VCTR

Good morning, welcome to the Victory Capital first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All callers are in a listen only mode. Following the company's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Matthew Dennis, Chief of Staff and Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Dennis.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. As many of you know, last month I shared that I'll be retiring from Victory. It's been a true privilege to serve on this management team and to be part of the ongoing sensational growth of the firm. This will be my final earnings cycle, and while I'll certainly miss working alongside all of you, I'm excited to stay connected as an engaged shareholder and a proud, enthusiastic supporter of Victory's continued success. One personal highlight for me was my first earnings call with this team and seeing the level of preparation, collaboration, and care that goes into every detail. That spirit has been consistent ever since, and it's a big part of what I'll miss the most.

Many of you already know Carly, and for those of you who haven't had the opportunity to meet her yet, I'm delighted to introduce her. Carly has supported me since joining Victory in 2023 as Director of Responsible Business. Prior to Victory, she led an investor relations team in the U.K., she brings valuable experience and a very acute attention to detail that'll serve you all well as I pass the baton. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Carly Thomas, Director of Investor Relations and Responsible Business. Carly, we're glad to have you here. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Matt, and congratulations. I have big shoes to fill, and I'm grateful for the example you've set over the past three years we've worked together. I've learned a great deal from you. To everyone on the call, on the webcast or reading along, I'm excited to work with you and continue building on the momentum Matt helped create. Before I turn the call over to David Brown, I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make several forward-looking statements. Victory Capital's actual results may differ materially from these statements. Please refer to our SEC filings for a list of some of the risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed on today's call. Victory Capital assumes no duty and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Our press release, which was issued after the market closed yesterday, disclosed both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results. We believe the non-GAAP measures enhance the understanding of our business and our performance. Reconciliations between these non-GAAP measures and the most comparable GAAP measures are included in tables that can be found in our earnings press release and in the slides accompanying this call, both of which are available on the investor relations section of our website at ir.vcm.com. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to David Brown, Chairman and CEO. David.

Thanks, Carly. Matt, on behalf of the entire Victory Capital team, thank you. Your dedication, your professionalism, and the standard you set for how we engage with our shareholders and the investment community has been invaluable. We are deeply grateful, and we wish you all the best in this next chapter. Good morning, all, and welcome to Victory Capital's first quarter 2026 earnings call. I'm joined today by Michael Policarpo, our President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, and of course, Matt and Carly. I will start today with an overview of our first quarter results, which I'm pleased to say were exceptional, while also highlighting a few specific areas of our business. After that, I will turn the call over to Mike to review the financial results in greater detail. Following our prepared remarks, we will be available to answer your questions.

The quarterly business overview begins on slide five. I want to start by saying that Q1 2026 was an exceptional quarter, one that set new records across multiple dimensions of our business. We achieved record long-term gross flows, record adjusted EBITDA, and record adjusted earnings per share all in the same quarter. We also progressed meaningfully in several other strategic areas of our business that are reflected in our quarterly results. The results reflect the strength of the platform and our team's ability to execute. We ended March with $313 billion in total client assets, slightly below the record quarter end level we achieved at year-end. Long-term gross flows reached $18.9 billion, which was up 11% from Q4 2025.

To put that in perspective, this is 104% higher than in the same quarter last year and reflects the continued momentum of our expanded U.S. distribution platform, our growing international distribution channel, and the ongoing strength of our VictoryShares ETF platform. At an annualized run rate of approximately $76 billion, or roughly 24% of long-term AUM, we believe we are generating gross sales at a level that can support positive organic growth over time as we continue to invest and integrate sales and marketing resources from our Pioneer acquisitions. Long-term net flows improved meaningfully during the quarter. The trajectory here is encouraging, with multiple investment franchises and VictoryShares ETFs generating positive net flows. Additionally, our international distribution channel continues to yield positive flows even as we are just beginning to get Vintage Victory products launched and into the channel.

From a financial perspective, adjusted EBITDA reached $204 million, and our adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 52.6%. We are particularly proud of these results because they demonstrate the resilience of our operating model and the exceptional people who run it day in and day out. The consistency of our margin speaks for itself. Above 49% every single quarter since 2020, and above 50% in the majority of them. That does not happen by accident. It is the direct result of a purposefully designed, highly efficient, scalable platform utilizing technology and smart strategic outsourcing, which affords us the ability to invest in the areas that matter the most for future growth while allowing us to maintain the discipline that defines how we run the business.

Adjusted earnings per diluted share with tax benefit were $1.82, up 2% from Q4 and 34% higher than Q1 of last year. We also continue to return meaningfully capital to shareholders. I will cover this in more detail later, but we repurchased a quarterly record of 2 million shares of VCTR common stock during the quarter, and combined with our dividend, returned $185 million to shareholders. As we step back and look at where we are as a company, Q1 2026 reflects the continued payoff of the strategic investments we have made in distribution, technology, product development, and people, as well as the transformational impact of the Pioneer acquisition and the Amundi distribution partnership. The integration is substantially complete. We are on track with our synergies, and the benefits are evident in our results.

Turning to slide six, I want to provide an update on our VictoryShares ETF platform, which continues to be one of the most exciting growth engines in our business. ETF AUM ended the quarter at over $20 billion, up 7% quarter-over-quarter and 53% year-over-year. That is a remarkable pace of growth and reflects both the quality of our product lineup and the investments we have made in distribution. Our ETF AUM CAGR since 2017 is 28%. We see no signs of that momentum slowing. Net flows for the quarter were $1.3 billion, continuing the strong organic growth trajectory. Our Free Cash Flow ETF suite continues to generate consistent inflows. Our fixed income ETFs remain in demand across the intermediary channel.

We are winning new shelf space and home office recommendations, and our sales team continues to deepen relationships with key platform partners and financial advisors. Lastly, I would also like to remind you that our average ETF fee rate is 35 basis points with margins that meet our firm-wide requirements. Internationally, I'm pleased to report that we have commenced selling our U.S.-listed ETFs across Asia, which represents a new distribution channel for this business. The early reception has been positive, and as we develop this channel, we think there is a great opportunity to expand our client base to include investors outside the U.S. In addition, we are close to having our ETFs available for sale in certain countries in Latin America, which would represent another new geography for this platform.

Looking ahead, we also filed three new ETF products with the SEC during the first quarter, with additional launches planned throughout 2026. Product development remains active, and we continue to identify opportunities to expand our suite in ways that are aligned with client demand. Slide seven highlights our international distribution platform, which continues to gain traction. At quarter end, we had $55 billion of AUM from clients outside the U.S. across 60 countries, with 29 of those countries now having more than $100 million in AUM in Victory products. Importantly, our international channel was net flow positive again in Q1 2026 and is net flow positive since we closed the Pioneer acquisition.

I want to take a moment to provide some context on where we are in the development of this channel because I think it is important to appreciate both the progress we have made and the significant opportunity that lies ahead. The Amundi sales force is a large and highly capable global distribution engine, and they are quickly learning about Victory Capital and our investment franchises. Building conviction in a new product set, completing the necessary due diligence, and educating platforms, financial advisors, consultants, and institutional clients across dozens of markets around the world is a multi-year journey. Everything is going as planned, and the structural foundation is firmly in place, which we are building on. We have a 15-year strategic distribution agreement with Amundi, under which Victory Capital serves as their exclusive provider of U.S.-manufactured traditional active investment solutions.

We have a Victory Capital sales team located in major geographies supporting the Amundi sales infrastructure, as well as a sales support group here in the U.S. We now manage 23 UCITS products spanning equities, fixed income, and global multi-asset strategies, giving the Amundi sales force a diversified and growing product set to work with. We are planning additional UCITS launches in 2026, including additional strategies from Vintage Victory investment franchises, with priorities driven by bottom-up demand signals from Amundi's local distribution teams. The product set is expanding, the sales teams are getting up to speed, and the momentum is building. We look forward to reporting on our progress here as this channel continues to grow. Turning to slide nine, investment performance improved during the first quarter and remains excellent across the platform.

As of March 31, 2026, 58 mutual funds and ETFs earned four or five-star overall ratings from Morningstar, representing 68% of our rated AUM. This performance reflects broad-based strength across our investment franchises. When we look at performance against benchmarks, the picture is equally compelling. 71% of our AUM outperformed over the one-year period, 67% over three years, 68% over five years, and an impressive 81% over the 10-year period. On a strategy count basis, 69%, 67%, 70%, and 70% of strategies outperformed over those same periods. Investment performance is the foundation of everything we do. The results we are reporting today reflect the talent and discipline of our investment professionals across all our investment franchises, and we remain deeply committed to delivering excellent investment outcomes for our clients. Slide 10 covers our long-term growth and capital allocation strategy.

Since our IPO in 2018, we have returned $1.4 billion to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends. That is a remarkable figure when you consider that we received just $157 million in net proceeds from the IPO back in February of 2018. During the first quarter, we repurchased 2 million shares of VCTR common stock. This reflects our conviction in the value of our stock and our commitment to returning capital to shareholders when the opportunity presents itself. Combined with our dividend, we returned $185 million to shareholders in the quarter alone, and over the trailing 12 months, we have returned $512 million of capital to shareholders, more than $6 per share. I also want to highlight that since April 1, 2025, the date we closed the Pioneer acquisition, we have repurchased approximately 5 million shares of VCTR common stock.

That represents approximately 22% of the 22.9 million shares that we issued to Amundi as consideration for the transaction. That said, I want to be clear about our capital allocation priorities. Strategic acquisitions remain our best and primary use of capital. Our buyback program is meaningful and ongoing, but is complementary to, not a substitute for, our long-term inorganic growth strategy. We evaluate capital deployment on a facts and circumstances basis, and our flexible balance sheet gives us the ability to pursue multiple objectives simultaneously. Turning to slide 11, I want to spend a few minutes on our acquisition strategy because it remains an important input into how we think about creating long-term value for shareholders. Inorganic growth is a strategic priority, and our pipeline of acquisition opportunities is extensive, and we are very active. The environment for transactions in our sector remains highly favorable.

The structural forces driving consolidation, increasing regulatory complexity, technology requirements, distribution access, and scale economics are only becoming more pronounced. That backdrop creates compelling opportunity for a well-capitalized, proven acquirer like Victory Capital. Our approach has always been, and will remain, disciplined. We evaluate every opportunity against a clear set of strategic and financial criteria, and we will not compromise those standards. Every acquisition we have made has been strategically grounded, designed to improve our overall platform, enhance our distribution capabilities, diversify our client base, or add complementary investment capabilities. The financial benefits are a positive outcome, not the starting point. Importantly, this remains a highly fragmented industry, and there are a lot of opportunities to better our company via acquisitions. In fact, I would stress we have more opportunities today than we have ever had as we review our pipeline and our current discussions.

We have the ability to pursue multiple opportunities at the same time, and that is exactly what we have done over the years and what we are doing today. That said, we have the patience and discipline to wait for the right opportunity and the financial strength to move decisively when one presents itself. We have a tremendous business today that is positioned very well in the market to deliver for our clients and our shareholders in a very positive way. The exact timing of any given transaction is always difficult to predict, but our track record of consistent, superior execution over more than a decade gives me great confidence in our ability to continue delivering transformational growth through M&A as we work our way to our $1 trillion in assets under management goal.

With that, I will turn the call over to Mike, who will go through the financial results in more detail. Mike.

Thanks, Dave, and good morning, everyone. The financial results review begins on slide 13. Total revenue came in at $388 million, up 4% from the fourth quarter and 77% compared to the first quarter of last year. Adjusted EBITDA reached $204 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 52.6%. Adjusted net income with tax benefit was $153 million or $1.82 per diluted share, up 34% from the same quarter last year. With the Pioneer integration substantially complete and our distribution investments beginning to gain traction, we are starting to see the earnings power of the business. We returned $185 million to shareholders in the quarter, a combination of our quarterly dividend and the repurchase of 2 million shares of VCTR common stock.

The board also approved an increase in our regular quarterly cash dividend to $0.50 per share, payable on June 25th to shareholders of record on June 10th. The balance sheet is in excellent shape with a net leverage ratio of 1.1x, which gives us the flexibility to pursue all our capital allocation objectives simultaneously. On slide 14, we show our total client assets at quarter end. We ended March with $313 billion in total client assets. Our AUM remains well-diversified across the US retail, US institutional, US direct, and international channels. One data point I would like to highlight on this slide is the continued growth of our international business. We now have clients in 60 countries, and 29 of those countries have more than $100 million in AUM with us.

As Dave described, we are still in the early stages of developing this channel, and the trajectory is very encouraging. Our long-term flows are shown on slide 15. Long-term gross flows of $18.9 billion were the highest quarterly gross sales in our history. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of gross flows at or above $15 billion. Net flows improved meaningfully during the quarter, coming in at -$457 million, and we are encouraged by the trend pointing towards sustained positive organic growth as our distribution investments continue to be realized and our momentum broadens. Multiple investment franchises and platforms contributed positive net flows in the quarter, including Pioneer Investments, Trivalent, RS Global, VictoryShares ETFs, and WestEnd Advisors.

This breadth of positive contributors is exactly what we have been working towards, and it reflects the diversity and quality of our investment platform. Our international channel was also net flow positive in Q1 and since the Pioneer acquisition. Our firm-wide won but not yet funded pipeline remains significant, spanning multiple franchises and distribution channels. We expect this to provide additional support to our flow results as mandates fund over the coming quarters. Slide 16 provides additional detail on revenue. As I mentioned, our quarterly revenue of $388 million was a record for the company. We saw an increase of $13.9 million quarter-over-quarter. year-over-year revenue was up 77%, a reflection of the transformational impact of the Pioneer acquisition.

Our average fee rate of 47.6 basis points was at the high end of our guidance range, and we continue to expect the fee rate to remain in the 46-47 basis point range going forward, reflecting the current mix of our diversified business. The stability of our fee rate through significant changes in our AUM composition, including the Pioneer acquisition, the growth in our ETF platform, and various product launches, speaks to the quality and balance of our product, client, and vehicle mix. Turning to expenses on slide 17. Total operating expenses were $228.8 million in the first quarter, up from $220.9 million in Q4. The sequential increase was primarily driven by two factors. First, the seasonal reset of annual payroll taxes and employee benefits that occurs every first quarter.

Second, a modest increase in acquisition, restructuring, and integration costs. Cash compensation as a percentage of revenue was 24% in the quarter, reflecting the seasonal payroll dynamics I mentioned. On a normalized basis, we continue to expect cash compensation to run in the low to mid-20s as a percentage of revenue. On synergies, we have now achieved approximately $104 million of the expected $110 million in total net expense synergies from the Pioneer acquisition, which closed just 12 months ago. The integration is substantially complete, and we are well-positioned to capture the remaining synergies over the course of 2026. I want to take a step back and explain what this net synergy achievement represents. We acquired a business that significantly increased the size and scale of our company and will be fully integrated in less than two years.

We are exceeding many of our financial objectives while also globalizing our business through the international distribution channel, which has been net flow positive since the close of the acquisition. Moreover, the Pioneer Investments franchise has been net flow positive since we closed the acquisition, and we have launched new products for the franchise, specifically the first ETF managed from the platform. Lastly, we are simultaneously investing in the future growth of the entire business by adding significant resources to our sales and marketing functions across every distribution channel. Turning to our non-GAAP metrics on slide 18. Adjusted EBITDA of $204 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 52.6% represent the continued strength and consistency of our platform. As noted, 19 of the last 23 quarters have delivered margins above 50% and all have been above 49%.

This consistency through different market cycles, multiple acquisitions, and while making significant investments in our platform is what distinguishes our business model from many others in our industry. Adjusted net income with tax benefit of $153.2 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, was up 2% from Q4 and 34% from Q1 of last year. Turning to slide 19. Our balance sheet and capital management position remain strong and provide us with significant strategic flexibility. At March 31st, 2026, we had $76 million of cash, $980 million of debt, and a net leverage ratio of 1.1x. Our $100 million revolving credit facility remains undrawn. Cash interest expense declined again in the quarter to $14 million, reflecting the benefit of the refinancing we completed in Q3 2025 that lowered our borrowing cost by 35 basis points through reducing our interest rate. On capital return, as Dave highlighted, we repurchased 2 million shares during Q1, and combined with dividends, returned $185 million to shareholders. Over the trailing 12 months, we have returned $512 million to shareholders, more than $6 per diluted share. We believe this context is important and reflects our commitment to creating shareholder value through disciplined capital allocation. Looking ahead, our capital allocation philosophy is grounded in flexibility and discipline. We evaluate our capital deployment on an ongoing basis, informed by the facts and circumstances at any given time. Our primary objective remains the execution of accretive strategic acquisitions that make our business better.

Our buyback program is active and meaningful, and our dividend provides a consistent return to shareholders. The strength of our free cash flow generation and our healthy balance sheet gives us the ability to pursue all these objectives simultaneously. With that, I will turn the call back to the operator for questions.

Will now begin the question-and-answer section please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like ask a question please press star one to raise your hand to withdraw your press star one again .We ask that you pick up the handset when asking your question to allow for optimum sound quality .If your are muted locally please remember to unmute your device .Please stand by as while compile the Q&A roaster.

Your first question comes from the line of Michael Cho with JPMorgan. Michael, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Dave and Mike. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to touch on one of the areas you highlighted during your prepared remarks on ETFs. It's clearly seen extremely strong growth over the years, and you continue to launch. It's, you know, it's still less than 10% of AUM today. I have a question is, you know, are there opportunities that might further energize growth here in this successful segment that you've seen? When you think about strategy, you know, what are the priorities kind of over the launch over the next 12-18 months?

Good morning, Michael. It's Dave. Let me start off. We have seen great growth on our ETF platform. We've seen that in a number of different areas on the intermediary side. Our client base and the platforms that we're on have been expanding. We're also getting additional products on those platforms. In our prepared remarks, I spoke about expanding the distribution outside the U.S. Today, our ETFs are available throughout Asia. We're opening up some countries in Latin America. That will help us with our growth. We're launching new products. We mentioned that we launched the first ETF off the Pioneer franchise platform. We'll launch additional ones. We will expand out some other investment strategies as well into an ETF wrapper.

We'll have product expansion and development. We're putting distribution resources from a people perspective, from investment in our distribution partners and from a marketing perspective. It'll be multifaceted on how we grow the business. We're super excited about it. There is industry tailwind as well. I think our product set really matches well with what's happening in the industry, where people are looking for solutions and really moving away from just ETFs as beta exposure. Lastly, and I always like to remind this, is, you know, our average fee on our ETF platform is 35 basis points, which very much looks and acts like an active product. It matches our fee rate requirements and really matches our margin requirements as well as a firm.

Great. No, thanks for that, Dave. If I could just follow up on your last point or last topic on fee rates, and not specific to ETFs, but just more broadly for Victory Capital in general. Can you just talk through Michael Policarpo, I think you gave some commentary on mix for fee rates. I was wondering if you could just talk through what supported the fee rate expansion quarter-over-quarter and, you know, if there's any performance fees or anything like that in there. Then why would you expect it to, you know, compress from here, you know, just given the normalized range of 46-47 you highlighted, other than the mix that you called out. Thanks.

Good morning. Good morning, Mike. Thanks for the question. You know, I think we've said our fee rate has really been a driver based on kind of the asset class, product mix, client mix, distribution channel and vehicle mix that we have. I think as we sit here today, we've been pretty consistent over the last 12 months post the Pioneer Investments acquisition, in the 46 to 47 basis point range, plus or minus a little bit depending upon, as you, as I called out, the asset mix or the client mix. In Q1, we did have some annual fees that we record that really are fees that get us to our standard rack rates. There's just an accounting that we record them in the first quarter.

We look at that over the course of a normalized period, and we're still in that long-term 46-47 basis point range. The areas of growth from a business perspective, we highlighted our international distribution channel. We also highlighted, and you just asked the question to Dave about our ETF growth. Those fees are still supportive of our overall fee rate, and we're comfortable with that guidance as we look out based on the growth that we foresee, to still have that 46-47 basis point range. Again, I think one thing we always highlight when we talk about our fee rate is the margin. Everything we do, channel, client, vehicle, meets the margin requirements that we have.

We'll continue to look at that as we move forward, but we're really happy with where the margins have been and will continue to be.

Your next question comes from the line of Benjamin Budish with Barclays. Benjamin, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Nathan on for Ben. Just to follow up on the fee rate dynamic here, can you just speak more about the annual fees that the firm has included, and just like the guidance around the total revenue? We understand that it has been guiding to 46- 47 for a while now, at least from Q2, and it's due to like asset mix and client mix. It seems as if like the firm consistently outperforms this metric or the guidance. Just wanted to have a little bit more color on what you guys are seeing in the annual fee portion, please. Thank you.

Thanks. It's not much more to add from the last question, I would say, or the last answer that we provided. We're still comfortable with the 46 -47 basis point range from a long-term guidance perspective. Any of the annual fees that we record in a particular quarter are pretty immaterial to the overall business. Again, those fees are really just getting us back to kind of our standard rack rates with some of the clients that we have. Nothing to add at this point in time. I think if we continue to see changes in the dynamics from an asset class or a vehicle perspective, we can evaluate it, but we're comfortable with the 46- 47 basis points.

Thank you. Just can you speak more about the one but unfunded channel? Is there a way to size up how large that is for the business?

It's Dave. Our one but not yet funded business, we don't guide on a number. I can tell you that it's widespread on a number of different franchises and platforms and a number of different channels. Where we're seeing strength is on the ETF side, on the global products side, both on Pioneer Investments and from RS Investments perspective, Trivalent Investments, WestEnd Advisors, also on the Pioneer Investments multi-asset and fixed income, and also on the equity side. All three of their major platforms. We're very excited about, as we said in our prepared remarks, about really the trajectory of gross and net flows. We have excellent investment performance, that's the beginning of it. We've really taken the time to invest in our distribution channels. We've increased the investment.

We've increased our FTE in almost all of the channels. We think we're pretty well-positioned to continue kind of the growth in, you know, from a flow perspective. The one but not yet funded book really supports that.

Your next question comes from the line of Kenneth Lee with RBC. Kenneth, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, thanks for taking my question. Just one on capital management and potential for inorganic growth opportunities there. Obviously very meaningful share purchases in the quarter. Should we interpret that as a signal that perhaps maybe an opportunity for inorganic growth is perhaps not really imminent, or is that the not the right takeaway there? Thanks.

No, it's absolutely not the right takeaway. We are opportunistic with buying our shares. We wanna own our shares. We think there's great value in owning our shares and the earnings power of our company. When we have the cash available and we think we have the ability to do a lot of different things with our capital, we'll buy our shares. We've done it aggressively. We have a lot of capacity and a lot of dry powder, as I said in the prepared remarks, our number one use of our capital is to do strategic acquisitions. We are in a really great environment from an acquisitive perspective.

You know, there are lots of pressures on many traditional asset management firms. We are a proven acquirer. We're gonna use our capital to buy businesses. When we're not buying businesses or in coordination with buying businesses where we have extra capital, we will buy our shares 'cause we think, you know, there's a lot of value in them

Great. That's very helpful. One follow-up, if I may. Just wanted to dig into some of the comments, I think it was in the prepared remarks, about adding some more sales and marketing resources across the various channels there. Wonder if you could just flesh that out a little bit more. Is this driven more by product specialization, or just want to get a little bit more details around, you know, what's driving this? Thanks.

It's really on a number of different fronts. First, as we see our international channel expand, we're adding resources to support the growth there. We're adding resources in the field and really also from a support structure. As we grow our intermediary distribution, we're adding resources to deal with marketing, digital marketing, support of the platform, support of different channels within the intermediary side, and that's from a technology perspective and also from a people perspective. So it's a number of different channels, and, you know, something that I think that we're gonna continue to do over time, we're gonna continue to invest in distribution, continue to invest in servicing clients, and continue to invest in our ability to get new clients.

Your next question comes from the line of Alexander Blostein. Alex, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hey. Good morning. This is Anthony on for Alex. I wanted to click into the like M&A attempt of Janus earlier in the quarter. I guess my question is, what was the rationale behind the deal? You know, just given the size and, you know, fairly similar overlap product mix of the two firms. Maybe just as a follow-up, like on the forward pipeline, should we expect a similar size deal and maybe product mix?

I think the Janus opportunity was well covered in the press. We thought the Janus opportunity, buying that business would create a phenomenal business coming out the other side, and it was a business that we thought we could buy, and it would make our company better. You know, as far as looking forward, you know, we've guided towards a $1 trillion goal of assets under management. We're looking at larger acquisitions. We're also looking at, I'd say, smaller strategic acquisitions maybe to fill in certain products that we don't have or certain things we're trying to accomplish. Our acquisition focus is definitely on the larger side. We're gonna be opportunistic. As I said in my prepared remarks, we're extremely active.

We have the ability to work on multiple things at the same time, and we have significant capacity. We're in a great spot. We can do something very large, like a Janus. We can do something strategic that maybe is smaller. We are talking to a lot of different people. The number one thing for us is, you know, any acquisition we're going to do, we start off from a strategic lens, and it has to make our company better. From there, we do our diligence, and we have our KPIs that we need to hit to do it in acquisition.

Thank you. That's it for me. Congratulations, Matt, on your retirement.

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, please press star one again. There are no further questions at this time. We have reached the end of the Q&A. This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.