PJT Partners Inc Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Hi, good morning and thanks for taking the questions. Paul, maybe I could just start with the sponsor M&A. Sponsors have remained slower in transacting, but obviously do have a lot to sell or IPO. In your analysis, do many of these assets now have enough EBITDA that they can actually be sold for a gain? And maybe you could just comment based on your dialogues when you expect Sponsor sell-sides to start to come back to the market more fully?

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Makes a lot of sense. An adjacent question. The secondary or the continuation fund business, I would imagine likely slows in terms of growth with the return of regular way of sponsor M&A and IPOs. Have you given any thought to what that particular dynamic means for the growth rate of continuation funds? I guess what portion of assets should be in continuation fund vehicles versus they're being put in them right now because regular weight exit strategies are not available. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, PJT.N - Q2 2025 PJT Partners Inc Earnings Call

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : That's very clear. Thanks so much, Paul.

Question: James Mitchell - Seaport Global Securities LLC - Analyst : Hey, good morning.

Question: James Mitchell - Seaport Global Securities LLC - Analyst : Hey, Paul. Just -- I know one area of focus has been leveraging kind of the Park Hill franchise to build out coverage of financial sponsors on the M&A side. Can you just give us an update on where you think you are in terms of moving along that spectrum and kind of getting more into the middle market deals with financial sponsors and leveraging that Park Hill relationships?

Question: James Mitchell - Seaport Global Securities LLC - Analyst : Okay, that's helpful. And maybe, obviously seeing good growth on the strategic advisory side where a lot of the hiring has been concentrated in the last few years. So does that give you a little more? I mean, I know your comp ratios set, your best guess is now 67.5%. But does it give you more confidence with the record pipeline and strategic advisory revenue growth picking up that you're sort of lapping the growth and strategic headcount with revenues and we can start to see some progress in the next year or two on the comp ratio?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : I'm sorry, I was on mute. Hey, can you hear me?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : Yes. Sorry about that. I cut out. I don't know if that was everybody issue, but thanks for taking my questions, Paul. I guess to kick things off, I just wanted to get an update on the regulatory front. There's obviously a lot of optimism around the outlook for large cap M&A. Do the expectation for a lighter regulatory touch under the current administration, and it feels like that's warranted based on the recent decisions by the FCC. However, just based on your conversations thus far, would you say that C-suites are now more willing to push forward with large scale transactions than they were before, or has some of the volatility and macro uncertainty been too big of a stumbling block?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : That's helpful color. And I guess for my follow up, there's been a lot of optimism on the potential for a meaningful ramp in M&A in the back half now that we seem to be heading towards a resolution on tariffs and, getting greater clarity on the macro outlook. But just wanted to get your views on what the trajectory of that recovery could look like, given It feels like there's significant pent up demands for transactions, specifically on the sponsor side, but it does feel like there's still a few big question marks out there on both trade as well as interest rates and the like.

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : Okay, thank you for taking my questions.

Question: Alex Bond - KBW - Analyst : Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just moving back to Park Hill and the fundraising business. So your placement fees were up quarter-over-quarter, but you did call out that the broader fundraising backdrop remains challenging. So just curious, to what extent that you may have seen an improvement here in the recent weeks as the macro backdrop has improved there? And then you also mentioned that you expect, both the primary and private capital contribution to improve for Park Hill in the second half, but just trying to get a sense of if you think that contribution might be more weighted towards the private capital side, given the challenging fundraising backdrop. Thanks.

Question: Alex Bond - KBW - Analyst : Got it. No, thanks. That's helpful caller. I will jump back in the queue. Thanks, Paul.

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Hey, thanks. Good morning everyone.

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : I'm doing great. I just got a bigger picture question, Paul, just around kind of the PJT franchise today and what you guys have built in the past handful of years. Obviously the firm looks different than in 2021 kind of the prior of peak cycle, and you know the number of groups that you have today are much bigger from an industry perspective and they were kind of (technical difficulty). So what's just, maybe give a little bit of a sense of where you feel like you're really getting some network effects on that scaling, (technical difficulty) whether it's industries or the sectors or geography is kind of where you feel like you're seeing evidence of network effects and there may be areas where you feel like there's been a lot of investments made. The momentum maybe hasn't come through yet to the public, but you're really optimistic about. Thanks.

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great, thanks, Paul. And then can you just touch on the restructuring opportunity outside the US and just kind of initiatives to scale the footprint and, yeah. I have to say probably don't need a lot of headcount, but just kind of where that may go over the next couple of years. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JULY 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, PJT.N - Q2 2025 PJT Partners Inc Earnings Call

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : That's great. Thanks for taking my questions. Appreciate it, Paul.