Perella Weinberg Partners

Good morning and welcome to the Perala Weinberg third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Currently all callers have been placed in a listen-only mode and following management's prepared remarks the call will be open for your questions. If you would like to ask a question at that time please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you need to remove yourself from the queue press star 2. At any time if you should need operator assistance please press star 0. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kendall Korber, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and welcome all. Joining me today are Andrew Bednar, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, and Alex Gottschalk, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to note that this call may contain forward-looking statements. including Cruella Weinberg's expectations of future financial and business performance and conditions and industry outlook. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future events or performance. Please refer to Cruella Weinberg's most recent SEC filings for a discussion of certain of these risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations, and the firm undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. During the call, there will also be a discussion of some metrics, which are non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes are relevant in assessing the financial performance of the business. Perella Weinberg has reconciled these items to the most comparable GAAP measures in the press release included within which can be found on the company's website. I will now turn the call over to Andrew Bednar to discuss our results.

Thank you, Kendall, and good morning. Today we reported third quarter revenues of $251 million, up 53% from a year ago and up 61% from the second quarter, bringing our year-to-date revenues to $557 million, up 5% from last year. As we discussed last quarter, we anticipated that our revenue would be back half-weighted, and that is exactly what we're seeing. The momentum in our business has moved from pipeline into announcements and is steadily converting into revenue. Our third quarter revenues were our highest since the third quarter of 2024, led by our M&A business, which nearly doubled from the third quarter of last year and is up over 40% year-to-date. We saw particular strength in our consumer, industrials, energy, and financial institutions businesses. In the structuring and liability management, revenues are down against a record 2025, but we remain engaged on large and complex situations, and that pipeline continues to build. The two metrics we previously highlighted as the strongest leading indicators of our business also continue to strengthen. Our announcement pending backlog at quarter end was up nearly three times from a year ago. And our total booked plus announcement pending backlog as of today is up about 30% year over year. Finally, the number of announcements year to date is up compared to last year, and our current gross backlog under engagement letters is up 40% versus this time last year. Importantly, our strong performance is broad-based. In the third quarter, our fee-paying client count was up 50% from a year ago, and the number of fee events exceeding 5 million was up nearly 80%. This reflects our investments in internal talent development and our relentless focus on expanding client coverage. On September 1, we closed our acquisition of Bleacher Shacklock. Our combined UK business has experienced strong momentum out of the gate with six announced transactions since September, and we see accelerating client dialogue, both demonstrating early validation of our combination thesis. Taking together the strength of our backlog, the breadth of our client base, and the level of activity across our business give us confidence heading into year end and into 2027. Developing and attracting top talent remains central to how we grow the firm, This year we have added 14 partners and 13 managing directors including the Bleacher Shacklock team and we intend to continue adding talent that broadens our client coverage and expands our product capabilities consistent with our strategy and our brand. We remain very excited about our path and we recognize our duty to you, our shareholders, a responsibility that we take very seriously. Although we regularly evaluate ways to improve our position, we have never made a decision to sell the firm Nor have we ever initiated any sale process. We have been building this firm for the long term. We are only 20 years in, and we continue to see tremendous opportunities in front of us. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Alex to review our financial results and capital management in more detail.