Beneficient

Hello, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Benefits Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask the question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. I would now like to hand the conference over to Dan Callahan. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us for Beneficent's fiscal third quarter 2026 conference call-in webcast. In addition to the call-in webcast, we issued a results press release today that was posted to the shareholders section of our website at shareholders.trustben.com. Today's webcast, as the operator indicated, is being recorded, and a replay will be available on the company's website. On today's call, management's prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed today. Actual results and future events could materially differ from those discussed in these forward-looking statements because of factors described in our earnings press release and in the risk factor section of our Form 10-K, and in subsequent filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements represent management's current estimate, and Beneficent assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in the future. Today's call also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted operating expense. Please refer to our earnings press release, which again is available on our website, for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. Hosting the call today will be Beneficent Interim CEO, James Silk. Following his remarks, Greg Azell, Chief Financial Officer, will provide some financial highlights. I'll turn the call over to James. Take it away, James.

James Silk Thank you, Dan. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Before I get into the third quarter, I'd like to address the passing in December of Tom Hicks, who's been a member of the board since 2017. Tom was a legendary figure in American business, a pioneer in private equity, and a dedicated leader who brought extraordinary vision, discipline, and experience to Beneficent. We appreciate his many contributions to the company, and his guidance and friendship will be missed. Pete Kangany, a board member since 2019, was appointment chairman of the board, effective December 15th, 2025. In addition to his experience with Ben as a long-standing board member, Pete brings deep experience from a more than 30-year career at Ernst & Young, including as a partner from 1993 until his retirement in 2017. We are fortunate to have his leadership, along with all members of the board, and they are closely engaged in setting Ben's go-forward strategy as we seek to unlock value in private assets. For the past several quarters, the Beneficent Management Team has been working through a number of challenges related to the separation from our former CEO. These challenges have required significant resources and management attention. But we believe executing on our plan to address these challenges is a necessary step to better position the company to realize and execute on its business strategy. The company continues to see strong market opportunity and during our fiscal third quarter, we were able to accomplish numerous critical items to stabilize and strengthen our core business that we believe better positions the company to close additional liquidity and GP primary commitment financings in the future. In December, we closed our first new GP primary commitment financing since June of last year, signaling our dedication to our business strategy and continued market interest in company products. Our third quarter results are also indicative of our continued focus and discipline on operational and financial management. We continue to prioritize creating an efficient technology and AI enhanced services platform, a platform designed to allow the company to operate more efficiently with a focus on delivering steady, profitable deal flow and growth. This increased focus is demonstrated by a reduction in adjusted operating expenses of 6.5% year-over-year and 18% year-to-date. excluding one-time and non-occurring expenses. We have also worked to pay down the company's payables. To achieve this, we generated approximately $50 million in gross proceeds through asset sales and equity redemptions. That capital has, among other things, allowed us to systemically reduce debt, including approximately $27.5 million that was ultimately owed to a Texas state bank. We believe these actions have collectively strengthened our financial position And going forward, we will continue to focus on expense reduction as well as potential simplifications of our capital structure to deliver long-term shareholder value. In January, we received notification from NASDAQ that we have regained full compliance with NASDAQ continued listing requirements. Given the circumstances, this was no small feat as we completed an annual audit. We filed financials for multiple periods in a compressed timeframe. We engaged in extensive external reviews. We improved our balance sheet equity, and we increased the stock price to satisfy NASDAQ's minimum listing requirement. Throughout this process, the company maintained regular contact with the exchange, submitted plans to regain compliance, and executed on those plans. We are also very pleased to have reached a final court-approved settlement related to the GWG Holdings litigation. and to have done so within the limits of our existing insurance policies. Collectively, these milestones represent a turning point that allows us to focus more fully on driving growth and enhancing the value of our liquidity solutions. In addition to resolving the G2G matters, we have cooperated fully with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on matters relating to our previous CEO. Our former CEO's criminal trial related to his conduct is scheduled for early April 2026. We are considering all options that the company may pursue related to our former CEO's conduct, including bringing litigation against our former CEO, his entities, and other parties for potential financial, equitable, and or other relief. Of specific note, The company intends to vigorously pursue claims regarding the validity of over $100 million in debt purportedly owed to an entity related to our former CEO. Looking forward, we are working on a number of initiatives that we believe will broaden our financing options, increase our capacity to grow our loan portfolio backed by alternative assets, and ultimately improve the returns for our stockholders. This includes focusing on our core mission of liquidity and primary capital, implementing simpler, more streamlined approaches to providing these services, and broadening our deal flow opportunities and capabilities. As we head further into 2026, we believe we will be well positioned to better leverage our infrastructure and maximize the robust and diverse markets we serve. Building a stable base for growth has been a priority of management since my return to the company. By addressing the key issues I mentioned earlier, we believe we are now able to bring more of the company's resources to growing the core business, and I look forward to providing more details on that in the coming quarters. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Greg Ezell, Beneficent CFO, to go over some of the financial highlights. Following Greg's remarks, we'll take a few questions from the analyst community. Greg?