Moelis & Company

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Mullis & Company First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. To begin, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Matt Shercroft.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Mullis & Company's First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. On the phone today are Navid Mahmoudzadigan, CEO and co-founder, and Chris Colasana, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to note that the remarks made on this call may contain certain forward-looking statements. including those identified from time to time in the risk factor section of Molson Company's filings with the SEC. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. The firm undertakes no obligation to update any follow-up 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 to better understand our operating results. The reconciliation of these adjusted financial measures with the relevant GAAP financial information and other information provided by Reg G is provided in the firm's earnings release, which can be found on our investor relations website at investors.mullis.com. I will now turn the call over to Navit.

Thank you, Matt. It's great to be with you all this afternoon. We have had an active start to the year with record first quarter revenues of $320 million, record first quarter levels of announced transaction activity, strong momentum in senior hiring, and continued execution of our strategic growth priorities. Since our last earnings call, we advised on a number of notable M&A transactions, including Clear Channel Outdoors' $6.2 billion sale to Movadala Capital and TWG Global, TriPoint Homes' $4.5 billion sale to Sumitomo Forestry, and Kennedy Wilson's $9.5 billion take private. Beyond M&A, we advise Tower Brook on its $1.2 billion continuation vehicle for Eisner Amper, and most recently, we acted as an active book runner on X Energy's $1.2 billion IPO. We entered 2026 with high levels of new business origination and a constructive outlook. While the war in the Middle East, disruptions in private credit, and the impact of AI on certain sectors have created some near-term headwinds in parts of the transactional environment, These same forces create new opportunities for our firm. We remain confident about the trajectory of our business, supported by our pipeline near all-time highs and the fundamental drivers of transaction activity firmly in place. Let me briefly take you through an overview of what we're seeing in each of our major product areas. In M&A, corporates continue to seek scale to strengthen their strategic positioning, especially amid rapid technological disruption. This dynamic is most pronounced in large-cap transactions continue to drive M&A volumes and is further supported by a more accommodative U.S. regulatory backdrop. Dislocation in various parts of the public equity markets is also driving take-private transactions, an area where our board and special committee advisory practice is strong. In addition, our business continues to benefit from financial sponsors' need to monetize an extensive backlog of investments. While the market is not yet seeing a broad-based increase in sponsor exit activity, our M&A business our M&A revenues from sponsors grew double digits during the quarter. In private capital advisory, the market for GP-led secondaries continues to hit record levels, driven by sustained demand for liquidity solutions, increased adoption of continuation vehicles, and a growing base of institutional investors seeking exposure to seasoned assets with more predictable return profiles. Our thesis for PCA is playing out as expected. with the team executing a number of live mandates and rapidly building a significant pipeline. With the recent addition of a managing director focused on private credit secondaries and another joining later this year, we will have seven senior bankers dedicated to GP-led secondaries, further strengthening our position in this important market for our sponsor clients. Turning to capital markets, demand for growth capital from high-quality issuers is driving activity in our business. particularly in late-stage growth and pre-IPO issuance for AI, digital infrastructure, and aerospace and defense-oriented business models, just to name a few. IPO issuance is also strong with our team involved in a number of transactions coming to market in the near term. In addition, technology disruption is creating a more dynamic financing environment and accelerating opportunities for hybrid and structured solutions. We are further investing to meet the opportunities we see in capital markets. We've recently hired two managing directors in the space, including a managing director focused on securitization, who will help develop this important growth opportunity for the firm, and a managing director that complements our already strong private credit and debt capital markets capabilities. In capital structure advisory, liability management continues to be the most active segment of the market. Increased lender selectivity is widening the gap between companies that can readily refinance and those requiring more complex solutions. which we expect will lead to more traditional restructurings over time. Our CSA pipeline is meaningfully above last year's levels, and ongoing technological disruption and volatility in commodity prices are creating new opportunities. Additionally, our growing creditor coverage is diversifying our CSA business, contributing to a larger share of revenue and positioning us well with the creditor community. Turning to talent, we have hired eight MDs year-to-date two who have already joined, and six who will join us over the course of the year. In addition to the PCA and capital markets hires previously mentioned, we've also invested across industries where we see attractive long-term opportunity. This includes recent managing director hires in key sectors, including energy and healthcare IT. In Europe, we've hired two managing directors to enhance our expertise in chemicals and deepen our sponsor coverage capabilities. We recently relocated to a new and expanded office in London to support our talent our clients, and our continued growth in the region. In general, we remain intensely focused on attracting the best and brightest talent and are excited about our high level of engagement and dialogue with world-class candidates. With respect to capital return during the quarter, we repurchased 1.9 million shares, including 895,000 shares in the open market, while preserving the strength of our balance sheet with substantial cash and no debt. Finally, we are actively testing and deploying AI tools across our business with broad adoption from our teams. We see AI as a clear productivity lever, supporting our bankers and providing the best possible advice to clients and driving greater efficiencies throughout our organization. With a strong pipeline, including high levels of announced transaction activity and the most comprehensive capabilities at any point in our history, we are well positioned to support our clients and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll pass the call to Chris to review our financial results in more detail.