AlTi Global Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 10, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Sherry, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Altice First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I'd like to advise all parties that this conference call is being recorded and a replay of the webcast is available on Alti's Investor Relations website. Now at this time, I'll turn things over to Lily Arteaga, Head of Investor Relations for Altice.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning to everyone on the call today. Joining me this morning are Michael Tiedemann, our CEO and Steven Yarid, our CFO. We invite you to visit the Investor Relations section of our website at www.alti global.com to view our earnings materials, including our updated investor presentation. I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during the call may be deemed forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, continue, estimate, expect, future, intend, may, plan and will are similar words.

Speaker 1

Because these forward looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Allke assumes no obligation or responsibility to update any forward looking statements. During this call, some comments may include references to non GAAP financial measures. Full reconciliations can be found in our earnings presentation and our related SEC filings. As I mentioned, we filed an updated investor presentation earlier today.

Speaker 1

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Lily, and thank you all for joining us this morning. The Q1 of 2024 will serve as a catalyst for altE in the quarters and years to come. During the quarter, we established groundbreaking strategic partnerships, progressed our growth strategy and importantly, further streamlined away from non core assets and strategies to focus on stable recurring revenue businesses. We have immense traction across both our core operations and our M and A pipeline as you can see through the two deals we announced since our last call less than 60 days ago. Today, I'm going to share more details on our Q1 results and the progress we are making towards our long term goals and growth initiatives.

Speaker 2

Excluding LXI, we have grown our consolidated assets under management and advisement by 10% over the past 12 months to 71,000,000,000 dollars In the Q1, ALTE generated revenues of $51,000,000 Importantly, 96% of the revenues in the quarter were from recurring fees. We reported net income of $22,000,000 adjusted EBITDA was $7,000,000 and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 13%. Turning to our segments, in Wealth Management, we reported 17% AUM growth in the last year, largely boosted by strong market performance and acquisitions closed in 2023. This robust growth will be further enhanced throughout 2024 as we integrate our recently announced acquisitions. In April, we announced the acquisition of Easton Advisors, which adds nearly $6,000,000,000 of AUM to our wealth management platform.

Speaker 2

Headquartered in New York, Eastend boasts a strong investment record and an experienced team that will densify our operations in key regions across the U. S. Additionally, EastEnd enhances our outsourced Chief Investment Officer or OCIO capabilities as we seek to capitalize on that growing market. Altice has long admired the exceptional team at eStend, their investment approach and the long standing and trusted relationships they have with their clients. Both firms share industry leading client retention and a deep understanding of the complexities and changing demands of ultrahigh net worth families and foundations.

Speaker 2

We've been pleased with the reception around this transaction so far and EastEnd clients can now begin benefiting from access to Altice's global resources and holistic wealth management solutions. Yesterday, after the close, we announced the acquisition of Envoy, a $3,000,000,000 AUM ultrahigh net worth wealth manager based in Minneapolis. Envoy expands our operations into the Midwest region of the United States and has a multi decade track record within the ultrahighnetworth segment. From our earliest conversations, we felt immediate cultural alignment with the Envoy team. Additionally, the firm has not only grown its client base, but has doubled its average client size since 2016, all while maintaining a client retention rate of 97%.

Speaker 2

Envoy was an ideal fit as we look to deepen our domestic footprint in key markets. We look forward to supporting Envoy's growth through Altice's global reach, perspectives and comprehensive service offering. Following the consolidation of these acquisitions, our net asset growth in Wealth Management will be nearly 45% since Altice listing, reflecting the successful execution of our organic and inorganic growth strategy. Importantly, they significantly reorganize our firm wide asset composition towards core strategies and recurring revenues, all while replacing the top line and bottom line contributions of the non core assets we've divested from in the past year. On the international front, earlier this week, we closed our acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Pointwise Partners, an independent ultrahigh net worth wealth management firm based in London, we're delighted to bring the entirety of the Pointwise team onto the Alti platform and to deepen our operations in the UK.

Speaker 2

Additionally, I'm pleased to report that the previously announced sale of our European based trust and private office service businesses received regulatory approval and closed subsequent to quarter end. These businesses were previously held for sale assets and the proceeds for the sale were approximately $19,000,000 The transaction is a result of our efforts to streamline, divest and reinvest in our international wealth operations to focus our operations on our robust service and investment offerings and core recurring revenue businesses. We're also very pleased with the great strides we've made on our organic growth initiatives and we're excited about the prospects for both our domestic and international businesses. The AUM of

Speaker 1

the U. S. Business has

Speaker 2

increased 15% on an organic basis over the past 12 months. This robust growth results from strong portfolio performance as well as inflows from new client wins driven by our business development initiatives. These efforts were fortified at the beginning of this year as we welcomed Richard Joyner, an award winning advisor with more than 35 years of experience delivering comprehensive family office services to ultrahigh net worth clients. Based out of our Dallas office, Richard heads our central U. S.

Speaker 2

Business and we'll collaborate closely with the Envoy team in this key region. Internationally, we are also attracting talented and seasoned professionals we look forward to updating you on the progress on future calls. Turning to our Strategic Alternatives segment, we have successfully repositioned certain businesses and have advanced new initiatives to bring our clients innovative investment opportunities. Recurring revenues made up 88% of the segment's top line contribution in the quarter and were essentially flat quarter over quarter despite the sale of LXI and the broader repositioning of our private real estate business. Importantly, our streamlining efforts resulted in significant reduction in segment level costs.

Speaker 2

Normalized operating expenses in the Q1 decreased by $10,000,000 compared to the same period in 2023. Our uncorrelated strategies, the foundation of our alternatives platform exhibited positive performance in the quarter. The performance of our Asia credit strategy was particularly robust, up 5.4% in the Q1. We remain committed to providing access to innovative and differentiated investment opportunities within our comprehensive range of services and solutions. To that end, we are excited to announce our partnership with leading tech investor, Hero Tomorrow, to collaborate on a private market equity strategy, investing in growth stage technology companies.

Speaker 2

We have a long standing model of successfully partnering with leading fund managers and this latest partnership is set to capitalize on the current compelling valuation environment and dynamic opportunity set of growth stage tech names in the venture ecosystem. We believe this partnership exemplifies the complementary nature of our platform. We're able to allocate capital actively and passively across the platform, not only to benefit our clients, but also to produce uncorrelated returns for Ulti. As we execute our strategy, we will continue to allocate capital based on identified megatrends, including disruptive technology, which provide a framework for attractive returns with a blended goal of positively impacting the environment and society. As I wrap up my comments on our progress, I would like to highlight the significant advancements we've made on our enterprise strategy.

Speaker 2

We were pleased to announce the strategic relationships with Allianz X and Constellation Wealth Capital or CWC, which are transformative for Altice. These investments, which total up to $450,000,000 support our strategy to become the leading global independent multifamily office for the ultrahighnetworth segment with a targeted expertise in alternatives. The first installment of CWC's investment totaling 100 and $15,000,000 closed in March and we expect the remaining $35,000,000 to fund later this month. We anticipate closing our agreement with Allianz X in the second half 2024. As we've discussed, these partnerships are designed to both enable Altice to expand and to fortify our global footprint in key markets and to fuel accretive acquisitions through disciplined deployment of growth capital.

Speaker 2

The partnership with CWC is already proving to be immensely valuable to Allty, as they are helping to attract and recruit revenue generating talent enhance our relationships in the ultra high net worth wealth management sector. With respect to Allianz, we're excited by the opportunity to strengthen and grow client relationships, expand our platform of client solutions and benefit from an experienced team, global scale and broad network when that transaction closes later this year. On the M and A side, we've been leveraging the expertise and capital from our partners as demonstrated by our recently announced transaction. As we integrate these acquisitions into our existing platform, they'll considerably augment our asset base and accelerate margin expansion through enhancing operating leverage. This is an extremely exciting time to be leading Altice.

Speaker 2

We have clear momentum across our business and believe that we can drive accelerated growth and profitability in the quarters to come. With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve to take you through a deeper dive in our financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Mike. Progress with our strategic partners has positioned Alti for growth for the quarters to come, as we continue to execute on our long term strategy and to streamline and reposition the portfolio on our core recurring revenue businesses. Ulti generated revenues of $51,000,000 in the Q1. While this reflects a 12% decrease compared to the Q1 of 2023, recurring management fee revenues were essentially flat during this period. We are pleased with the stability of the management fees given the sale of LSI was completed during the current quarter.

Speaker 3

In addition, the prior year period also included approximately $2,000,000 of management fees related to a public real estate fund, which was deconsolidated from our results after the Q2 of 2023. Further, on a quarter over quarter basis, recurring management fee revenues were up 1.4%, reflecting the stable, predictable nature of the business. Revenues in our Wealth Management segment increased 17% to $37,000,000 in the Q1 compared to the Q1 of 2023, consistent with AUM growth during this period. Our robust asset growth is driven by strong market performance as well as by our acquisition of Singapore based AO Wealth and our increased stake in the Lugano based multifamily office during 2023. 99% of Wealth Management revenues in Q1 2024 were recurring.

Speaker 3

In our Strategic Alternatives segment, revenue totaled $14,000,000 in Q1, a decrease of $13,000,000 compared to the Q1 of 2023, largely driven by reduced distributions from investments and lower assets compared to the same quarter in 2023. As discussed earlier, the comparable quarter in 2023 included management fee revenue from public real estate, which was deconsolidated from our results starting in the Q3 of 2023. Compared to the immediately prior quarter, management fees were only marginally down, despite a sequential 14% decrease in assets, largely related to the sale of LXI, which removed $2,300,000,000 in AUM. In addition, the strategic repositioning of the Private Real Estate business resulted in decreased assets as we have exited and of course restructured certain deals. Notably, recurring revenues in the segment were 88% in the quarter.

Speaker 3

GAAP net income for the Q1 was $22,000,000 compared to a net loss of $90,000,000 in the comparable period in 2023, primarily due to higher other income, driven by positive mark to market in the Q1 from certain items accounted for at fair value, including earn out liabilities and the tax receivable agreement. Normalized for 1 off items, our adjusted net income for the Q1 was approximately $200,000 Normalized operating expenses for the Q1, which exclude non cash compensation, expenses related to severance costs, depreciation and amortization and certain transaction and deal related expenses were $45,000,000 down $8,000,000 compared to the Q1 of 2023. Excluding incentive compensation, cash compensation costs decreased $6,000,000 or 20% from the prior year period, demonstrating the progress we achieved in executing our cost saving initiatives. Streamlining our cost structure remains a top priority for us. As these efforts continue, we would expect normalized operating expenses trend further downward.

Speaker 3

1st quarter adjusted EBITDA was $7,000,000 a decrease of $4,000,000 compared to the Q1 of 2023 and $3,000,000 compared to the previous quarter. The year over year decline was driven by lower distributions from investments, while the sequential quarter decline is due to the impact of lower incentive fee income, largely offset by a 24% decrease in normalized non compensation expenses. On a positive note, our adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 13% in the Q1 from 10% in the Q4 of 2023, reflecting lower operating expenses from our ongoing efforts to streamline and simplify the platform. We believe that this momentum will continue throughout 2024 as we complete dispositions of more complex, operationally intensive businesses and onboard recurring revenue businesses that have simpler structures and higher operating margins. Further, I would like to provide some more detail on the EastEnd acquisition.

Speaker 3

EastEnd reflects the type of transaction we expect to complete as we execute our interglenics growth strategy. As Mike mentioned, the firm is U. S. Based with offices in New York and Palm Beach and focuses exclusively on serving ultrahighnetworthclients and foundations. Accordingly, they have an attractive recurring revenue business of $6,000,000,000 in AUM.

Speaker 3

We acquired Eastend for an initial purchase price of approximately $76,000,000 with additional contingent consideration payable over a 5 year period. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that we reserving any updates to our financial targets until later this year after the Allianz X transaction has closed. However, as you think about the rest of the year, it should be noted that our go forward results will no longer include contributions from LXI or the European Trust and Private Office Service Business following completion of those dispositions. However, starting in the Q2, we will consolidate the results of EastEnd. And starting in the Q3, we expect to consolidate the results of Envoy.

Speaker 3

Both EastEnd and Envoy are purchased at low to mid teens enterprise value to EBITDA multiples, in line with our current M and A acquisition criteria, and we anticipate there will be strong contributors to Ulti's results going forward. As Mike mentioned, we expect that these acquisitions along with PointWise will produce similar top and bottom line contributions to the recently divested businesses. Further, they are important components of our growth initiatives that we expect to strengthen our corporations, densify our presence in key markets, all while being accretive to EBITDA going forward. With that, I will turn it back to Mike for concluding comments.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Steve, and thanks everyone for joining us this morning. As you can see, we've hit the ground running in 2024, establishing strategic partnerships, executing accretive acquisitions and expanding our portfolio of products and services to attract and retain an exceptional client base. We're committed to delivering disciplined growth while managing our expense profile to offer shareholders long term margin expansion. Our unwavering focus on the ultrahighnetworth segment differentiates us from other public wealth and alternative platforms. We are positioned to be the global leader with this population and we look forward to updating you on progress in the quarters to come.

Speaker 2

With that, I'll open up the call for questions.

Operator

Thank Our first question is from Wilma Burgess with Raymond James. Please proceed.

Speaker 4

Hey, good morning, everyone. Could you please give us an update on the investment by Allianz and CWC? Specifically, could you talk about the timeline for the approvals process and the potential timing for you to bring in the capital? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. Hi, Wilma. How are you? I'll answer that quickly. So CIPEN, they're really separate.

Speaker 2

CWC did not have to apply for regulatory approval. So $115,000,000 of the $115,000,000 total was drawn and part of that was used in the East End acquisition, an additional $35,000,000 will be coming this quarter to complete that. Allianz has put forth all of the regulatory approvals. So that is in the works and that has been in the works now for several months. They move very quickly in all the in the 5 jurisdictions.

Speaker 2

We expect that in the second half of the year. We obviously hope that it occurs earlier in the Q3 than later, but we're that is our timeframe that we're working with.

Speaker 1

Thank you. And could you talk

Speaker 4

a little bit about this trajectory of expenses? Is around $60,000,000 ex notables and professional fees a good run rate? And could you discuss the outlook for professional fees giving upcoming investments in inorganic growth? Sorry, that was hard to say.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Wilma. It's Steve. How are you?

Speaker 4

I'm doing well. How are you?

Speaker 5

Great. So yes, I think as you've seen in the results, we're starting to see some results or some good trends, at least in the results from on the professional feline and the non compensation operating expenses, yes, compared to the Q1 of 2023, we're down about $8,000,000 in the period compared to the same period of last year, which is roughly a 15% decline. As we continue to move forward, we are very focused on further reducing professional fee spend. And with that continued focus, we do expect the trends to continue to trend downward. Obviously, as we embark on M and You won't see those.

Speaker 5

You'll see those as part of the sort of gross GAAP expenses. But on a normalized basis, we add those back. And so those won't be the normalized expenses. So you might see a situation where at least for the next few quarters as we sort of execute on M and A activity, you might see a little bit higher professional fees on a gross basis, but on a normalized basis, they should continue to trend down.

Speaker 2

And Loma, just to supplement what Steve said, this is a focus of the Board, senior management, obviously Steve and his team. It is also directly tied to the streamlining and simplification of the business in aggregate. So those 2 are linked and important to accomplish on the timeline. So that is absolutely one of our top goals for this calendar year to continue to make significant progress there.

Speaker 4

Gotcha. Thank you. So the $60,000,000 I think that was ex the notables and professional fees. Is that pretty that's pretty good for now? I think you guys talked a little bit more about the professional fee part, but and then I think you guys have talked about $60,000,000 of run rate cost saves that should come in later this year.

Speaker 4

So maybe just talk about that piece as well. Thank you.

Speaker 5

So yes, Wilbur, I think you're referring to what we previously discussed roughly $16,000,000 of cost savings that were identified as part of an exercise we did during 2023. So we've talked about the fact that those cost savings would be achieved over a multi period time horizon and would be fully embedded in our results by the end of the Q2 of 2024. So I think we'd still say that that's the case. I think when you look at our go forward professional expenses and sorry, go forward operating expenses, I should say, you'll see the benefit of that cost saving initiative fully embedded in the results by the end of the second quarter. So I think we're still on track for that.

Speaker 1

Thank you. And can you just go up

Speaker 4

the rationale for exiting the LXI REIT advisory business? And it seems like you brought in a couple of very nice deals. And it sounds like you talked about those offsetting each other from an earnings perspective. But maybe talk a little bit about the businesses you've exited and the businesses you've entered and why you like that trade? Thank you.

Speaker 2

The Board of LXI was the driver of the decision. We were the manager of the REITs. They felt that the combination of London Metric and LXI was a stronger, more scalable business. So the acquisition was ultimately approved by the Board and we helped obviously played along with the diligence process and then negotiated what we felt was fair value for the exit of the remaining portion of the contract that we have.

Speaker 5

And Wilma, what I'd add to Mike's comments in terms of LXI coming off and it's now out of our numbers starting in the Q2. But what will be coming on to replace that revenue and EBITDA is the consolidation of East End. And also when we get to the Q3, there'll be the consolidation of Envoy, which we've just recently announced. And so the combination of those, when you think about what's coming off versus what's going on, it will largely be replaced. However, when you think about the revenue streams and the complexity of the new businesses versus the old, we feel that it's a better fit.

Speaker 5

This is these types of acquisitions are very much in line with the type of business that we really like from an operating perspective. It's recurring revenue based activity at sort of lower headcount, lower operational risk complexity type of thing. So we really like these businesses.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you. And maybe just talk a little bit about the pipeline. It seems like it's been pretty active, but just realized you've got a lot of capital to invest. So maybe just talk about what you're seeing out there.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

We think of it in 3 ways and it's important. Our top priority is and will always be organic growth and the importance of why we integrate our offices, our operations globally is because the collaboration and the support for the business development effort that can be driven by that leads to organic growth. So that is a critical focus we'll always be and the more we get integration behind us, the more the organic growth begins to accelerate. So that's the primary focus. The secondary focus is talent acquisition.

Speaker 2

As we think about our various jurisdictions and where we have offices across these various regions, we want to be able to bring in revenue producing talent. We have the infrastructure to support them. We have a global infrastructure that is unique and we are now turning our efforts or recruiting efforts really towards bringing in talent as we highlighted one in Dallas and a team of people that are already paying benefits and the same is true in Europe, which we'll talk about in later quarters. In terms of the inorganic pipeline, we are looking at that holistically. There really needs to be a strategic fit.

Speaker 2

The wealth firms that have joined us fit squarely in not only our strategy, but culturally in their perfect fits within our organization. So the integration will be seamless. That's vital importance to us. We're now beginning to look spend more time looking across other geographies. And obviously, we are engaged as well in the strategic alternative side.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

With no further questions at this time, I would like to turn the conference back over to Mike Tiedelman for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We look forward to meeting with many

Speaker 1

of you in the months to come. And if you're interested in meeting

Speaker 2

with me or other members of the management team, please don't hesitate to reach out to Lilly. As I mentioned earlier, we really do feel we are positioned to generate accelerated growth in 2024 and create long term value for our shareholders. Wishing you all a happy and healthy beginning of summer before our next update in August. Thank you again.

Operator

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you for your participation.

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Earnings Conference Call
AlTi Global Q1 2024
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