Stuart A. Rothstein
Analyst · KBW
Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Third Quarter Earnings Call. As usual, joining me this morning in New York are Scott Weiner, our Chief Investment Officer; and Megan Gaul, our Chief Financial Officer, who will review ARI's financial results after my remarks. Despite the recent volatility in the capital markets as well as increasing concerns over geopolitical events and the global economy, the commercial real estate market has continued to perform well. Specifically, operating fundamentals continue to improve as evidenced by a decline in vacancy rates and increasing rent levels across most property types and markets. The sector also continues to benefit from strong capital flows from both equity and debt sources and robust transaction volume. Also important to note is the fact that development activity across the commercial real estate spectrum, but for the recent increase in multifamily, remains below historic averages. This confluence of factors has pushed property prices to record or near-record levels in gateway city core assets, and we have now begun to see increasing values in secondary and tertiary markets. Given the increased level of transaction activity and the positive capital flows, the real estate finance markets remain extremely active and the opportunity set for ARI continues to broaden. U.S. CMBS issuance year-to-date is roughly $72 billion, roughly 10% greater for the same period in 2013, and it is expected that issuance will be between $90 billion and $100 billion by year-end. Steady growth, but still well below the peak years. There continues to be a strong bid from commercial banks, conduit lenders and insurance companies for first mortgages, which has been extremely beneficial to ARI's co-origination model for subordinated loans as it enables ARI to achieve the company's target returns on mezzanine loans, while the overall blended cost of financing to the borrower remains attractive. In addition, amidst the recent volatility, we have seen some of the less traditional non-real estate investors exit the subordinate loan market, which benefits ARI with respect to negotiating transaction terms. 2014 has been ARI's most active year to date. The breadth of transactions closed, the performance of the investment portfolio and the strength of the current investment pipeline demonstrate the depth and quality of Apollo's commercial real estate debt platform. At quarter-end, ARI's investment portfolio totaled $1.5 billion of performing commercial real estate debt investments, which had a weighted average levered IRR of approximately 13.7%. Investment activity year-to-date totaled $1 billion and evidences ARI's ability to invest across the company's target asset spectrum, including well-structured transactions in both senior and subordinate debt and opportunistic CMBS strategies. The strength of the current portfolio resulted in the company's most successful quarter to date, as ARI reported operating earnings for the third quarter of $0.44 per share, which was a 26% increase over the same quarter of last year. In addition, the growth in our earnings has enabled us to drive down our dividend payout ratio, which we believe demonstrates the stability and security of our consistent $0.40 per share quarterly dividend. And as we look ahead, we are optimistic about the continued earnings power of the platform. With respect to ARI's investment pipeline, we continue to see ample opportunity in both the transitional first mortgage and subordinate loan sectors across a diverse mix of underlying property types and geographies. It is also worth noting that most of ARI's current pipeline is comprised of floating-rate transactions. Before I turn the call over to Megan to discuss our financials in detail, I would like to take a minute to discuss ARI's exposure to rising interest rates and what movements in rates means to our company. ARI's leverage remains relatively low with a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.2x at quarter-end. With respect to our assets at September 30, 50% of our loan portfolio had floating interest rates. And as I mentioned previously, our pipeline today mostly consists of floating-rate opportunities. Therefore, we believe ARI is well positioned for an increase in short-term rates. And by example, if LIBOR would increase by 50 basis points, based on our quarter-end portfolio and capital structure, we would expect ARI's operating earnings would increase by about $400,000. I would also like to point out that for financial reporting purposes, the only assets within ARI's portfolio that are marked to market are the company's CMBS assets, and we have seen very little volatility in that portfolio. Therefore, unlike our peers in the residential mortgage space whose book values are greatly impacted by movements in long-term rates, ARI's book value is far less volatile. Book value per common share at quarter-end was $16.42, a 1% increase over ARI's previous quarter's book value per common share. We recognize that, from a technical trading perspective, rising rates and their impact on fund flows per yield-oriented products will impact the trading in ARI stock, but it is important to remember that the improving economy is generally beneficial for the lateral, underlying ARI's mezzanine and first mortgage loans. In addition, over an extended period of time, it should be beneficial for ARI to have the ability to invest in a rising rate environment. And with that, I will turn the call over to Megan.