DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE:DBRG) Q1 2023 Results Conference Call May 3, 2023 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Severin White - IR
Marc Ganzi - CEO
Jacky Wu - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Michael Elias - TD Cowen and Company
Dan Day - B. Riley Securities
Ric Prentiss - Raymond James
Eric Luebchow - Wells Fargo
Jonathan Atkin - RBC Capital Markets
Richard Choe - JPMorgan
Matthew Niknam - Deutsche Bank
Jason Sabshon - KBW
Operator
Greetings, and welcome to the DigitalBridge Group's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Severin White, Managing Director, Head of Public, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Severin White
Good morning, everyone. And welcome to DigitalBridge's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Speaking on the call today from the company is Marc Ganzi, our CEO; and Jacky Wu, our CFO. I'll quickly cover the safe harbor and then we can get started. Some of the statements that we make today regarding our business operations and financial performance maybe considered forward-looking and such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. All information discussed on this call is as of today, May 3, 2023, and DigitalBridge does not intend and undertakes no duty to update it for future events or circumstances. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in our recent Form 10-K to be filed with the SEC for the year ending December 31, 2022 and our Form 10-Q to be filed with the SEC for the quarter ending March 31, 2023. Great. Let's get started with Marc providing 1Q update, Jacky will outline our financial results and turn it back over to Marc to discuss how we're executing the DigitalBridge playbook in today's market.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Marc Ganzi, our CEO. Marc?
Marc Ganzi
Thanks Severin. So today, let's start with an update on our key 2023 priorities. The three things that matter, which I outlined last quarter and I'll continue to do that throughout the course of this year. First, I'm pleased to report that DigitalBridge has made tangible progress on fundraising, on simplification and on portfolio level performance. Put simply, we are on track to deliver our 2023 targets. In the first quarter, we're back to generating strong year-over-year growth in our investment management platform with fee income up over 36% and FRE up 40%, driven by higher FEEUM on co-invest, the acquisition of InfraBridge and FEEUM activating across our new core and credit strategies, which we telegraphed last quarter. New capital formation was up substantially year-over-year. And on top of that, we're seeing our first commitments now in our flagship DigitalBridge Partners Series strategy. These developments give us higher confidence we will be able to deliver on our capital formation targets in 2023. To be clear, we're sticking with our guidance. With respect to simplification, we've made continued progress selling BrightSpire for $200 million, paying off our 2023 converts and advancing our alternative asset manager profile with enhanced reporting as we move closer to deconsolidation. I'll cover portfolio performance a bit later, but the headline is our portfolios continue to perform with growth across all of the verticals that we serve today in digital infrastructure.