Moelis & Company

Good afternoon and welcome to the Moelis & Company fourth quarter 2020 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chet Mandel, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you for joining us for the Moelis & Company fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results conference call. On the phone today are Ken Moelis, Chairman and CEO, and Joe Simon, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'd 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 factor section of Moelis & Company's filings with SEC. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. The firm undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Our comments today include references to certain adjusted financial measures. We believe these measures, when presented together with comparable gap 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. I will now turn the call over to Ken to discuss our results. Ken?

Thanks, Chet, and good afternoon, everyone. Our fourth quarter revenues of $422 million were up 89% from the prior year. and represent our largest quarter of revenues since inception. Full year revenues of $943 million were also a record and up 26% from the prior year. The strength during the quarter was driven by a significant increase in completed transactions with our M&A franchise recording its highest level of activity in firm history. Our full year revenue growth was powered by year-over-year increases across all of our products and regions as well as higher average fees earned per completed transaction. We produced record levels of capital markets and restructuring activity and near records in M&A despite the softer deal-making landscape in the first half of 2020. To focus expense discipline, we brought this top-line strength down to the bottom line, exceeding our operating margin target while returning a significant amount of capital in a very tax-efficient manner to our shareholders. I'll now turn the call over to Joe, who will take you further through our financial results, and I will discuss our business and outlook. Joe?