Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| And I think we've been very patient and in due course, we've been rewarded |
| This is testament to the strength of our team, to the power of digital infrastructures and asset class, and to the dedication and focus of our firm to meet the call of our customers, bringing the resources necessary to meet our key commitments |
| That starts with driving corporate operating leverage, improving our earnings and cash flows and ultimately redeploying that capital into the highest return opportunities for DigitalBridge shareholders |
| We believe these targets are both achievable and attractive, representing over 20% year-over-year growth, again, in a difficult fundraising environment |
| The combination of new capital formation, contribution from the InfraBridge acquisition, and FEEUM activation drove our fee revenues up 59% year-over-year and fee related earnings in our investment management segment up over 64% year-over-year |
| We think there's a lot of room to grow here, particularly as our flagship enters its third vintage and investors are increasingly familiar with both the resilience of digital infrastructure as an asset class, strong secular tailwinds that underpin its growth and the track record of the DigitalBridge investment management team over the last decade |
| That's what our 2024 business plan is all about, taking the strong momentum we've already built up and accelerating the DigitalBridge flywheel |
| And that's a long, long tail education process and one that we think is going to drive strong growth over the next couple of years in fundraising, particularly as the demand manifests itself in new leasing |
| The company is set to accomplish some incredible achievements this year and in the future, especially with Marc at the helm |
| That's a huge win-win |
| This company and all of our stakeholders should be proud of the significant transformation |
| And we are excited about the progress we are seeing in our products to start the year |
| We've had a fantastic first year results at Switch, and Switch is poised to deliver another big year of results |
| As you can see here, we've generated not only attractive revenue growth, but increasing earnings and substantially expanding our margins from the low 30s to the mid-40s in 2024 |
| And as you can see here at FEEUM, our key revenue and earnings driver, continued its strong growth in Q4, with the activation of our most recent flagship strategy |
| I'm really proud of that progress we've made, scaling a high margin, asset-light investment platform |
| In fact, we're confident that the InfraBridge platform will provide a good growth vector for us in 2025, amplifying our ability to take advantage of the middle market opportunities across a broader set of digital infrastructure and adjacent industries |
| In summary, Marc and I are very pleased with the company's performance in 2023 |
| And so I'm really excited about 2024 and beyond as we continue that momentum with solid revenue and earnings growth |
| That's $2.3 billion since last quarter, including $800 million year-to-date, led by strong initial commitments in our latest flagship product |
| And current corporate debt level with no near-term debt maturities allows the company to be nimble and positioning DigitalBridge for long-term shareholder success |
| And the good news about having the multi-strat setup that we have today between InfraBridge, right, the flagship product, late stage venture growth, credit, SAF, which is our core fund, and our two liquid securities and our continuation funds group, we have enough products out there that can keep growing |
| We have a very, very good feel for what we're doing |
| We foresee this powerful momentum to continue in 2024 and beyond as the company continues to asset manage, realize superior returns, and fundraise off of this track record, which drives significant yield and flow through to distributable earnings and free cash flow |
| This is really an incredible accomplishment, and I'm really proud of our team, and I'm proud of the firm |
| And of course, the AMP InfraBridge acquisition has now been successfully integrated with better-than-expected cost synergies and a value-add expansion in our investment mandate into middle market digital plus investing |
| March is lining up very strong |
| Moving to Page 18, the company continues to grow its investment management earnings and fee-earning equity under management, generated by strong fundraising throughout our product suite led by DBP III, fee-paying co-investments, credit, liquid strategies, and the addition of the InfraBridge funds |
| So look, I'm incredibly excited about what lies ahead for this year |
| Zayo had a tremendous year and a great turnaround, EBITDA up 6%, 7% in a tough macro, demonstrating our capability to get out there and go compete and ultimately deliver a business plan |
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| Our leverage was challenged while the top line and bottom line metrics were in rapid decline |
| I highlighted two years ago that the grid was insufficient to meet the demands of data center growth |
| We saw fiber-to-the-home business in Florida trade for over 30 times to a sponsor last week, and that just kind of blew our minds |
| Look, the fundraising environment is tough |
| And we said it when we bought AMP and converted to InfraBridge that energy transition was going to be a big issue |
| What kind of return rate should we be expecting from those investments? And I think there's some worry that we're kind of entering this peak data center demand environment |
| First, Marc, you talked about a historically challenging fundraising year in 2024 |
| But one of the headwinds that we see is availability of power |
| Consolidating that investment level debt was really a distortion that I believe made it unnecessarily hard for investors to understand and evaluate and appreciate DigitalBridge |
| Moving on to fiber, I think this is where you've seen the biggest degradation in multiples |
| We did have a few surprises where some check sizes came in a little higher |
| It's not a place where we perform particularly well |
| If people are just now waking up to the fact that we have a grid transmission issue, you probably weren't paying attention two years ago, or you just weren't in the business |
| And we have to keep doing that |
| And ATP and MTP and Highline are all executing down in Latin America |
| Check sizes are down anywhere between 10% and 30% |
| Buying existing data center platforms are incredibly expensive |
| And we have to keep taking outsized wallet |
| We have to keep evolving |
| In terms of the fundraising outlook, would you say that there's also alongside a slowdown in fundraising increased competition in the verticals that DigitalBridge target? To what extent is that a factor in your outlook? Marc Ganzi Well, I think if it's -- remember there's two dimensions to this alternative asset management business |
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