Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Piper Jaffray Companies conference call to discuss the financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012. [Operator Instructions] The company has asked that I remind you that statements on this call that are not historical or current facts, including statements about beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated are identified in the company's earnings release and reports on file with the SEC, which are available on the company's website at www.piperjaffray.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. This call will also include statements regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the company's earnings release issued today for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measure. The earnings release is available on the Investor Relations page of the company's website or at the SEC website. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Andrew Duff. Mr. Duff, you may begin your call.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to review our fourth quarter and full year results. Our strategy and our diverse mix of businesses produced solid results for the quarter and the year, overcoming adverse market conditions and volatility which confronted certain of our businesses. Compared to the prior quarter, strong performance in M&A and public finance and improved results in equities more than offset the anticipated decline in fixed income brokerage. On a full year basis, nearly all of our businesses registered improved results compared to 2011. While market conditions, which were more accommodating in 2012 than 2011, contributed to our favorable results, market share gains in several of our businesses, cost discipline and exiting certain businesses such as Asia also contributed to our improved performance. As a result, our ROE for the full year reached 5.7% versus 2.3% in 2011, excluding last year's Capital Markets goodwill impairment. Deb will provide more detail on our financial performance. I'd like to focus the rest of my remarks on the firm's strategy and our outlook for 2013. The central tenet of our strategy is to generate incremental improvements to our ROE over the near to midterm. We will concentrate our human and financial resources in those areas where we can generate higher margins and improve our return on capital. In addition, we believe our diversified mix of businesses benefits our shareholders. Key execution steps in 2012 included adding resources in public finance, fixed income and M&A; creating more flexibility with our lenders; reducing costs; and exiting businesses that lack sustainability or did not contribute meaningfully to our results. I'll begin with public finance. With historically strong margins and returns, we continue to make progress toward our goal of building a national franchise. In 2012, we hired 9 senior bankers and…

Thank you, Andrew. First, I'll provide comments on our results from continuing operations, and then provide additional financial detail around our discontinued operations. In the fourth quarter of 2012, continuing operations generated net revenues of $141 million driven by record Advisory Revenues. Net income was $15.6 million or $0.88 per diluted common share, and our pretax operating margin was 16.2%. For the full year, our pretax operating margin was 14.1% compared to 9.3% in 2011 excluding the goodwill impairment. Our significant improvement in margin is attributable to expense reduction initiative as well as operating leverage on higher revenues. For the fourth quarter of 2012, compensation and benefits expenses were 62% of net revenues compared to 65.2% for the fourth quarter of 2011 and 59.4% for the third quarter of 2012. The compensation ratio increased compared to the third quarter of 2012 due to a lower contribution from fixed income strategic trading which has a lower payout. In addition, higher onetime benefit expenses at year end also contributed to a 90 basis point increase in the comp ratio. For the full year, our compensation ratio was 60.7% compared to 61.3% in 2011. The lower ratio in 2012 is attributable to higher revenues and the mix of high [ph] business. Non-compensation expenses were $30.7 million, in line with our quarterly goal. Due to various cost savings initiatives, non-compensation expenses were unchanged relative to the year-ago period despite a revenue increase of 51%. On a full year basis, excluding the restructuring charge in 2012 and the goodwill impairment in 2011, non-compensation expenses declined 6%. Now I'll turn to the segment results. For the fourth quarter, Capital Markets generated net revenues of $124.5 million, pretax operating income of $19.4 million and pretax operating margin of 15.6%. Net revenues increased 8% compared to the third…

Thank you. Operator, we'd be happy to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Joel Jeffrey with KBW. Joel Jeffrey - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Just a follow-up on the decision to exit FAMCO or to sell FAMCO, just want to make sure I understand it. So the loss on the discontinued operation from this business is really purely tied to the goodwill impairment you're taking because you've decided to make the sale?

Correct. What we have done, given our intent to sell and the status of that sale, is recorded this as classified and I guess I would say it's held for sale, which puts it down in discontinued ops. And when you do that, that requires you to write-down your net assets to net realizable value, which ultimately caused us to write-off 100% of our goodwill based on the projected sale price. Joel Jeffrey - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Okay. So just sort of borrowing that goodwill impairment FAMCO actually would have been -- it looks like it might have been modestly profitable during the quarter?

Right. What you see in discontinued ops in that line is the profitability for all the time periods represented. Joel Jeffrey - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Okay, great. And then just thinking about the outlook for the muni market in 2013 and particularly first quarter. I mean, can you give us any sense for how things are tracking, if they can -- if you expect it to continue to be as strong as it's been? I know you've built out the business, but just sort of from a more organic standpoint.

Yes, it's obviously early in the quarter, the calendar is building at these absolute levels. It's still attractive for refunding. So we feel constructive about the environment. Joel Jeffrey - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division: Okay, great. And then I know you've made a series of headcount reductions and exited some business. But again, can you just give us a sense for -- remind us where you believe you can get the comp ratio down to over the longer term?

The -- our target comp ratio, again, as we look at it, it's very dependent on level and mix of revenues. So at the level of revenues that we have been at here and -- so if you look at 2012, our target compensation ratio is 60% to 61%. For the full year, we were at 60.7%. And ultimately, it really is a function of, as we drive revenues up, we can bring that comp ratio below the 60%, but we need additional revenues to do that.

Your next question comes from the line of Devin Ryan with Sandler O'Neill. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: So just following-up on the FAMCO decision as well. I just want to get some thoughts here. I mean, did something change more recently that made you feel like that business wasn't a good fit or as good of a fit, maybe as it had been? Or is it just more a function of the fact that it's been a drag on results? So that's, I guess, part one of the question, and then I have a couple of follow-ups on that.

Okay. So it's been a consideration and part of a strategic process after the acquisition of Advisory Research to think about how these 2 businesses work together. A large part of FAMCO's assets as well as revenue and profitability is in the MLP product, and that fits very nicely with Advisory Research, fits the brand, fits the marketing, fits the research philosophy broadly. And so that was a decision we made approximately a year ago and moved it over. When you look at the remaining products as opposed to sort of bottoms up fundamental research there on the equity side, more of a tap -- top down macro approach. And then secondly, they have some fixed income assets, neither of which fit particularly well. Additionally, there's some client concentrations that aren't necessarily a fit. And when you look at all of that, we got to the conclusion that integrating MLP to Advisory and concentrating all of our attention on their growth with a single brand over time made the most sense. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay. And then just in terms of the process of the sale, are you guys in just the very early stages of that? Or has there been interest and maybe we could expect something in the reasonably near term here? And I guess that's part 2 of the question.

Yes. We would expect to finalize something in the first quarter. And if it goes according to plan, you'd close in the second quarter. Some discussion is with one of the remaining partners that came with the business that's actually tied to the remaining couple of products and key clients. So it's logical. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay, great. And then just in terms of the capital that will free up, any plans for that outside of just kind of continuing to look at growth opportunities and expand some of the businesses that you spoke about?

So there's not a lot of capital that's freed up from that, given the fact that Asset Management businesses require very little capital. So it's really quite minimal. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay. And just also on some other comments you made about looking to expand your businesses, you highlighted public finance. What type of opportunities are you seeing out there currently to do that? Is it hiring teams of individuals and are there opportunities to do that? Is there still potentially something that could occur on the acquisition landscape? And also, what does the competitive environment look like right now in public finance, specifically meaning are some of your larger peers, are they as engaged in that business today, have they pulled back some which is maybe creating more opportunity for a firm like yours?

So let me see if I can answer those sequentially, and if I miss something let me know. First of all, the growth over the last 3 years, I'd characterize as organically. Individuals, teams has worked very well for us, gotten us into now 8 or 9 new states in the East, Southeast very successfully. They've pair [ph] our platform. They've ramped in a way that made sense. Their clients have been very comfortable with the firm. We've had the appropriate distribution, and we view that as the primary opportunity going forward. We're still engaged in talking to a fair number of people with changes going on in the marketplace and other firms. There still are some smaller firms that have very concentrated franchises that would be complementary. So that's a -- remains a possibility, and we continue to look at that. And then lastly, the larger firms really isn't our direct focus and where we would look to grow. They often focus on the very largest issuers, and the vast majority of our business really is truly in the middle market. And that's the part of the marketplace we'd intend to stay and grow and feel like we've got good runway in building a national franchise and no reason to shift gears there. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay, great. Appreciate that color. And then within investment banking, clearly phenomenal Advisory quarter end. I get it that a lot of your clients or some of your clients may have been incented to get something done before year end. So with tax changes, so that maybe boosted results a bit. But just more broadly, it seemed that activity did pick up in the fourth quarter from announcements perspective. So just curious to see if you're also seeing that trend and how you feel about how the backlog is building today.

So we remain constructive on M&A. A lot of the key drivers are still in place. Cash on the balance sheet, slowly improving economy, many businesses looking for some additional growth. We did experience what we felt like, to some degree, was trying to close everything while you could in a known tax environment. We're currently rebuilding the pipeline and believe that 2013 is going to be a solid year. There is a rebuild here at the front end. Devin Ryan - Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., Research Division: Okay, great. And I apologize, just back on FAMCO, and not to cover on some numbers, but should -- in terms of where tangible book value is going as a result of the sale and clearly, we don't have a price yet, but how should we think about where tangible book value could go?

So given the fact that we've marked the balance sheet to the net realizable value, from this point it should ultimately be pretty neutral on tangible book value.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of David Trone with JMP Securities.

A couple quick questions, one more specific. Did you have anything -- I was kind of surprised about the equity trading results. The quarter seemed generally soft externally. Anything behind your positive delta there? And I know last quarter you had some kind of prop gains, anything like that in the quarter?

No. It was really all flow business. And as I commented in the script, David, we really concentrated in our core areas of strength. We had been looking to broaden the product. And in fact, we changed gears a little bit to just focus on our key areas of strength where the marketplace was looking for liquidity and allocated our capital more efficiently and did get a positive result, right, against the trend for the quarter, so we believe we can continue that.

Okay. And Andrew, kind of a big picture strategic question. The -- and if I look back over the years I've covered you guys, there's been moving to fixed income and then that sort of didn't work out. Asia, Europe, FAMCO, does this -- it's been -- it seems like it's been a struggle to kind of move outside the core. And between that, looking back and looking at the companies that have sold themselves, does it make you kind of change your thinking about independence?

It doesn't, David. And I guess I would have a different view on our expansion efforts. I think our expansion into Asset Management has been entirely successful. It's a meaningful part of our revenues and earnings now. It's been very steady, has had modest growth that I think very much reflects the marketplace. As we all know that net outflow by retail investors from equity products is going in consistently since '08. Potentially a turn. Only a couple of weeks here, but the first change to inflows. So we think that's core to the strategy has gone very well and distinguishes us. Our growth in public finance has worked particularly well and consistently. And I certainly would acknowledge Asia was a challenge with the volatility coming out of the financial crisis, and we made a decision to keep an M&A presence with the brand we built, but not trade securities on that market. So we're very constructive on the progress we're making.

So then the opposite of that then what about making an acquisition, is that something you'd consider? Or do you feel like you're a little gun shy after some of the FAMCO and things like that?

Yes. Again, it would be focused on the key areas for growth. So yes, I think that was asked a previous question. If there was an opportunity on a public finance franchise that was complementary, we'd certainly consider that. We're trying to grow our M&A. Again, there was a franchise ability there that was maybe complementary, boutique-like, those would be very good opportunities in our key areas of growth. On the Asset Management side, we're more weighted towards organic growth, a lot of capital tied up in the acquisition. We've made a really good investment in complementary retail distribution that's got traction in a tough market, so less likely there. I think we can grow it organically.

We have no further questions in the queue at this time.

Okay. Thank you for joining us. We're confident of our strategy is sound. We're making progress. With our sector expertise, straightforward advice, we think we provide real value to our clients. We thank all of our employee partners for remaining focused on executing on behalf of our clients. Thank you very much.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.