強勁，混合基金籌集了超過 30 億美元，單獨管理帳戶籌集了超過 90 億美元。

Over the last 12 months, we have raised nearly $28 billion, our strongest 12-month period ever as we have successfully closed on several managed account re-ups and new mandates executed on several successful commingled fund raises, particularly in venture capital secondaries and private equity secondaries, and continue to ramp our private wealth offerings. Our success in raising capital is a result of years of building relationships, capabilities and track records.

在過去12 個月中，我們籌集了近280 億美元，這是有史以​​來最強勁的12 個月期間，因為我們成功完成了幾項管理帳戶重組，並在幾項成功的混合基金籌集中執行了新的授權，特別是在創投二級市場和私人資本市場股票二級市場，並繼續增加我們的私人財富產品。我們在籌集資金方面的成功是多年建立關係、能力和業績記錄的結果。

The last 12 months, in particular, are emblematic of the fruits of those efforts. While the pacing of fundraising can be episodic at times, the corresponding growth in fee-earning AUM and the build in undeployed fee-earning capital provides a runway for consistent top-line growth. Included in this quarter's fundraising is over $800 million of private wealth subscriptions, which is our strongest private wealth quarter ever.

尤其是過去 12 個月，體現了這些努力的成果。雖然籌款的節奏有時可能是間歇性的，但收費資產管理規模的相應增長和未部署的收費資本的增加為持續的營收成長提供了一條跑道。本季的籌款包括超過 8 億美元的私人財富認購，這是我們有史以來最強勁的私人財富季度。

We have four evergreen private wealth funds in market; SPRIM, our all private markets fund; SPRING, our venture and growth equity fund; STRUX, our infrastructure fund; and CRDEX, our private credit fund, for which we accepted our first subscriptions in June. I'm also pleased to announce that SPRING was recently added to a second wirehouse.

市面上擁有四隻長青私募財富基金； SPRIM，我們所有的私募市場基金； SPRING，我們的創投及成長型股權基金； STRUX，我們的基礎設施基金；我們的私人信貸基金 CRDEX，我們在 6 月接受了第一批認購。我還很高興地宣布，SPRING 最近已添加到第二個接線室。

We are now distributing StepStone evergreen funds with nearly 400 partners with SPRIM and SPRING each on two wirehouses. We're thrilled with the development and uptake of our private wealth suite of offerings and continue to see a strong runway for growth.

我們現在正在與 SPRIM 和 SPRING 的近 400 個合作夥伴一起在兩個電線室分配 StepStone 常青基金。我們對私人財富產品套件的開發和採用感到興奮，並繼續看到強勁的成長勢頭。

Pivoting to our financial results, we generated $179 million in management and advisory fees and $72 million in fee-related earnings, which were up 29% and 61% year over year, respectively. We generated an FRE margin of 40%, which benefited from strong retroactive fees. Excluding the impact from retro fees, our fee-related revenue and fee-related earnings would have increased 18% and 35% year on year, respectively, driven by strong growth in our fee-earning AUM.

從財務表現來看，我們產生了 1.79 億美元的管理和諮詢費以及 7,200 萬美元的費用相關收入，年比分別成長 29% 和 61%。我們的 FRE 利潤率為 40%，這得益於高額追溯費用。剔除追溯費用的影響，在我們的收費資產管理規模強勁成長的推動下，我們的收費相關收入和收費相關利潤將分別年增 18% 和 35%。

The combination of robust fundraising over the past 12 months, along with recent commingled fund activations has set StepStone up to deliver strong financial performance in fiscal 2025 and positions us well to achieve the five-year growth target of doubling fee-related earnings, which we established last year at our Investor Day.

過去12 個月強勁的籌款活動，加上最近的混合基金啟動，使行健資本在2025 財年實現強勁的財務業績，並使我們能夠很好地實現費用相關收益翻倍的五年增長目標，這是我們的目標。

Lastly, realized performance fees of $43 million were the highest level in the last two years. As you are aware, performance fees are largely dependent on a healthy realization environment. So we anticipate some volatility quarter to quarter. While capital market activity is still relatively muted and the last week has clearly been an eventful one for the public markets, with major stock indices entering correction territory and volatility measures more than doubling, we expect realizations and performance fees to continue to trend up off the low levels of last year.

最後，已實現的績效費用為4300萬美元，是過去兩年的最高水準。如您所知，績效費很大程度取決於健康的變現環境。因此，我們預計每個季度都會出現一些波動。儘管資本市場活動仍然相對平靜，而且上週對於公開市場來說顯然是多事的一周，主要股指進入調整區域且波動性指標增加了一倍多，但我們預計變現費和績效費將繼續呈上升趨勢。

To sum up, this was a very strong quarter with all key operating and financial metrics clicking. We do not expect this pace of retroactive fees to persist. The growth of fee-earning assets and undeployed fee-earning capital creates a higher base for sustainable sources of earnings. We feel excellent about the accomplishments of recent periods and even more excited about the progress we are making towards our longer-term goals.

總而言之，這是一個非常強勁的季度，所有關鍵營運和財務指標都表現出色。我們預計這種追溯收費的步伐不會持續下去。收費資產和未部署的收費資本的成長為永續收入來源創造了更高的基礎。我們對近期所取得的成就感到非常滿意，並對我們在實現長期目標方面取得的進展更加興奮。

With that, I'll pass the call to Mike.

這樣，我會將電話轉給麥克。

Thanks, Scott. Turning to slide 8. As Scott highlighted, we generated nearly $28 billion of gross AUM inflows during the last 12 months with over $18 billion coming from our separately managed accounts and over $9 billion coming from our commingled funds. In the quarter, our commingled fund additions included $800 million in our private equity secondaries fund. Our PE secondaries fund has now raised over $4 billion, which is the first StepStone fund to reach the $4 billion mark and is well above the prior PE secondaries fund size of $2.1 billion. We expect the final close of a few hundred million dollars in this fiscal second quarter.

謝謝，斯科特。轉到投影片 8。正如 Scott 所強調的，在過去 12 個月裡，我們的資產管理規模總流入額接近 280 億美元，其中超過 180 億美元來自我們單獨管理的帳戶，超過 90 億美元來自我們的混合基金。本季度，我們的混合基金新增資金包括 8 億美元的私募股權二級基金。我們的私募股權二級基金現已籌集超過 40 億美元，這是行健資本第一支達到 40 億美元大關的基金，遠高於先前 21 億美元的私募股權二級基金規模。我們預計本財年第二季的最終成交額將達到數億美元。

In real estate, we raised over $400 million in our special situation secondaries fund. This fund has now surpassed the prior vintage size of $1.4 billion. And we anticipate it will remain in market through at least the end of this calendar year. While limited partners remain relatively cautious on real estate, our special situation secondaries strategy remains a bright spot in the market.

在房地產領域，我們在特殊情況二級基金中籌集了超過 4 億美元。該基金現已超過先前 14 億美元的規模。我們預計它將至少在今年年底之前留在市場上。儘管有限合夥人對房地產仍相對謹慎，但我們的特殊情況二級策略仍然是市場上的亮點。

Other notable commingled fund additions include approximately $800 million for the final close of our venture capital secondaries fund, which is consistent with the amount we discussed on our May earnings call. This brings the total fund size to $3.3 billion, the largest venture capital secondaries fund in the history of our industry.

其他值得注意的混合基金補充包括我們創投二級基金最終關閉時約 8 億美元的資金，這與我們在 5 月收益電話會議上討論的金額一致。這使得基金總規模達到 33 億美元，是我們產業史上最大的創投二級基金。

We also generated over $800 million in private wealth subscriptions and raised approximately $300 million across infrastructure, private debt, and other venture capital funds. As a reminder, we include a list of our major funds on page 29 of our earnings presentation.

我們還產生了超過 8 億美元的私人財富認購，並透過基礎設施、私人債務和其他創投基金籌集了約 3 億美元。提醒一下，我們在收益報告的第 29 頁上列出了我們的主要基金清單。

Turning to managed accounts. We generated $9 billion of SMA additions with strength in private equity and infrastructure. 60% of the gross additions came from re-ups and 40% came from a combination of new client relationships and expansion of existing client relationships. This is an exceptional result that illustrates our ability to win new accounts and grow with existing clients. Managed accounts are a core strength for StepStone and are essential to the value proposition we offer as a solutions provider.

轉向管理帳號。憑藉私募股權和基礎設施領域的實力，我們增加了 90 億美元的 SMA 資金。總成長的 60% 來自重組，40% 來自新客戶關係和現有客戶關係擴展的結合。這是一個非凡的結果，表明我們有能力贏得新客戶並與現有客戶一起成長。管理帳戶是行健資本的核心優勢，對於我們作為解決方案提供者提供的價值主張至關重要。

Slide 9 shows our fee-earning AUM by structure and asset class. For the quarter, we grew fee earning assets by $7 billion, our largest quarterly addition of fee-earning capital in our history. This quarter's fee-earning AUM growth benefited from an activation of our venture capital secondaries fund, contributing $3.3 billion to the fee earning balance.

投影片 9 按結構和資產類別顯示了我們的收費資產管理規模。本季度，我們的收費資產增加了 70 億美元，這是我們史上最大的季度新增收費資本。本季的收費資產管理規模成長得益於我們創投二級基金的激活，為收費收入餘額貢獻了 33 億美元。

Additionally, we continue to grow our undeployed fee-earning capital, or UFEC to $27.6 billion, up $5 billion quarter over quarter. As Scott mentioned, this is our highest UFEC balance on record and has our greatest quarterly net increase in UFEC, which is notable considering the $3.3 billion activated from our BC secondaries fund.

此外，我們繼續將未部署的收費資本（UFEC）增加至 276 億美元，比上一季增加 50 億美元。正如 Scott 所提到的，這是我們有史以來最高的 UFEC 餘額，也是我們 UFEC 最大的季度淨增長，考慮到我們 BC 二級基金激活的 33 億美元，這一點值得注意。

The combination of our fee-earning AUM and undeployed fee-earning capital stands at $128 billion, up 10% sequentially and up 23% year over year, providing us with a high degree of visibility for continued growth in management fees as capital is deployed or activated. We anticipate activating over $4 billion of capital from managed accounts by the end of this calendar year.

我們的收費資產管理規模和未部署的收費資本合計達 1,280 億美元，環比增長 10%，同比增長 23%，這為我們提供了隨著資本部署或部署而管理費用持續增長的高度可見性。 。我們預計到今年年底將從管理帳戶中啟動超過 40 億美元的資本。

Slide 10 shows the evolution of our management and advisory fees. We generated a blended management fee rate of 61 basis points for the last 12 months, higher than the 59 basis points from the prior year as we benefited from retroactive fees and a higher fee rate from our private wealth offerings.

投影片 10 顯示了我們的管理費和諮詢費的演變。過去 12 個月，我們的混合管理費率為 61 個基點，高於上一年的 59 個基點，因為我們受益於追溯費用和私人財富產品的更高費率。

Before concluding my remarks, I am pleased to announce that we are raising our quarterly dividend from $0.21 per share to $0.24 per share. This reflects our confidence in strong and sustainable growth in fee-related earnings.

在結束演講之前，我很高興地宣布，我們將季度股息從每股 0.21 美元提高到每股 0.24 美元。這反映了我們對費用相關收入強勁且可持續成長的信心。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給大衛。

Thanks, Mike. I'd like to turn your attention to slide 12 to speak to our financial highlights. For the quarter, we earned management and advisory fees of $179 million, up 29% from the prior year quarter. The increase was driven by strong growth in fee-earning AUM across commercial structures, a favorable impact from retroactive fees and a higher blended average fee rate. Fee-related earnings were $72 million for the quarter, up 61% from a year ago.

謝謝，麥克。我想讓大家注意投影片 12，了解我們的財務亮點。本季度，我們賺取了 1.79 億美元的管理和諮詢費，比去年同期成長 29%。這一成長的推動因素是各商業結構中收費資產管理規模的強勁成長、追溯費用的有利影響以及更高的綜合平均費率。該季度與費用相關的收入為 7,200 萬美元，比去年同期增長 61%。

We generated an FRE margin of 40% for the quarter, up 800 basis points versus the prior year quarter. Normalizing for retroactive fees, core FRE margins expanded over 300 basis points to prior year period.

本季我們的 FRE 利潤率為 40%，比去年同期成長 800 個基點。追溯費用正常化後，核心 FRE 利潤率比去年同期成長了 300 個基點以上。

Moving to expenses. Cash-based compensation was $78 million, up 5% from last quarter and up 12% from the prior year. The growth reflected higher business development and revenue sharing tied to retroactive fees and the seasonal step-up in the cash bonus accrual, which we signaled on the last call.

轉向開支。現金薪酬為 7,800 萬美元，比上季增長 5%，比上年增長 12%。這一增長反映了與追溯費用相關的更高的業務發展和收入分享以及現金獎金應計額的季節性增加，我們在上次電話會議中表示了這一點。

Looking to the remainder of the year, we expect to see continued growth in cash compensation due to incremental hires for our new analyst class as we continue to invest in our business development team, private wealth team, and other areas to support the growth in our business.

展望今年剩餘時間，由於我們繼續投資於我們的業務開發團隊、私人財富團隊和其他領域以支持我們的增長，我們預計現金薪酬將持續增長，因為我們新的分析師類別的聘用不斷增加。

Equity-based compensation expense grew to $2.4 million, up from $1.7 million in the prior quarter. This reflects the layering of the third year's issuance of RSU awards.

股權薪酬支出從上一季的 170 萬美元增加到 240 萬美元。這體現了第三年頒發RSU獎項的層次性。

RSUs vest over four years, so you can expect to see the impact of the final layering of RSU expenses in our first fiscal quarter of 2026. General and administrative expenses were $27 million, up $4 million from a year ago and down slightly sequentially.

RSU 的歸屬期為四年，因此您可以預期在 2026 年第一財季看到 RSU 支出最終分層的影響。一般及行政費用為 2,700 萬美元，比去年同期增加 400 萬美元，較上季略有下降。

Gross realized performance fees were $43 million for the quarter and $22 million net of related compensation expense. Both were the highest level we've seen in two years. Add it all up, and adjusted net income per share was $0.48, up 85% from a year ago, driven by growth in fee-related revenues, FRE margin expansion, and higher net performance fees.

本季實現的總績效費用為 4,300 萬美元，扣除相關薪酬費用後為 2,200 萬美元。兩者都是我們兩年來看到的最高水平。全部加起來，調整後每股淨利潤為 0.48 美元，比去年同期增長 85%，這主要得益於與費用相關的收入增​​長、FRE 利潤率擴張和更高的淨績效費用。

Moving to key items on the balance sheet on slide 13. Net accrued carry finished the quarter at $677 million, up 7% from last quarter, driven primarily by underlying fund valuation appreciation. As a reminder, our fund valuations are reported on a one-quarter lag. Our own investment portfolio ended the quarter at $218 million. Unfunded commitments to our investment programs were $109 million as of quarter end.

前往投影片 13 上資產負債表上的關鍵項目。本季應計利差淨額達 6.77 億美元，較上季成長 7%，主要是由於基礎基金估值升值所致。提醒一下，我們的基金估值報告有四分之一的延遲。我們自己的投資組合本季末達到 2.18 億美元。截至季末，我們投資計畫的無資金承諾額為 1.09 億美元。

As of June 30, we had over $80 billion of performance fee eligible capital, which is widely diversified across multiple vintage years and over 200 programs. 85% of our net unrealized carry is tied to programs and vintages of 2019 or earlier, which means that these programs are largely out of their investment periods and in harvest mode. Of this amount, 54% is sourced from vehicles with deal-by-deal waterfalls, meaning realized carry may be payable at the time of investment exit.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們擁有超過 800 億美元的績效費合格資本，這些資本廣泛分佈於多個年份和 200 多個項目。我們 85% 的未實現淨收益與 2019 年或更早的項目和年份相關，這意味著這些項目基本上已經過了投資期並處於收穫模式。其中，54% 來自具有逐筆交易瀑布的車輛，這意味著已實現的利差可能在投資退出時支付。

This concludes our prepared remarks. I'll now turn it back over to the operator to open the line for any questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。現在我會將其轉回給接線員，以便解答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Kenneth Worthington, JPMorgan.

肯尼斯‧沃辛頓，摩根大通。

I wanted to start with the innovation in wealth management around the tickers. So where do you see the independent advisers now in terms of the education process here around the ticker-based products.

我想從圍繞股票的財富管理創新開始。那麼，就基於股票的產品的教育過程而言，您現在在哪裡看到獨立顧問？

And $800 million of sales is sort of a strong endorsement of what you've developed and sort of begs the question of what sort of feedback you're getting on the structure? Is it the ticker that you think is making the difference here? Or is it really just the performance has been good, the brand name is solid? Anything you can talk about in terms of attribution of the ticker in terms of strength of sales.

8 億美元的銷售額是對您所開發產品的強烈認可，並且引出了一個問題：您在該結構上得到了什麼樣的回饋？您認為是股票行情改變了嗎？還是真的只是業績好、品牌好？您可以談論的任何關於股票歸因於銷售實力的內容。

Thanks, Ken. Jason here. Look, the overall goal of all of these products is to sand off all the rough edges of how hard it is for the individual investor to invest in private markets. And some of these rough edges are sanded off by the structure alone, right, 1099 tax reporting versus K-1s and no capital calls, et cetera. The ticker innovation, we think, is probably the most material development in sanding off those rough edges because the subscription process for a private fund is lengthy.

謝謝，肯。傑森在這裡。看，所有這些產品的總體目標是消除個人投資者投資私募市場的所有困難。其中一些粗糙的邊緣已經被結構本身打磨掉了，對吧，1099 納稅報告與 K-1 相比，沒有資本催繳，等等。我們認為，股票創新可能是打磨這些粗糙邊緣的最實質的發展，因為私募基金的認購過程很漫長。

The feedback has been very supportive, and we've seen the percentage for those funds that offer the ticker, we've seen those flows continue to creep up in terms of the mix between ticker versus subscription document. So it's certainly contributing. Hard to quantify exactly how much it's contributing to the growth. But we're at the point now where about half of the flows we see in the US funds that offer the ticker are coming from ticker as opposed to sub doc.

回饋非常支持，我們已經看到了提供股票代碼的基金的百分比，我們看到這些流量在股票代碼與訂閱文件之間的混合方面繼續攀升。所以它肯定有貢獻。很難準確量化它對成長的貢獻有多大。但我們現在所處的階段是，我們在提供股票代碼的美國基金中看到的大約一半資金流來自股票代碼，而不是子文件。

Perfect. You answered it better than I asked it. So I appreciate that.

完美的。你的回答比我問的更好。所以我很欣賞這一點。

Moving on, you sold, I think, the Greenspring back office this quarter. I believe you acquired the noncontrolling interest. I think it was throughout the quarter, maybe from April to June. And hopefully I had missed this in your prepared remarks.

接下來，我認為您本季出售了 Greenspring 後台辦公室。我相信您獲得了非控制權益。我認為整個季度都是如此，也許從四月到六月。希望我在你準備好的發言中漏掉了這一點。

If you can take us in the P&L, talk about sort of what those events did in terms of impacting the P&L this quarter and if there's anything different in terms of what we should expect next quarter, the quarter after based on the timing this quarter?

如果您可以帶我們了解損益表，請談談這些事件對本季損益表的影響，以及根據本季的時間安排，我們對下個季度、後一個季度的預期是否有任何不同？

Yes, Ken, this is David. So I don't think you should expect anything different next quarter. Everything is fully baked in this quarter. The NCI buy-in was effective April 1. The Greenspring back office sale occurred at the end of December.

是的，肯，這是大衛。因此，我認為下個季度不會有任何不同。一切都在這個季度完全出爐。NCI 的買入於 4 月 1 日生效。Greenspring 後台辦公室於 12 月底出售。

So again, I think what we had communicated before was we did expect to see about a $2 million benefit to the bottom line with the sale of the Greenspring back office. That was fully baked in the calendar 1Q and this first fiscal quarter. So again, it should all be in run rate.

再說一次，我認為我們之前溝通過的是，我們確實期望透過出售 Greenspring 後台辦公室獲得約 200 萬美元的利潤。這在第一季和本財季已經完全實現。再說一次，一切都應該以運行率為準。

Alex Blostein, Goldman Sachs.

亞歷克斯·布洛斯坦，高盛。

This is Anthony on for Alex. I wanted to hit on fundraising and commingle funds. I know there's a few funds in the market right now, and I wanted to get an update on fund size expectations as well as which ones you expect to be generating retro fees for the rest of the fiscal year?

這是安東尼替補亞歷克斯。我想進行籌款和混合資金。我知道目前市場上有一些基金，我想了解基金規模預期的最新信息，以及您預計哪些基金將在本財年剩餘時間產生追溯費用？

So you heard Mike talk during the prepared remarks about the key commingled fund flows during the quarter. And just to recap those, there was about $800 million that was raised during the quarter for our private equity secondaries fund, about $800 million that brought us to the final close of the venture capital secondaries fund.

因此，您聽到麥克在準備好的演講中談論了本季主要的混合資金流動。回顧一下，本季我們的私募股權二級基金籌集了大約 8 億美元，這大約 8 億美元使我們完成了創投二級基金的最終募集。

There was over $400 million raised across our real estate special situations secondaries fund. And the remainder, if I set aside the private wealth business, the remainder was spread across a number of infrastructure, private debt and venture capital strategies. So in terms of where we get to final fund size, the venture capital secondaries fund, as I mentioned, has now had a final close at about $3.3 billion.

我們的房地產特殊情況二級基金籌集了超過 4 億美元。剩下的，如果我拋開私人財富業務，剩下的部分分佈在一些基礎設施、私人債務和風險投資策略上。因此，就我們最終的基金規模而言，正如我所提到的，創投二級基金的最終收盤價約為 33 億美元。

Mike mentioned during the call that our private equity secondaries fund is now a bit over $4 billion, and we expect to have a final close in the coming months of a few hundred additional million dollars. And again, we compared that to where the previous fund was at about $2.1 billion.

麥克在電話會議中提到，我們的私募股權二級基金目前規模略高於 40 億美元，我們預計在未來幾個月內完成最終募集的幾億美元。我們再次將其與先前基金的約 21 億美元進行了比較。

But as it relates to the remaining funds that continue to raise, still in the progress of getting those completed. We mentioned that real estate would wrap up around the end of the year, but no specific guidance in terms of fund size on any of the other vehicles there.

但由於涉及繼續籌集的剩餘資金，這些資金仍在完成中。我們提到房地產將在今年年底左右結束，但沒有關於任何其他工具的基金規模的具體指導。

Great. Thanks. And my second follow-up is on margins. Just given the high jumping off point, this quarter, benefiting from retro fees, do you still expect FRE margins in the mid-30s? Or is there some upside to that number just given the retro fee dynamic for the fiscal year?

偉大的。謝謝。我的第二個後續行動是關於邊緣的。考慮到本季的高起點，受益於復古費用，您是否仍預計 FRE 利潤率約為 30 多歲？或者考慮到本財年的追溯費用動態，這個數字是否有一些上升空間？

This is David. So again, like with the benefit of the retro fees we hit a 40% margin. But to your point, even with that, the retro fees margin saw a pretty healthy increase from last year. And just as Scott mentioned, the majority of the $19 million in retro fees this quarter was largely related to the PE secondaries fund, and we do expect another close next quarter.

這是大衛。再說一遍，就像受益於追溯費用一樣，我們的利潤率達到了 40%。但就你的觀點而言，即便如此，追溯費用利潤率仍比去年有了相當健康的成長。正如史考特所提到的，本季 1,900 萬美元的追溯費用中的大部分主要與 PE 二級基金有關，我們預計下季也會再次關閉。

So you can expect to see some level of retro fees throughout the year. But even without that, we feel pretty good about where we are today and the progress we've made to date. And we do feel we're firmly on track to achieve the margins in the mid-30s over the medium term.

因此，您可以預期全年都會看到一定程度的追溯費用。但即使沒有這些，我們對今天的處境和迄今為止的進展感到非常滿意。我們確實認為，從中期來看，我們將堅定地實現 30 多歲的利潤率。

Ben Budish, Barclays.

本·布迪什，巴克萊銀行。

This is Nick Benoit on the call for Ben tonight. I just want to ask what the pipeline outlook for SMA flows. It looks like SMAs have picked up over the last few quarters. And we just want to think about the trajectory for the rest of the year and maybe how we should think about more normalized levels going forward?

我是今晚為本通話的尼克·貝努瓦。我只是想問一下 SMA 的管道前景如何。過去幾季 SMA 似乎有所回升。我們只想考慮今年剩餘時間的發展軌跡，也許我們該如何考慮未來更正常化的程度？

So on the SMA flows, you'll have both the gross AUM flows as well as then and Mike outlined some of this, the conversion of undeployed fee-earning capital, interfering AUM. So you have the related fee-earning AUM flows as well. Look, I would say the pipeline continues to be solid.

因此，在 SMA 流量上，您將同時獲得總 AUM 流量，麥克概述了其中的一些內容，即未部署的收費資本的轉換、幹擾 AUM。因此，您也有相關的收費 AUM 流量。看，我想說的是，管道仍然穩固。

Obviously, we're coming off with a record breaking quarter this quarter, and we've always guided to the fact that there will be some lumpiness from quarter to quarter. But we feel good about the continued pipeline of both re-up and new opportunities, I'd say, particularly outside the US in parts of the world like Asia, Middle East, and parts of Europe, quite a bit of activity.

顯然，我們本季將迎來創紀錄的季度，而且我們始終指出，每季都會出現一些波動。但我想說，我們對不斷出現的復甦和新機會感到滿意，特別是在美國以外的亞洲、中東和歐洲部分地區，有相當多的活動。

But then as it relates to the fee-earning AUM flows, we talked during the prepared remarks about the fact that over $4 billion of undeployed fee-earning capital is likely to activate by the end of the calendar year. On top of that, if you were to look at the presentation, we talked about the fact that this quarter, we had about $4.1 billion of UFEC that converted into fee-earning AUM. A sizable part of that was the activation of the venture secondaries fund, but there was about $1.3 billion of UFEC deployment as well.

但由於與收費資產管理規模流量相關，我們在準備好的發言中談到了這樣一個事實：到本日曆年年底，可能會啟動超過 40 億美元的未部署收費資本。最重要的是，如果你看一下演示文稿，我們談到了這樣一個事實：本季度，我們有約 41 億美元的 UFEC 轉換為收費的 AUM。其中很大一部分是風險二級基金的啟動，但 UFEC 的部署也有約 13 億美元。

And look, as we think about the current deployment environment, we've certainly seen a rebound from the lows of the first half of 2023, but still a somewhat muted environment today, albeit with a more exciting pipeline as we look out to the second half of the year here. So we generally expect to see some positive momentum as it relates to the conversion of UFEC into fee-earning AUM.

看，當我們考慮當前的部署環境時，我們確實看到了從 2023 年上半年的低點反彈，但今天的環境仍然有些平靜，儘管隨著我們展望第二季度，會有更令人興奮的管道半年都在這裡。因此，我們通常預期會看到一些積極的勢頭，因為這與 UFEC 轉換為收費資產管理規模有關。

Great. And then separately, it was great to hear SPRING adds to its second warehouse during the quarter. I just want to touch on kind of the competition you're seeing on the wires and how much harder to get product on these various platforms compared to 12 months ago with all the influx of products come to the market seems like.

偉大的。另外，很高興聽到 SPRING 在本季度增加了第二個倉庫。我只想談談您在網路上看到的競爭類型，以及與 12 個月前相比，在這些不同的平台上獲得產品的難度有多大，當時產品大量湧入市場。

Jason here. Look, the products that we've created for the wealth channel, we believe are relatively differentiated versus what the elite sponsors bring as well as the peers. SPRING, in particular, stands out as a rather unique product in the venture growth space, multi-manager. And I mean if it's getting more difficult, I would say, it may be, but SPRING got on fast runs of these two wires than we were able to get SPRIM on.

傑森在這裡。看，我們為財富管道創造的產品，我們相信與精英贊助商以及同行帶來的產品相對差異化。特別是，SPRING 作為風險投資成長領域的一個相當獨特的產品脫穎而出，即多管理器。我的意思是，如果事情變得更加困難，我會說，可能是這樣，但是 SPRING 在這兩條線上的運行速度比我們能夠讓 SPRIM 運行得更快。

So I think we're going to get our share of shelf space based on the products we've developed, the performance that we're showing, and the large dedicated team that we've put on the field to market these products and service the clients afterwards.

因此，我認為我們將根據我們開發的產品、我們展示的性能以及我們在現場行銷這些產品和服務的大型專業團隊來獲得我們的貨架空間份額之後的客戶。

Michael Cyprys, Morgan Stanley.

麥可‧賽普里斯，摩根士丹利。

Maybe just on private wealth, it seems like the ticker, you're getting a bit of traction with there. And just curious, as you think about sort of the next stage of innovation in the private wealth channel, what else can be done to remove frictions for investors coming into the private market space?

也許只是在私人財富方面，看起來像是股票行情，你在那裡得到了一些牽引力。只是好奇，當您考慮私人財富管道的下一階段創新時，還可以採取哪些措施來消除投資者進入私人市場領域的摩擦？

One thing that comes to mind, I'm curious to get your thoughts on it as potential development of model portfolios for private markets. So curious where we are in that journey. What steps are you guys taking as you think about removing even more frictions and opening up access further?

我想到一件事，我很想知道您對它作為私人市場模型投資組合潛在開發的想法。很好奇我們在這段旅程中處於什麼位置。當你們考慮消除更多摩擦並進一步開放准入時，你們正在採取哪些步驟？

We do believe that model portfolios will play a part in the growth of private markets inside the portfolios of individual investors. That's for sure. We expect that the DC space will be part of that as well. And in terms of friction, the ticker in the US is now a path that people are starting to understand.

我們確實相信，模型投資組合將在個人投資者投資組合內私人市場的成長中發揮作用。這是肯定的。我們預計華盛頓特區也將成為其中的一部分。就摩擦而言，美國的股票現在已經成為人們開始理解的道路。

We do believe that there will be solutions outside the US to help with this as well. And those different legs, I think each will provide a lot of avenues for innovation. And we still think that there's space for innovation in the product offerings, i.e. products that we're able to bring to bear that aren't out there yet. And so those are all different avenues where I think we'll continue to innovate.

我們確實相信美國以外也會有解決方案來幫助解決這個問題。我認為這些不同的分支都將為創新提供許多途徑。我們仍然認為產品供應還有創新的空間，即我們能夠推出尚未上市的產品。因此，我認為我們將在這些不同的途徑上繼續創新。

Great. And just a follow-up question on the margin profile. I think you mentioned the margin would be up a couple of hundred basis points year on year, excluding the retro fees suggesting sort of an underlying margin profile of about 35%, if I have that right in the quarter.

偉大的。關於保證金概況的後續問題。我想你提到，如果我在本季度有這樣的數據的話，不包括追溯費用的話，利潤率將同比上升幾百個基點，這表明潛在的利潤率約為 35%。

So just curious why that is not or should that be the right jumping off point as we go forward from here, putting aside any incremental retro fees? Why or why not? Is there an expectation for investment spend hiring to accelerate meaningfully that would take it a bit slower? Just curious if you think about the moving parts there.

所以只是好奇為什麼這不是或應該是我們從這裡前進的正確起點，拋開任何增量復古費用？為什麼或為什麼不呢？是否預期投資支出招聘會顯著加速，而這會導致速度放緩一些？只是好奇你是否想到那裡的活動部件。

Yes. David here. I think that's right. Like if you exclude the retroactive fees for this quarter, you're closer to about 34% margin. We do expect, like I said in the prepared remarks, to invest in our business development team, private wealth team and other key support areas.

是的。大衛在這裡。我認為這是對的。如果排除本季的追溯費用，則利潤率接近 34% 左右。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們確實希望投資於我們的業務開發團隊、私人財富團隊和其他關鍵支援領域。

So that's going to be a little bit of a drag on margins. But again, we do feel we're in a good place and the trajectory is still going up into the mid-30s over the medium term.

因此，這將對利潤率造成一點拖累。但同樣，我們確實覺得我們處於一個良好的位置，中期內的軌跡仍在上升至 30 多歲。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Adam Beatty, UBS.

瑞銀集團的亞當比提。

Just wanted to parse out the fee rate a little bit. Obviously, some nice momentum there. And you mentioned, obviously, the catch-up fees as well as some lift from momentum in the wealth channel. So just wondering if you could maybe parse that out either on a trailing 12-month basis or for the quarter in terms of the contribution of wealth management that we should think of as sort of a positive going forward?

只是想稍微解析一下費用率。顯然，那裡有一些不錯的勢頭。顯然，您提到了追趕費用以及財富管道動力的一些提升。因此，我想知道您是否可以根據過去 12 個月的基礎或本季財富管理的貢獻來分析這一點，我們應該將其視為一種積極的未來發展？

Yes. Adam, this is David. So if you look at our blended fee rate of 61 basis points this quarter, it certainly did benefit from retroactive fees. So if you exclude that, we're kind of right back in the high 50s.

是的。亞當，這是大衛。因此，如果你看看本季 61 個基點的混合費率，它確實受益於追溯費用。因此，如果排除這一點，我們就回到了 50 多歲的水平。

And if you look at private wealth, it's right around $4.2 billion in total assets. So it grew about $1 billion from last year. So you can see that as it continues to grow, with the higher fee rate, it will tend to lift the overall blended fee rate. But at $4 billion, it's going to take a little bit of time to really move the needle.

如果你看看私人財富，總資產約 42 億美元。因此，它比去年增長了約 10 億美元。所以你可以看到，隨著它的不斷增長，隨著費率的提高，它往往會提高整體混合費率。但要達到 40 億美元，還需要一點時間才能真正取得進展。

Okay. Makes sense. And then just on some of the wealth management products. Interesting how you mentioned that you were getting on platforms maybe at a more accelerated rate, which speaks to the relationships that you've been able to develop. So just wondering in terms of the positive flows there, what you're seeing in terms of preferences, wirehouses maybe versus other distributors or maybe by segment in terms of the customer base?

好的。有道理。然後就是一些理財產品。有趣的是，你提到你可能會以更快的速度進入平台，這說明了你已經能夠建立的關係。因此，只是想知道那裡的積極流量，您在偏好方面看到了什麼，電線公司可能與其他分銷商相比，或者可能在客戶群方面按細分市場？

Thanks, Adam. In terms of the syndicate that we put together for the different funds, at this point, we've got just about 100 different partners that are distributing more than one product, meaning two products and about half that or so that are distributing even more than that. So certainly, cross-sell is part of the play here as opposed to mix among the different types of platforms as different, whether it be an RIA, an IBD, wire or international partner have had a good experience with us with one fund, they are providing its additional shelf space as they evaluate the other products that we've got. So I think that is probably one of the interesting parts of this.

謝謝，亞當。就我們為不同基金組成的財團而言，目前我們只有大約 100 個不同的合作夥伴，他們正在分銷不只一種產品，這意味著兩種產品，大約有一半左右的產品正在分銷超過一種產品。那。因此，當然，交叉銷售是這裡的一部分，而不是在不同類型的平台之間進行混合，因為不同的平台，無論是RIA、IBD、有線還是國際合作夥伴都透過一支基金與我們取得了良好的經驗，他們在評估我們擁有的其他產品時提供額外的貨架空間。所以我認為這可能是其中有趣的部分之一。

In terms of the mix between the different types of channels, we still continue to be a US-dominated distribution with all of the funds. We're continuing to invest in our non-US distribution, and the wires are definitely a growing portion of the allocation, and we're happy there, but we're equally dedicated to our other distribution partners. They all make up an important part of this ecosystem and have different needs. And we're dedicated to ensuring that we meet each one of those distribution partners where they are.

就不同類型管道之間的組合而言，我們仍然是美國主導的所有資金分配。我們將繼續投資於我們的非美國分銷，而電線無疑在分配中所佔的比例越來越大，我們對此感到高興，但我們同樣致力於我們的其他分銷合作夥伴。它們都是這個生態系統的重要組成部分，並且有不同的需求。我們致力於確保與每位分銷合作夥伴見面。

Michael Cyprys, Morgan Stanley.

麥可‧賽普里斯，摩根士丹利。

Just wanted to circle back to the UFEC balance growth, up substantially in the quarter. I was hoping maybe you could help unpack some of the moving pieces there. Was it like $9 billion or so added to the top of the funnel? And then just on the $4 billion of SMA capital that you expect to be activated, I believe, by calendar year end, just curious what drives the confidence around that. And so I don't recall hearing that sort of commentary in the past.

只是想回到 UFEC 餘額增長，本季大幅成長。我希望你能幫忙解開一些令人感動的部分。是否有 90 億美元左右被添加到漏斗頂部？然後，我相信，到年底，您預計將啟動 40 億美元的 SMA 資本，只是好奇是什麼推動了對此的信心。所以我不記得過去聽過這樣的評論。

Sure. So if you think about the moving pieces relative to last quarter, you're right, there were about $9 billion of SMA related AUM flows, essentially all of which flowed into that undeployed fee-earned capital balance, and then offsetting that was the activation of the venture capital secondaries fund. And again, that was raised at the final close was $3.3 billion, the $800 million was raised during the quarter. So it was less than that that kind of came out of the UFEC balance. So those are the main drivers together with the $1.3 billion of deployment that I mentioned that get us to the current balance.

當然。因此，如果您考慮相對於上季度的變動情況，您是對的，大約有 90 億美元的 SMA 相關 AUM 流量，基本上所有這些都流入了未部署的費用賺取資本餘額，然後抵消了激活風險投資二級基金。同樣，最終收盤時籌集的資金為 33 億美元，其中 8 億美元是在本季籌集的。所以它比 UFEC 平衡中產生的要少。因此，這些是主要驅動因素，加上我提到的 13 億美元的部署，使我們達到了當前的平衡。

And I think one of the ways to think about that, it wasn't specifically related to your question, but we've always talked about our ability to deploy that UFEC over a three- to five-year time period. And just to kind of reiterate some of the math we walked through last quarter, if you think about the $1.3 billion of deployment this quarter and were to annualize that to get to about $5.2 billion run rate, it implies just over a four-year investment period, despite the fact that deployment has been somewhat muted here, but just over four years, once you adjust for the $4 billion-plus of activations.

我認為思考這個問題的方法之一是，它與您的問題沒有具體關係，但我們一直在談論我們在三到五年的時間內部署 UFEC 的能力。重申我們上季度進行的一些數學計算，如果您考慮本季 13 億美元的部署，並將其年化以達到約 52 億美元的運行率，這意味著四年多一點的投資在此期間，儘管事實上這裡的部署有所減弱，但如果你根據超過40 億美元的激活進行調整，那麼僅僅四年多的時間。

Just as it relates to your final question on the activation. As a reminder, some of our separate accounts do, in fact, pay on committed capital. And so these were separate accounts that closed during the quarter have not yet activated mostly because we are still investing the prior fund for those that were re-ups. And so our confidence level comes from expectations around when we expect to be fully deployed on the prior vehicle, and therefore, we'll be able to activate those separate accounts.

正如它與您有關激活的最後一個問題有關。提醒一下，我們的一些獨立帳戶實際上是按承諾資本支付的。因此，這些在本季度關閉的單獨帳戶尚未激活，主要是因為我們仍在為那些重新啟動的帳戶投資之前的資金。因此，我們的信心水平來自於我們預計何時完全部署在先前車輛上的預期，因此，我們將能夠啟動這些單獨的帳戶。

Great. Anything to be aware of on step downs on fees or fee basis on those prior vintages as you activate the next tranche?

偉大的。當您啟動下一批時，關於先前年份的費用或費用基礎上的下降，有什麼需要注意的嗎？

Well, yes. I mean, typically, when we do activate a new tranche, it will result in a step down to the fee base of the prior vehicle. These are all vehicles that we have kind of gone through re-ups for in the past. So nothing we would call out as it relates to unusual step-downs in fee based, which we've, again, committed to calling out for you going forward here.

嗯，是的。我的意思是，通常，當我們啟動新的部分時，這將導致先前車輛的費用基礎下降。這些都是我們過去經歷過重新升級的車輛。因此，我們不會提出任何要求，因為這涉及到基於費用的不尋常的降級，我們再次承諾在此呼籲您繼續前進。

Thank you. And I would now like to hand the conference back to Scott Hart for any closing remarks.

謝謝。現在我想將會議交還給斯科特·哈特（Scott Hart）發表閉幕詞。

Well, thanks, everyone, for your time and continued interest in StepStone. We appreciate the time today. And hopefully, you sense the level of excitement around here for both the quarter that we just achieved as well as the outlook going forward as we look forward to updating everyone again next quarter. Thank you.

好的，謝謝大家抽出時間以及對 StepStone 的持續關注。我們很珍惜今天的時間。希望您能感受到我們剛剛實現的季度的興奮程度以及未來的前景，因為我們期待在下個季度再次向大家通報最新情況。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。大家，祝你有美好的一天。