Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.

Good morning. My name is Carmen, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the Virtus Investment Partners quarterly conference call. The slide presentation for this call is available in the investor relations section of the Virtus website, www.virtus.com. This call is also being recorded and will be available for replay on the Virtus website. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, There will be a question and answer period, and instructions will follow at that time. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Sean Rourke.

Thank you, Carmen, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of Virtus Investment Partners, I would like to welcome you to the discussion of our operating and financial results for the first quarter of 2021. Our speakers today are George Aylward, President and CEO of Virtus, and Mike Angerthal, Chief Financial Officer. Following the prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A period. Before we begin, I direct your attention to the important disclosures on page two of the slide presentation that accompanies this webcast. Certain matters discussed on this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and as such are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those factors set forth in today's news release and discussed in our SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the statements. In addition to results presented on a GAAP basis, we use certain non-GAAP measures to evaluate our financial results. Our non-GAAP financial results are not substitutes for GAAP financial results. It should be read in conjunct results. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the applicable GAAP measures are included in today's news release and financial supplement, which are available on our website. Now I'd like to turn the call over to George. George? Thank you, Sean.

Good morning, everyone. I'll start today with an overview of the results we reported this morning, as well as a brief update on Westchester Capital Management before turning it over to Mike to provide more detail on the quarter. So turning to the results, we are pleased with a very strong start to the year, continuing the momentum that accelerated throughout last year and reflecting the benefits of our new partnership with Allianz GI. For the quarter, we delivered a significant increase in assets under management to nearly $170 billion. The fourth consecutive quarter of positive net flows, representing an organic growth rate of 10% over the past 12 months, our highest level of quarterly sales, which exceeded $10 billion for the first time, strong growth in operating profitability, with the operating margin up more than 10 percentage points over the prior year, a 32% sequential increase in earnings per share as adjusted to their highest level, and consistent return to capital shareholders and debt reduction. Thank you very much. and changing investor preferences. Our results over the past year have demonstrated the value of our model and approach. Our partnership with Allianz GI added to these capabilities, bringing additional scale and complementary strategies that expanded our attractive suite of investment options. Excellent financial and operating performance is a reflection of these capabilities, which we believe position us well to be able to continue to deliver strong results and create long-term shareholder value. So returning to a review of the results, total assets earned in management increased to $168.9 billion on March 31st, up 28% sequentially due to the addition of the AGI assets, market appreciation, and positive net flows. Sales of $10.6 billion increased 19% sequentially due to continued momentum in open-end funds and retail separate accounts, each of which recorded their highest level of quarterly sales. And compared with the prior year, sales were up 47%. For the quarter, we achieved $2.4 billion of positive net flows with contributions across product categories and from all asset classes. Open-end net inflows were $0.6 billion with sequential increases in fixed income and multi-asset strategies. Retail separate accounts continue to deliver positive net flows, reaching another high at $1.8 billion with positive net flows in nearly all strategies. Institutional flows were mildly positive and have been positive in three of the past four quarters, for an organic growth rate of 6.1% over that period. We're pleased with institutional traction at multiple affiliates with both new mandates and existing accounts. In terms of what we're seeing so far in April for flows, we have not seen a meaningful change in the trends of the first quarter. Funded and separate account flows remain positive, and as I just mentioned, in institutional, we currently have a favorable level of mandates won but not funded. Our financial results for the quarter reflected the significant growth in assets earned in management and the leverageability of the business. Operating income, as suggested, of $78 million increased by 26% sequentially and 95% over the prior year, and the related margin of 41.6% increased from 40.3% in the prior quarter despite the seasonally higher employment expenses. Earnings per share, as suggested, reached their highest level for the third consecutive quarter, increasing 32% sequentially to $6.78, primarily due to higher revenues. Turning now to capital, during the quarter, we repurchased or net settled approximately 78,000 common shares for $20.1 million and continue paying down debt on our term loan, once again ending the quarter in a net cash position. Our balance sheet remains strong and we maintain significant operating flexibility. Our approach to capital management has been consistent to invest in the growth of the business, return capital shareholders, and maintain appropriate levels of debt. will continue to be balanced in our approach, which has been core to our philosophy and has positioned us to take advantage of attractive market opportunities to invest in the growth of the business. Before turning the call over to Mike, let me give a brief update on our pending transaction with Westchester Capital Management, a premier manager of event-driven strategies. At March 31st, Westchester Capital had $4.6 billion of assets under management, up 8% from $4.3 at December 31st, Thank you. Thank you. by approximately 6% based on normalized run rate first quarter EPS as suggested. So with that, let me turn the call over to Mike to provide more detail on the results. Mike?