Lazard LTD.

Good morning and welcome to Lazard's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the call, please press the star key followed by zero on your telephone keypad. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Alexander Degman, Lizard, Head of Investor Relations, Treasury, and Corporate Sustainability. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Brittany. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Lizard's earnings call for the first quarter of 2024. I'm Alexandra Degnan, Head of Investor Relations, Treasury, and Corporate Sustainability. In addition to today's audio comments, we have posted our earnings release on our website. A replay of this call will also be available on our website later today. Before we begin, let me remind you that we may make forward-looking statements about our business and performance. of activity, performance, achievements, or other events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those factors discussed in the company's SEC filings, which you can access on our website. Lazard assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these forward-looking statements and assumes no duty to update these forward-looking statements. Today's discussion also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are meaningful when evaluating a company's performance. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP measures is provided in our earnings relief and investor presentation. Hosting our call today is Peter Orszag, CESAR's Chief Executive Officer, and Mary Ann Vetsch, CESAR's Chief Financial Officer. After our prepared remarks, Peter and Mary Ann will be joined by Evan Russo, Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management, as they open the call for questions. I'll now turn the call over to Peter.

Thank you, Allie, and good morning to everyone. As we continue to pursue our long-term objectives, Lazard reported a record first quarter with firm-wide adjusted net revenue of $747 million, an increase of 42% year over year. Going into 2024, we anticipated that interest rates would stay higher for longer. During the first quarter, we saw this environment materialize with implications largely as expected. Relative to a world in which interest rates are rising, even stability in rates facilitates increased activity in M&A as buyers and sellers align on valuations and deal financing becomes more readily available. And beyond M&A, approaching debt maturities are interacting with this hire-for-longer landscape to produce stronger activity in restructuring, liability management, and private capital solutions. The impact of this market backdrop, along with our focus on growth and increasing productivity, drove record first quarter revenues within our advisory business. At the same time, higher rates increased the appeal of short-term investments, such as T-bills and money market funds, which reduces new allocations into active equity strategies. This effect should dissipate as rates eventually decline and investors put more money to work. Despite the current prolonged higher rate environment, we had solid revenue growth within asset management in the first quarter, and average AUM increased 6% from year-end 2023. First quarter performance also reflects continued efforts to further strengthen our platform by delivering excellence in the products we already offer, enhancing our distribution structure and team, and investing in areas of future opportunities. Lizard's strong first quarter results represent the ongoing execution of our long-term strategic plan and reinforce our belief that 2024 will be a better year for our business. I'll share more on our outlook shortly, but let me first turn the call over to Mary Ann, who will provide further details on the quarter.