Antin Infrastructure Partners Aktie

Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Antin Half-Year 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations of Antin. Please go ahead, madam.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our results for the first half of 2026. A copy of this release, the presentation, and the half-year report are available in the shareholder section of our website. For today's presentation, I am joined by Alain Rauscher, Chairman and CEO, and Walid Damou, Partner and CFO. Mélanie Biessy, Managing Partner and COO, is also with us today and will join the Q&A session.

Let me now hand over to Alain.

Thank you, Ludmilla, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to welcome you on today's call to present our half-year results and activity update. Our commercial dynamics are clearly positive, with good momentum across exits, deployment, and fundraising preparation. Let me run you quickly through the main highlights. First, exits have resumed, which is an important milestone for Antin and for our clients. We made good progress on several exit processes in the first half of the year and signed over the summer two of the largest European exits made to date in Europe. This will allow us to distribute significant amounts of capital to our clients in the coming quarters.

Second, we have continued to deploy capital in a disciplined manner while maintaining the differentiated exposure that is central to our strategy. Third, our asset management platform continues to deliver a solid performance. Over the last 12 months, our three main funds delivered performance around or above 15%. Fourth, that good progress on deployment enables us to launch fundraising for a Mid Cap II, with Mid Cap I now fully committed. Regarding our own financial performance, the transition between fundraising cycles is visible in our numbers. In this context, we delivered an EBITDA margin of 50%, entirely fee-related, which reflects the strength and quality of our business. Finally, we remain committed to our dividend policy with attractive distributions to shareholders and an implied dividend yield around 8%.

Over the past quarters, we have launched several exit processes, and these are now coming to fruition. The transactions we signed over the summer mark an important step forward for Antin. First, we signed the sale of 30% of Sølvtrans. Second, we signed the full sale of Idex. These two exits with multi-billion valuation mark some of the largest realizations made in Europe so far this year. They are expected to return around EUR 2.1 billion to our fund investors. This is a very substantial level of distribution in a short period of time. In terms of DPI, we will have returned over 90% of the invested capital to our Fund III investors, with more than a third of the portfolio of Fund III yet to be realized.

And importantly, this is not the end of the exit cycle. It is the beginning of a new phase for distributions for several of our funds. We have other exit processes already underway or close to launch, or close to close across multiple funds. This gives us strong confidence in our ability to continue increasing distributions to fund investors. The two exits we have signed, Sølvtrans and Idex, are, in both cases, textbook examples of what we typically do as an investor, support growth, drive transformation, and realize value through active ownership. In both cases, the starting point was to put in place the right team and capacities to execute an ambitious value creation plan. From there, we worked on the same core levers that are central to our approach more broadly, strengthening the platform, winning market share in core markets, expanding the offering, entering new geographies, and delivering inorganic growth where relevant. This is very much in line with the Antin model of investing in essential infrastructure businesses with resilience and clear value creation potential.

Idex is a leading European independent energy infrastructure platform. This exit at a multi-billion euro enterprise value is the largest in Antin's history and one of the largest PE transactions in France this year. This is a clear demonstration of our ability to build and realize value at scale. Under our ownership, Idex's EBITDA roughly tripled, supported by significant strengthening of the organization and the development of the platform. This led to a realized growth multiple of 2.0x.

Turning to Sølvtrans, this is the world's leading provider of mission-critical wellboats serving the growing aquaculture industry. Under our ownership, Sølvtrans has more than doubled its total fleet and increased its shipping capacity by significantly more than that, resulting in a gross multiple for the investment of 2.4x in Norwegian krone. More broadly, Sølvtrans illustrates how certain high-quality infrastructure assets can be particularly well-suited to minority transactions. This partial exit allows us to crystallize value today through the sale of a minority stake to a new shareholder that recognizes the attractive characteristics of this type of business, while full realization is underway and expected to take place over time. Taken together, these two exits show how our model can create value across very different infrastructure subsectors.

Let's turn now to deployment. Following a very strong second half of 2025, we maintained that momentum in 2026 across all three of our strategies. Most notably, we finalized the deployment of Mid Cap I in a very selective manner. It is now fully committed, which allows us to launch Mid Cap II. Looking at our investments in the first half of 2026, Sapphire Gas is a buy-and-build play focused on the transportation of liquefied renewable gas in the U.S. It is positioned in a market where energy demand is growing rapidly and where traditional pipeline infrastructure is not expanding fast enough to meet those needs.

Belambra is an opportunity to support a further upgrade and expansion of a unique portfolio of holiday destinations, primarily in France, with potential to expand internationally. NextGen signed its 8th investment, which we will disclose the name of at closing, and that should be imminent. More broadly, what this transaction demonstrates is that we continue to see attractive opportunities, but we remain selective. We're not chasing volume. We are deploying where we see strong infrastructure characteristics, clear value creation plans, and the right level of downside protection.

Overall, the investments that we have made over the last 12 months reflect a consistent objective to provide our fund investors with differentiated exposure, avoiding concentration around any single theme, sector, or geography. As you can see on Slide 8, the portfolio mix across our main funds remains well diversified by both sector and region. We offer a privileged access to the European market where we continue to deploy the majority of our funds. Let me give you a few examples of how this approach translates into portfolio construction. The rapid development of AI is driving very significant capital needs, creating attractive opportunities for infrastructure investors. Our approach, however, remains selective and disciplined. We are focused on areas where we see durable demand and compelling risk-adjusted returns, notably energy and connectivity.

In data centers, we believe the co-location segment is a better way to gain exposure, a better way, a safer way to get exposure to AI-related demand, as it offers more defensive characteristics, particularly because of the diversity of its customer base. That was part of the rationale behind our acquisition of NorthC last December. In medical equipment leasing, our investment in Emsere allows us to capture exposure to the long-term structural trends of aging populations, but in a way that avoids the development, product, and distribution risks. And in Vigor Marine, we identified a business supported by end markets that have historically shown strong resilience over time.

This brings an additional layer of diversification to the portfolio, further strengthening the differentiated exposure we aim to provide to our core investors. This disciplined diversification is fully consistent with the approach we have maintained over the years, building portfolios that combine resilience and long-term structural growth. Regarding fund performance, our main funds in value creation mode all delivered strong progress over the last 12 months, around or above 15% on a like-for-like basis.

As you can see on Slide 9, Flagship IV is at 14.4% -- 14.5% IRR over the last year. Mid Cap I at 19.6%, and Flagship V at 16.3%. This reflects the healthy performance of the portfolios. We are particularly encouraged by the consistency of performance across the Flagship V portfolio and by the strong start from the more recent Mid Cap I investment. Overall, this gives us confidence that the health of the portfolios remains solid as we start raising our next fund. Let me now take a step back and look more broadly at where each of our funds stands today. Starting with our earlier vintages, Flagship I and Flagship II both delivered outstanding outcome and clearly demonstrate our ability to create value across different market environments. Flagship III and IV have both faced some macro headwinds, but both funds are now showing improving momentum. Exits are accelerating again in Flagship III, which is now 63% realized, and where we remain confident in our ability to deliver strong outcomes for fund investors. Regarding Flagship IV, we will start to crystallize value very soon.

Turning to our more recent vintages, we are well encouraged by the performance of Mid Cap I and Flagship V today. Both funds have performed well, with a good level of consistency across their respective portfolios. Mid Cap I is now fully committed, while Flagship V remains in deployment with strong asset quality. As for NextGen, which is a growth-oriented strategy, as it is precisely geared toward growth, the value creation journey is typically longer. So what we are seeing so far is very encouraging. Taken together, this gives us a balanced picture across vintages. Some mature funds are in harvesting mode. Some are recovering momentum, and our more recent funds are building what we believe will be the next growth drivers for the platform.

Finally, a word about our platform before handing over to Walid. Over the years, we have invested significantly to build a strong footprint on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, we have scaled investment capabilities across Europe and North America, supported by enhanced global investor coverage, and best-in-class operation. We believe this will serve us well in the coming fundraising cycle. In the first half of 2026, we extended our presence to Australia with the opening of our Melbourne office, strengthening our access to capital markets in Australia and more broadly in the Asia Pacific region. At the same time, we continued to enhance our platform and asset management capacities, including through the expansion of our performance improvement team with senior hires. This is important because it helps us drive greater value creation across the portfolio.

Antin now has 254 professionals across its global platform, with teams in Paris, London, New York, and Luxembourg, as well as representation offices in Seoul and Melbourne.

This continued investment in the platform reflects our conviction that the next phase of growth is underpinned by the quality and breadth of the platform.

With that, I will now hand over to Walid to walk you through the financial results.

Thank you, Alain, and good morning, everyone. Let me start with a highlight from our financial results for the first half of 2026 on Slide 13. As expected, the beginning of the year reflected a transition between two fundraising cycles, with a 2.9% reduction in fee-paying AUM following the step-down in Mid Cap I in April. Underlying revenue decreased by 4.5% to EUR 138.5 million, reflecting the same dynamic. This flowed through to EBITDA, which was down 12.3% year-on-year to EUR 69.9 million. EBITDA margin remained healthy at 50%, demonstrating the resilience of our model. Finally, we continue to expect the full-year shareholder distribution for 2026 to remain stable at EUR 0.71 per share, subject, as usual, to shareholder approval at the next AGM.

Let me now go into a bit more detail, starting with fee-paying AUM and revenues on Slide 14. In the first half, our fee-paying AUM benefited from some modest capital calls in Flagship IV, which were more than offset by the step-down of Mid Cap I. On Mid Cap II, as we have said before, activation is expected to coincide with the fund's first investment. We are making good progress with LPs, having already started to gather commitments, and on the investment side, we're advancing on several opportunities. That said, the timing of new deals remains difficult to predict, and we now expect the activation of the fund in the fourth quarter of this year. On revenues, the 4.5% year-on-year decrease was driven by three main factors. First, H1 2025 included EUR 0.9 million of catch-up fees, which did not occur this year. Second, the Mid Cap I step-down reduced management fees by EUR 3.8 million.

This is the mechanical effect of moving to a lower FPAUM base and a lower fee rate. Third, investment income was negative in the period. Positive performance across the portfolio for the period was offset mainly by lower valuations in Funds III and III-B. The change in valuations in these relatively concentrated funds reflects a mix of broader market conditions and asset-specific factors. These funds are not yet fully realized, and it is therefore still early to draw firm conclusions on final outcomes.

Briefly on headcount and cost on Slide 15. Operating expenses increased by 4.9% year-on-year, growth in line with last year and confirming the slower cost growth trajectory relative to prior years. This reflects both the operating leverage we are now starting to see in the platform and our disciplined approach to costs. As Alain mentioned earlier, we have invested consistently in recent years to build a strong and scalable platform with enhanced capabilities across investment teams, specialist functions, fundraising, and operations.

We believe this gives us a very solid foundation from which to support the next growth phase for Antin. In March, we indicated that cost growth for the year was expected to be in the high single digits. We are now aiming for a slightly lower growth rate for cost in 2026. With that in mind, and based on the assumption that Mid Cap II is activated in the fourth quarter rather than in the second quarter, we now expect underlying EBITDA for full year 2026 to be slightly below the 2025 level. This reflects a timing effect only and does not change our confidence in the medium-term growth prospects for the business.

Moving on to balance sheet on Slide 16. Our cash balance decreased to EUR 326 million as of June 30, 2026, from EUR 361 million one year ago. This mainly reflects the deployment of capital into our funds and our continued shareholder distributions. At the same time, our financial assets increased as a result of this capital deployment. Importantly, we continue to have zero financial debt. More broadly, we remain committed to a capital-light model. Our balance sheet is primarily used to support the business through co-investment in our funds and carried interest commitments, creating a strong alignment of interest with our clients.

Today, around one-third of our cash balance is earmarked for deployment in our existing funds, mainly Flagship V, Mid Cap I, and NextGen I. As we raise our next vintages, these commitments will increase over time, but we will also expect to receive distributions in parallel as our funds continue to realize assets. The cash balance also provides us with capacity to pursue potential strategic initiatives that can strengthen our capabilities and support long-term value creation. Finally, on shareholder distributions, we remain committed to our policy of a stable or growing dividend per share. For 2026, we intend to maintain an annual dividend of EUR 0.71 per share in line with last year and including EUR 0.28 per share expected to be paid in late October. Over time, as Mid Cap II ramps up and we launch the next flagship fund, we do expect dividend growth to resume alongside earnings growth.

A few words on our shareholding structure on Slide 17. It is important to flag that the lock-up mechanism in place since IPO will expire in a few weeks on the 27th of September. The agreement between the partner shareholders, who are acting in concert and collectively own 84% of the company, will remain in force after the lock-up expires. This agreement includes several mechanisms allowing to support an orderly increase in the free float. In particular, subject to customary exceptions, the concert members have agreed to coordinate with Antin for any transfer of shares above a certain threshold. Therefore, going forward, we continue to expect our free float to increase gradually, mainly through placements that can be absorbed by the market. Any such transaction would of course be considered in light of market conditions.

We now hand back to Alain for some concluding remarks.

Thank you, Walid. In an environment that has been complex and unpredictable for some years, and that looks to remain that way for the foreseeable future, we continue to be confident in our ability to adapt and perform. Opportunities remain numerous in the infrastructure space underpinned by powerful long-term tailwinds. We remain disciplined in how we capture those opportunities. We are not concentrating the portfolio around a single theme, sector, or geography. We are in the process of building our most diversified funds to date to provide our clients with truly differentiated underlying exposure. We recognize that DPI is especially important to fund investors today. And as our mature funds move into harvesting mode and exit activity accelerates, we expect distributions to become more meaningful whilst staying firmly focused on maximizing returns and value creation across the platform.

To conclude, nothing we see today changes our confidence in the medium-term growth prospects for Antin. Our model remains resilient, our platform is stronger than ever, and we are entering the next fundraising cycle with strong, solid momentum.

This concludes this presentation. Walid, Mélanie, and I are now happy to take your questions.

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from Nicholas Herman of Citi.

Thank you for the update and for taking my questions. A couple from my side, please. Firstly, just a bigger picture question. Is it fair to assume that you are adjusting down the valuations you are assigning to prospective investments as a result of the higher rates that we increase in interest rates that we've seen, forward rates?

And then secondly, I think there's a couple here. I guess, presumably, you would not disagree with my conclusion that lower marks for the assets in Funds III and III-B means that the pace of realizations of these funds will be slower than we previously anticipated. So I guess the kind of, the derivative questions from that are, does that mean that future distributions will be lower than we would have otherwise expected? Presumably that would then impact, I mean, why should that not impact the Fund VI fundraise whenever that happens?

And then finally, on performance earnings or carry, do you expect us to be able to hit your hurdle rate and generate carry from Fund III-B?

Walid, did you want to answer those questions?

Maybe I'll start with the last ones, and I'll let you and Alain comment on the bigger picture one. So on the pace of exits, I think it's fair to remind everyone on the call that Fund III and III-B, so Fund III is a '16, '17 vintage, went through quite exceptional series of events with macro volatility and a few crises globally, as you know. So to answer your question regarding the pace of exits, yes, the pace of exit is slower than initially anticipated. That being said, we do see an acceleration at the moment. And we're very happy with what we saw so far, as Alain said, with Sølvtrans and with Idex, among other situations that we're working on.

In terms of implications of this slower exit pace, I think there are two parts in what you're asking, Nicholas. So first, on the crystallization of carried interest. You're pointing to the right impact. So as you know, the more we go, the higher the hurdle rate gets, and this could have implications on the final outcome in terms of carried interest for the fund. That being said, from where we stand today, we think that it's way too early to conclude, the teams remain very much focused on maximizing value in the remaining assets and maximizing value in the funds. So we need to wait for the final outcome of the last exit in that fund to reach a conclusion on carried interest.

And then the second part of your question regarding exits and the impact on fundraising for Fund VI. As we've said consistently, fundraising is the result of many different aspects. DPI is one of them. Further performance of the fund is also very important. And I think we're making very good progress across all those parameters. And if you look at the momentum that we're seeing in the more recent funds, I think that's also very, very important because we're having very engaged discussions with the clients, going very deep in the portfolios, looking at the build-up of the portfolios, and all of that has an influence on fundraising. So I wouldn't draw any conclusions from the pace of exits to mechanical impacts on a Fund VI.

Maybe, Alain, I'll let you comment on the valuation.

Yes, I think, as Walid rightly said, what is very important for our LPs is first the performance of our previous vintages, that's the first one. And even though there might be some tougher vintages, and we all have tougher vintages. Everybody's got some tougher vintages than others. And certainly Fund III and Fund III-B are such more challenging vintages. We do everything we can to preserve value, maximize value for our shareholders. And as you know, our model is such that, the bulk of the return evidently goes to our investors, to our clients, and that's actually our brief to work for their interest, and we do that very, very much. And then, of course, they might be more or less carried according to hurdle rates being met or not, and sooner rather than later, and value, of course, being higher.

But clearly our brief is to continue delivering maximum value for our investors, and I can assure you they are completely aware of all the efforts we do, and in particular, the fact that when we are faced with some difficult situations, we don't walk away. We deal with the issues. Second thing is DPI. DPI, as you know, is a major theme in our industry, and because in a way with higher interest rates, more uncertainty, we are faced in an industry at large, I would say, the private market industry, where returns, I would say, where return of capital has been lesser. Clearly, the only thing we control as a GP is how much money we give back to our LPs. And this is very important in allowing our LPs, our clients, to commit new capital for new funds.

So on this one, as we have explained to you, we have made big progress. And I think, frankly, we are now in an extremely strong position compared to most of our peers because we returned in nearly all cases and more money than our peers would have done recently. And so I think this is a very, very important feature. So I don't think you can derive from today's environment the fact that we may face particular difficulties to raise, say, Fund VI because frankly Fund VI is not there today. We first are committing to raise Mid Cap II. And we do things one at a time, and to be frank, we are pretty optimistic that you think things will go well.

But first, performance, secondly, DPI, return capital, so the people, our LPs, if they are happy, can put more capital at work. And to be frank, if you look at the performance of Fund V, the quality of the earning is also the quality of Mid Cap I, frankly, everybody has got some very stronger, I would say, incentives to keep the investment going on because clearly we are demonstrating that we use good and differentiated investments.

That's very helpful. Can I quickly circle back to the first question? Apologies. I appreciate these were a big topic we just discussed. But just in terms of how you are kind of reacting to higher rates, are you adjusting the valuations you are assigning to prospective investments?

Well, the straight question is, I mean, it's hard to pretend the different things that are happening in the world are not there. So we're taking into account obviously all the different factors that are impacting the economy and the companies we're investing on. So in a way, yes, I think, valuations are being impacted by rates. Whether it's directly through financing conditions or indirectly in the way we look at risk-adjusted returns, we do adapt to the ongoing environment.

As you can appreciate, Nicholas, when we look at a given company, you have typically several, not one, but several instruments, debt instruments, which are in place, with different schedules of repayment. And evidently, we have to integrate what is going to be the new, I would say, market conditions when they apply. But it's exactly like a company, like a state, which has to think about, you know, its refinancing cost going forward over 30 years. Evidently, you're not going to mark, for instance, the U.S. public debt by, say, 5.5% because today you have 10-year debt at 5.5%. And it's not correct because, in fact, this new debt you raise is going to be only a fraction of the total debt. But clearly we are completely updating whatever cost of debt we need to adjust.

Very helpful.

We are, and I know it's quite boring, but we are very prudent, maybe too prudent. And I read some papers this morning when I was actually taking my coffee. And clearly, for instance, we don't rush to make distributions, to make some disposals if we believe that we have to wait a little bit. And can leave some gap, I would say, in financial results for the time. And if we think that our first brief is to be sure that we do the best investments and exits for the benefit of our shareholders. This is how we believe, essentially. But we are very prudent people.

The next question is from Sharath Kumar of Deutsche Bank.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three, please. Firstly, a follow-up on Fund III. I wanted to understand at what point does this fund cease to generate management fees, given this is a 2016 vintage and it is currently about 65% realized. So is there a scenario where we can expect to see a step-down from management fees without the fund being fully realized? That's the first one.

Second, on Flagship Fund VI. Just wanted to understand, is there a scenario where the activation flips to 2028? Or other way of asking this is what progress do we need to see for the fund to be on track for a 2027 activation?

And finally, on the Evergreen's opportunity, recently, infrastructure has seen strong interest from private wealth investors, so how do you view this opportunity? Is it a no-go zone for you given that it is fundamentally inconsistent with your investment approach, or do you remain open-minded?

Let me start with the first question on me, and then I'll let Mélanie comment on the fundraising more specifically. So you're right to point out that the fund is a '16 vintage. Indeed there is a possibility to extend the life of the fund. And as the fund continues in its life, what is going to impact the fees coming from Fund III is indeed the reduction in fee-paying AUM as we exit the remaining assets. So you should assume that the fund will continue being extended as per the agreements with the clients, and then the fee rate, I think we've communicated in the past around the fee levels.

So we can discuss in more details at a later stage what are the precise fees that will be implemented during the extension period. But you could indeed assume a small decrease in the fee rates as we extend the life of the fund. And then I think just to be clear on the carried interest and what would come from that, as I mentioned, we've been working hard to maximize value in these funds. And what we would expect is for the carry, if any, to be towards the end of the life of the fund as we finalize the realizations in that fund.

As for Flagship Fund VI. Our base case today is still an activation in 2027. And what needs to happen by the time we activate this Fund VI is finishing the deployment of Fund V. And as you've seen, and as it's been presented by Alain, the deployment is way ahead. And we anticipate that we would need 2 to 3 investments to be able to be in a position to start launching Flagship Fund VI. Of course, it's difficult to predict. As we said, we are very disciplined on the quality of assets and investments that we make.

And therefore, we anticipate that it should happen in 2027, meaning that we are full speed, investment team is full speed on continuing deploying a very high-quality pipeline, and we feel that the base case should be that at some stage in 2027 we'll be able to activate Fund VI. We cannot mention much more on size, on timing, because it would be too mechanical. It's binary, and we need to still do those investments and make sure that these are the right investment to complement Fund V portfolio.

Maybe, Sharath, I'll take the last question on the Evergreen opportunity. And there, I'll cover 2 points. So first, Evergreen with retail or wealth investors, and then second, Evergreen on the institutional side. So on the wealth and retail side, I think we've been quite consistent on that topic. We definitely see the substantial potential that we see with increased participation of wealth and retail investors into private markets, and there is a strong appetite in the infrastructure in particular. However, we have been extremely prudent, as Alain said. And we also see the potential risks, as getting into that area clearly creates some potential reputational and regulatory risk as we've seen in recent months. So we have done a lot of work.

We see different avenues to tackle the retail and wealth opportunity. It can be done through Evergreen products, but it can also be done through feeder funds, as we've been doing consistently and as we continue doing. And it can also be done through partnership and different ways. We're active in that front, we're getting into that area gradually, we're not rushing into it, because we're very much aware of the risks that come with that. So that's on the retail side.

Looking at the institutional side, I mean, you're right. This is an area where we see a lot of potential in the value-add space where we are active, but also on the core side of the investment spectrum. I think we can spend time on Sølvtrans, but that's a good example of assets that fit very well the opportunity that we could see with Evergreen products. So we are doing a lot of work. We're having very interesting discussions with clients on that topic. So we will keep you posted as we evolve and we progress there.

We would also like to add one complement, especially on enterprise, which applies to flagship strategies. As you know well, we focus on Europe and North America with the majority of investment capital deployed in Europe. And in fact, this applies to mid-cap investment, mid-size investments, or large-size investments. And if you compare what our peers, and in particular our U.S. peers would do actually in Europe, you will find that few of the very large U.S. investors did make big transactions in Europe, focusing more of the capitals for larger deals in the United States. So I think, it is one of the reasons, not the only one, but one of the reasons which, in my view, underpins the appeal of our flagship strategy.

The next question is from Greg Simpson of BNP Paribas.

Yes, three from my side too. First one is the MOICs on Fund III and III-B came down in the quarter. And just wanted to check, is that because you reflected the exits of Idex and Sølvtrans, or is it sits in the fund? Or maybe putting it another way, how do these MOICs change once those exits finally close?

The second question is, can you give us any more color about how the Mid Cap II fundraising has been going? What kind of time line, re-up rates? Is the DPI zero for Mid Cap I an issue here?

And then finally, bigger picture, I guess we're interested to hear your views on the AI infrastructure opportunity or risk. So I guess we've seen some of your peers in infra pivot their business a lot more into digital and data centers and so on. So just interested to hear what you're seeing in the landscape.

Hey, Greg. Thanks for the questions. I'll start, and then I'll let Mélanie and Alain add to the other questions. So on your question on the evolution of the MOICs for Fund III and III-B, as I mentioned, these are relatively concentrated portfolios. And the movement in a limited number of assets in these portfolios do have a visible impact at fund level. So, as always, we're not going to comment on individual portfolio companies. But you're right to point out the fact that some of the recent exits had an impact on the valuation at Q2. But more broadly, I think it's important to keep in mind that at each of our valuation exercises, we do take into account the broader environment, in particular the M&A environment, as well as the asset-specific aspects.

So if you look at the valuations, again, it's a portfolio that is fairly concentrated with a small number of assets. I mean, you know which ones are those assets, and at the end, the impact that you see in terms of MOIC is a combination of adjusted valuation on exits, as well as our revised views on valuation of those assets. But I remind you of one thing that I said before. It's not realized yet. The teams are very actively working on the portfolios and the final outcome for the fund will depend on the exits.

On Mid Cap II fundraising, some comments as well. So we've started the fundraising in Q2 at the end of the investment period of Mid Cap I. We are continuing full speed on working on this fundraising, being in interaction with all our investor base, we have started gathering commitments, so commitments that are in escrow and will be released at the time of the first closing. And if you think about the activation, what needs to happen for this activation, and we are mentioning that we are waiting for the first investment in Mid Cap II to activate the fund.

And here, the objective is very clear. We'd like to optimize outcomes for investors, hence keeping the period between activation and deployment, capital deployment as efficient as possible. So it's not like we are totally tied mechanically to the first investment, but we want to make sure that there's capital deployment at the time we start activating Mid Cap and start generating management fees for the firm.

Yes. On AI, I think on AI, as you are aware of, it is, of course, a very important theme, and enormous amounts of capital are about to be committed. Not just to invest in AI, I would say, companies, but also in AI infrastructure at large, because in fact, the investments required in infrastructure for the development of AI are absolutely enormous. I think it's probably the first thing to say is that as opposed to the previous, I would say, revolution, digital revolution, be it the mobile phone revolution, for Internet. We are faced with a revolution which is going to require enormous amounts of infrastructure investment.

Just to add some quotes in the next, I think, the next 4 or 5 years, the estimate that north of $500 billion or $600 billion are going to be deployed in the U.S. only to build some infrastructures in AI, just to give you this completely crazy number. And you can assume that, you know, in Europe or in Asia, you will see similar size of numbers maybe deployed at a slower pace. Now, the question really is what is the kind of risk, counterparty risk that we take? And if you think of, I would say, other industries which have recently required some big infrastructure investment, I'm thinking about the battery segment, for instance. You can basically think that you know, you can take the view that you have to be very prudent about that because those investments are going to be funded partly by equity, but vastly by debt. And you want to be sure that the counterparty stands up and stays there because, in fact, you are dealing with 1 counterparty.

And that's why we are very prudent not to take too risky investments on a risk-adjusted basis. And we opt, rather, in investing into, I would say, energy and storage, which I think is going to be very, very important for the theme. But again, with a varied customer base and in colocation data centers as opposed to the centers which would have only 1 big client which may prevail in 5 years, 10 years or not. Not to mention evidently the risk of obsolescence of investments, and which has hit very severely some industries.

I come back again to my battery example. The people who have bet 5, 6, 7 years ago on Northvolt have lost everything. So we have to be very, very vigilant on that. There will be winners. Evidently, the trend is there. It will implement AI. But as an infrastructure investor, I think we have to be extremely, extremely prudent. The amounts of capital to be raised and quantum of fees to be perceived are huge and tempts many people. But again, the risk in front is, in my view, extremely high. So we have to, in my view, to be prudent.

Thank you very much. The next question is from Arnaud Palliez of CIC CIB.

Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two. The first one is regarding, given the slower pace of exit, do you consider to launch new strategies such as secondaries? And also, what is today the trend among LPs regarding co-investment? Do you see these co-investments taking a bigger part in the coming years?

The second question is more on the results, especially on the EBITDA, underlying EBITDA. You no longer give a target for the full year. I think that before you were expecting stable EBITDA for 2026. I would like to know why you have given up this target and also do you plan to launch some cost control measures in the coming months? And also following the end of the post-IPO lockup period, do you expect some turnover among the partners and some partners leaving the company?

I will take the first question and hand over to my colleagues. New strategies. First of all, before we talk about new strategies, you make a point about because we are reducing our exit pace, I think it's exactly the other way around. We are fast accelerating our exit pace. And I think we will probably, we expected actually to make 1 or 2 announcements of exits. And in fact, it will probably be done. We are very good at that, but you can I'm sure you will write about the good news about that very shortly when it's announced. But we are expecting to literally make imminently 2 more exits. So we are not reducing, slowing. Essentially, we are increasing our exit.

And of course on top of that there will be new tranches of the of the Sølvtrans transaction. So we are really working flat out to increase our exit and not slowing it. Concerning new strategies. Yes, we are certainly thinking of that, and we've been thinking a lot about that. I would say that clearly the priority should always be, in my view, to make things well and to make good investment, good disposals, good value creation in priority before launching new strategies, although we are now at 3 legs. And among all the strategies we're looking for, as you rightly indicated, Arnaud, we are contemplating secondaries, which I think is a nascent market for infrastructure. Of course, it's a mature market for PE at large, but it's a nascent market for infrastructure. And yes, we are reflecting about this segment.

Concerning the EBITDA guidance. I'll start with the EBITDA and then I'll let Mélanie comment on the co-invest. So on your question, Arnaud, regarding EBITDA guidance, hopefully what I described on the call was quite clear regarding our expectations for EBITDA in 2026. And as I said, as we now expect Mid Cap II to be activated in Q4 this year, we do see underlying EBITDA for the year to be slightly below the 2025 level. So hopefully that answers your question on that topic. Then on cost control, we do not consider that the delay in the activation of the fund should trigger any cost actions. We remain very, very confident in the prospect of the business as we discussed on the call today.

But having said that, we have consistently invested in the business as we've explained, and as a result, we have a very solid foundation. So naturally, we're getting at the stage in the evolution of the company, where cost growth is slowing down. On top of that, as you would expect, we're maintaining very high levels of cost discipline, as we should. But clearly, we remain very confident in the prospect of the business. We're investing in the business. So no cost actions.

Then lastly, regarding the lock-up expiry and the impact on employees, if I understand your question correctly. I think the nice thing about our business is that there is a very strong alignment of interest and a very strong incentives mechanism that is a carried interest. As you know, the structure of carried interest is such that it keeps employees and investment professionals in particular committed for the long term with great alignment of interest. And this remains by far the main component of compensation for employees. So I do not really see any direct impact between share ownership and potential turnover in the teams.

As for co-investments, this is a key part of attractiveness for LPs. We've been offering co-investments since Fund II, so back in the days. And we have been very active on that. We've leveraged a lot on that as well because, for us, it's interesting to get money of our investors on top of their commitment to our funds. And our investors are very pleased by the level of co-investment that we offer to them. We are circa EUR 5 billion co-investment today. And half of our Fund V investments have co-investment vehicle into which our LPs have committed on top of their commitment to the fund.

So this is, I would say, we are now growing it. It's a sustained, gradually increasing elements of the equation, and we continue offering a high level, attractive level of co-investments to our LPs.

The next question is from Laura Gris of Jefferies.

Thank you for taking my question. Just 1 from my side, please. I was just wondering if the Sølvtrans' minority transaction that you announced, should we see this as more specific for this case, or should we expect to see more partial exits, especially for mature funds? And also in relation to that, given that Fund III is now 2016 vintage and still has some companies to exit, what is the potential for you to consider continuation vehicles?

Okay, maybe I can answer for Sølvtrans. Okay. So there are some assets, and we've seen that in the past, actually, which give way to minority investments as opposed to majority investments. And actually one of our first such minority disposals have been a company called Porterbrook, which we sold to a consortium of institutional investors, including Allianz, but other insurance companies and pension funds. And why that? It was a rolling stock company in the U.K., and essentially the perception of buyers was that the value creation plan was pretty much done, and that this type of business could give way to some significant flows of dividends. And, therefore, that diluted value of, how can I say, the control, the value or need of control was little.

And you can take the view that in the case of Sølvtrans, which is basically a company which transports salmon from offshore farms to the shore. You can take a view that this business is an extremely strong business with very defensive features because the needs for animal protein are growing and salmon, beyond its nutritive qualities, is essentially extremely efficient and cost-efficient, I would say, way to have access to animal protein. So the trends are very, very compelling. And so, quite naturally, with a good management, and actually we can enjoy the fact that the company enjoys the fact that the founder remains at the helm of the company and also has a significant stake in the company.

If you are a minority investor, you'll find it's completely okay. You can rely on a person who has vested interest to grow his business as he has done it with us, who is a very talented person and who is a shareholder. And so the merit of getting some majority control is less than in some other investments. So for us, it was a typical case where a number of minority positions would be taken. If I could...

Partial exits will be complemented by potentially other minority stake transactions...

That is a point. We basically, in fact, you cannot negotiate with some minority investors and say, "Okay, let's make a bundle deal for 10 people where you take 10%." It just doesn't work. It's too complicated. So what you do is you basically discuss with a non-core investor, be it in a minority position, and that's just the case here, with some U.K. asset management funds. You basically, e-bought this fund about 30% of the company. Then you have a value, a value which has been the market value, and then you can basically complement the sale, the disposal, with some other parties going forward. So this is a typical example of a, in some other cases, it is clearly the case of Idex, which is a recent transaction.

There is value, and actually there has been perceived value by JPMorgan Asset Management in the fact that in the 100% ownership of the company, because they perceive that, you know, through a dialogue with the management, they can grow this company in other markets, not just in the market where it's present, but in other markets. And therefore, the thing that you control has a value, which is not the case of Sølvtrans. We have to take a case-by-case view. It's completely different, you know, at times people insist on control because they see value there, and others, they don't. Fiber is another example. I think if you have a good management in a fiber company, most likely you will see some people very pleased with, you know, with taking a stake, a large stake, not a minority stake in a fiber company. So you have to judge case-by-case basis.

And just to complement your point, minority stake transactions could lead to a continuation vehicle that could have a positive impact on the P&L because there would be fees that would be charged.

Exactly. Look, CVs are a very interesting part of the evolving toolkit in private markets. So we could and will probably use continuation vehicles in the future. However, I want to be clear because you mentioned something quite specific, Laura, in your question. The use of a CV is not linked to us reaching the end of the life of the fund. As Alain explained, it's very much related to asset-specific features. So we will be extremely selective when and where to use CVs, but it's a very interesting tool in private markets.

I think there have been on CVs, there have been some mixed perceptions of the merits of this vehicle. Because some people said, "Okay, it's just a way for some smart guys in the PE world to continue getting some undue or more fees, you know, going forward." Okay. In fact, the CV market, you know, when it comes to infrastructure, is not all that.

Essentially it comes at the request of investors and it can be a request of existing investors we have in our funds who say, "Look, you guys are thinking about selling this asset. Can I be exposed to it longer term through some form of vehicle?" And it can be a blend of that or new people who said, "You know what? I would be interested to invest in Sølvtrans, but I don't want to take more than 10% or 15%. Is there a way for me to be exposed to that?" So it is very surprising because, you know, some people thought that, you know, some GPs were playing games with CVs to maximize fees.

In reality, it's very, very different because you have some investors, investors in our funds or new investors who are interested to take some minority stakes in a CV focusing on one given company or theme and want us to basically do the job of making sure that it's well managed for their behalf.

Thank you. We have the end of the hour. So we would like to thank you all for your attention and questions. We wish you a very good day and we will speak soon. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'd like to welcome you to our Annual General Meeting, the entire Antin team, and I are delighted to see you again in person here in Paris or by video, for those of you joining us remotely. I would particularly like to welcome our directors and the auditors who are with us today. Our Annual General Meeting is an important moment in the life of our company. I'm pleased to be here with you today to officially open the 2026 Annual General Meeting.

We will now proceed to appoint the meeting's offices and go through the legal formalities. As regards the presiding officers, I shall chair the meeting in the capacity as Chairman; Mark Crosbie and Melanie Biessy, shall as scrutineers and Camille Mathieu, as Secretary. Cami will now outline the legal formalities governing or meeting.

Good afternoon, everyone. Regarding the formalities for the convening of the 2026 Annual General Meeting and notice of the meeting and a convening notice were published in the official journal on the 22nd of April and the 15th of May, respectively. Registered shareholders and statutory auditors were notified by post or e-mail on the 20th and 21st of May. All of the documents required by current regulations have been made available to shareholders within the legal time frames and in the required format. We have not received requests to add items to the agenda nor have we received any written questions.

According to the provisional attendance register, we can confirm that more than 1/4 of the voting shares are represented and that hence, we can -- we have a quorum. Finally, in accordance with usual practice, we propose that we do not read out in full the various reports to the meeting and the resolutions.

I now hand the floor back to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Cami. In light of the above, I hereby declare the 2026 General Meeting open. I propose that we organize this meeting as follows. First of all, we'll review our recent activity including an update on our investments and ongoing divestments as well as on asset management, value creation, which lies at the heart of our business.

Next, our Chief Operating Officer, Melanie Biessy, will provide an update on the development of our team and on sustainabilities. And our Chief Financial Officer, Walid Damou, who joined us in February, will comment our financial results for 2025. After that, Melanie will discuss our governance and our compensation framework. Finally, our auditors will present their reports for the past financial year. Following this presentation, we'll open a Q&A session and conclude with a vote on the resolutions.

Let's start with an update on our business. Following a solid performance in 2025, 2026 marks the start of our new fundraising cycle and we have several reasons to be confident. Firstly, demand for infrastructure continues to grow globally in the energy, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors. We're seeing very favorable long-term trends that support excellent investment opportunities. In this context, we're seeing particularly strong appetite among our clients for Europe.

Secondly, we've built a robust investment platform with high-caliber teams, enabling us to remain agile in a constantly involving environment. Our track record demonstrates our ability to generate strong investment returns. Thirdly, over the past 20 years, we developed in depth sector expertise, proven value creation methodologies that enables us to identify and develop high potential companies.

Since the second half of 2025, we've accelerated our capital deployment by acquiring 9 new companies whilst continuing to create value within the existing portfolio. All this enhances our confidence as we launch this new fundraising cycle and puts us in a strong position to meet growing global demand for essential and resilient infrastructure.

Indeed, that demand continues to grow in infrastructure driven by a number of structural trends. At the same time, traditional sources of capital remain constrained with public finances under pressure in many developed economies. Private capital is playing a more crucial role than ever in the financing and development of tomorrow's infrastructure. In this context, experienced investors such as Antin have a major competitive advantage.

The first key trend concerns electrification and the energy transition. The growing need for energy produced in a more sustainable manner requires significant investment in electricity generation and distribution network. This trend is further reinforced by renewed focus on energy, resilience and energy sovereignty. Secondly, digital infrastructure is expanding rapidly. The growth in the use of data, the cloud and artificial intelligence are driving demand for data centers, fiber optic networks and electricity supply.

Thirdly, logistics and mobility continue to evolve, particularly in relation to spoilable goods and everyday travelers trade flows and transport systems undergo transformation. Finally, demographic trends, particularly an aging population and urbanization are driving up demand for various social infrastructure services, including health care and access to housing, amongst others.

The past 12 months have been a particularly busy period for Antin with 9 investment signed, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the investment opportunities that we analyze. Flagship V made its first digital investment with NorthC. It also made its first investments in the United States with Vigor Marine, a provider of maritime maintenance services, and Sapphire Gas Solutions, a company specializing in the U.S. in the liquefaction, storage and transportation of natural gas.

Fund V was committed 58% at the end of the first quarter. NextGen I has also continued to deploy its capital with the acquisition of Matawan in France, a provider of public transport solution as well as another company, which we'll identify once the transaction is finalized. The Fund was thus approximately 67% committed.

Finally, Mid Cap I's activities increased significantly over the past 12 months with 4 investments made with the recent signing of Belambra, capital invested or earmarked for investment, what we refer to as committed capital now represents over 75% of Mid Cap I size. This enables us to launch the fundraising of Mid Cap II fund, which is expected to be activated in the coming months. This acceleration is in no way the result of a change in our investment approach. Our priority remains to identify the best investment opportunities whilst maintaining a disciplined approach.

We remain patient and selective, focusing on investments in which we have a strong conviction and clearly identified value creation drivers. This investment discipline is a key element of our investment philosophy and a key factor for our long-term performance.

I'd now like to present our 3 latest Flagship investments in greater detail through a short video.

[Presentation]

As you will understand, our investment approach, which I mentioned earlier, is based on targeting companies in essential infrastructure sectors across Europe, North America that combine resilience and strong value creation potential. Every investment we make subject, what we call our infrastructure test. We focus on companies that provide essential services, benefit from long-term structural growth and have a strong management team capable of implementing a clear strategy. Once the investment made, our priority is value creation and I'd like to take this opportunity to emphasize that here at Antin, we're comfortable with complex situations. Many attractive opportunities in infrastructure require operational transformation, sector-specific expertise and time. And this may deter other investments, but not us.

Over the course of 18 years in business, all these factors have resulted in a gross realized multiple companies sold of 2.5x and gross realized IRR of 22%. To give you a clearer picture of how we achieved these results, here are some figures relating to the work carried out by our investment teams and specialists. Firstly, regarding the financing and refinancing of our portfolio in 2025 alone, we raised or refinanced a total of EUR 8.4 billion in debt to support the growth of our portfolio companies. This figure is in line with previous years.

Our team dedicated to performance improvement plays an increasingly important role in optimizing operations and driving change across the portfolio. As such, it's one of the teams that has grown the most over the past year. At the same time, our investment teams remain fully committed to implementing our strategic priorities and managing the resources needed to support growth, whether organic or through external expansion. For example, in addition to the numerous M&A transactions completed over the past year, our portfolio companies have invested EUR 3.4 billion in CapEx expenditure. All this enabled them to increase the EBITDA by an average of 15% year-on-year.

In addition to investments in existing assets, we sometimes pursue greenfield opportunities where new infrastructure is developed from scratch. Velvet, France's first independent high-speed rail operator, and you may have seen a panel illustrating that coming in is a company in which we invested in 2024, which is expected to see its first trains running in 2028.

Given the high level of interest generated by these investments, we'd now like to share with you a short video presenting latest developments.

[Presentation]

I have to wait another 2 years before riding on the Velvet trains, but they'll be very fine. A few words also on exit processes that are a key component of our overall business and more broadly of the investment cycle. Within Flagship III, III-B and IV, several portfolio companies are now reaching maturity, and the exit from our portfolio, therefore, on the agenda.

We've already launched 4 processes and several others are in preparation. You should see the initial results of these in the coming months. These achievements will result in significant distributions to our fund investors. There will also be an important factor in this new fundraising cycle by enhancing client satisfaction as well as liquidity.

With that, I'll now hand over to Melanie, who will give you a brief update on the team and on sustainability.

Thank you, Alain, and good afternoon to everyone. I am Chief Operating Officer, and I'm delighted to share with you the update about our team. We have 250 people in 4 main sites: Paris, London, New York and Luxembourg. We have continued to strengthen our platform in a targeted manner by recruiting several investment professionals. That is a net increase of 12 people as compared to the size of the team when we met last year.

We, in particular, have strengthened our value creation team with the arrival of 2 partners, Jacket Bertram and Greg Huttner. Their experience will greatly enhance the operational support we provide to our portfolio companies.

Finally, our Investor Relations team continues to grow. Recently, we opened an office in Australia, which means we can expand our presence in a region that is a pioneer in private equity in the infrastructure sector.

In 2025, we also continued to roll out our ESG policy. ESG is a key component of the way in which we manage and develop our portfolio companies at Antin. It, of course, includes a strong environmental and sustainability dimension, but we believe it goes way beyond that. ESG also encompasses very practical issues related to operations, to people and the way our portfolio companies are managed on a day-to-day basis. This covers safety, working conditions and staff retention.

In industrial companies, it may also translate into very concrete actions aimed at improving, for instant, safety performance. And I'm going to give an example. Idex, which is a district heating network company, our measures led to a 54% reduction in the annual rate of lost time accidents since 2019. This improved employee well-being and also productivity. In other sectors such as Hippocrates, which is a leading Italian pharmaceutical company, the focus is more on the ability to attract, train and retain skilled employees. This is essential if we are to maintain high service quality and smooth running of operations.

Finally, our ESG team helped to arrange EUR 5.8 billion in financing linked to social and environmental impact criteria across the portfolio. These transactions meant that financing costs are, on average, 6 basis points lower than conventional solutions. And that amounts to several million euros in annual savings on the debt raised to acquire and finance the growth of our portfolio companies. To put it simply for us, ESG is not just about coming out with the CSR report or about a few figures, it's an issue that spans operations, teams, business development and financing and that makes a very tangible contribution to value creation.

On that note, I will now hand over to Walid, who will present our financial performance figures.

Thank you, Melanie. Good day, everyone. I'm delighted to be here. This is my first Annual General Meeting at Antin. And I'm going to present our financial results for FY 2025, and I'll begin with the key indicators. The key message is straightforward. In 2025, we delivered solid financial performance, in line with our targets. Excluding catch-up fees, our recurring revenue increased by 2.2% despite the absence of a lot of fundraising over the financial year. This growth was primarily driven by a 1.6% rise in assets under management, generating fees, FPAUM. This, in turn, stemmed for additional capital investments in our funds. Underlying EBITDA followed this trend, rising by 1% year-on-year and the resulting EBITDA margin remained broadly stable at 55%. Finally, we propose that we keep the dividend stable, in line with our guidance.

As you can see on the slide, our fee-paying assets under management increased slightly year-on-year by 1.6%. This trend was expected given that there was no active fundraising in 2025 following the completion of the Flagship V fundraising in December 2024 at EUR 10.2 billion. The increase in FPAUM is mainly due to capital investments made during the year by the Flagship III, III-B and IV funds to finance value creation plans for the portfolio assets.

Regarding revenue, you'll note the virtual absence of catch-up fees in 2025 as we completed the fundraising for Flagship V at the end of 2024. As previously noted, the 2.2% year-on-year increase in total revenue is primarily due to the rise in fee-paying AUM. Performance fees amounted to EUR 2.9 million in 2025. And as in 2024, they derived mainly from investment income.

Regarding revenue changes, as indicated, Flagship II ceased to generate fees at the end of 2024, but Funds III, III-B and IV invested capital at the start of the year 2025, which increased their fee generation over the subsequent quarters. The contribution from investment income was also solid, although slightly down on 2024. This is due to currency effects experienced in the first half of 2025. Underlying performance of portfolio companies remain sound, and the increase of net portfolio value means that we generated EUR 2.9 million in investment income in the second half of the year mainly.

In 2025, the increase of our operating expenses decreased. Our costs increased by 3.7% in 2025 compared to the previous year, mainly because staffing costs. As Melanie indicated earlier, we were able to maintain a very disciplined approach to recruitment. We selectively strengthen teams in key areas such as investment professionals and investor relations. All in all, taking into account departures and new hires, the net headcount increased by 12 people. Other operating expenses decreased year-on-year. This reflects our focus on efficiency and the first benefits from economies of scale for our platform.

Let's move now to shareholder distribution. Our balance sheet remains very strong in 2025 with EUR 368 million in cash at the end of the financial year. And therefore, we are maintaining our distribution policy, which is to ensure a stable or growing dividend per share. Therefore, subject to your approval, we plan to distribute a total of EUR 0.71 per share for 2025, which is the same as in 2024. Taking into account this year's dividend, since our IPO in September 2021, Antin will have distributed approximately EUR 470 million to its shareholders in all. That's EUR 2.66 per share.

I would now like to conclude with the outlook before handing back to Melanie. First of all, we have a resilient and predictable revenue profile. More than 95% of our turnover comes from recurring management fees and less than 5% from performance fees. Secondly, we plan to launch the Mid Cap II fund in the coming weeks, and the management fees generated by this fundraising will begin to ramp up gradually over 2026 and then in 2027. At the same time, in 2026, the planned exit from -- of portfolio companies from Flagship Funds III and IV will help us reduce FPAUM for those older funds and therefore, also the related management fees.

On the cost side, also in 2026, we are predicting a high single-digit annual growth linked to the continued controlled strengthening of our platform. Consequently, we expect the 2026 EBITDA to remain broadly stable year-on-year. Finally, we are maintaining our distribution policy, and we are predicting stable dividends for 2026.

Looking further ahead, we will have to look closely at the fundraising timetable there are many geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic tensions. Given the size of our flagship funds, any delay in the timetable could have a significant impact on our income statement. And therefore, we remain cautious regarding the fundraising timetable without, however, altering our ambition regarding the fund size or more broadly Antin's medium-term trajectory.

Thank you for your attention. I will hand back to Melanie now, who will address governance matters.

Thank you, Walid. Just a few words on corporate governance. The Board of Directors is comprised of 6 members, including 3 independent directors. It's a united, committed board. Each member has a very positive view of the way it works. On the 5th of November, the Board of Directors reviewed its composition and wishes to suggest today that you renew the term of office as Director of Ramon de Oliveira, for a period of 2 years. He is an independent director. He joined the Board at the time of Antin's IPO and has ever since been actively involved in the work of the Board and all of the committees of which he is a member. His contributions are valuable and help us to improve our governance.

Consequently, if the Annual General Meeting votes in favor of this proposed renewal, it is expected that Ramon will continue to serve on the Board and on the committees of which he is currently a member. The current composition of the Board is highly satisfactory in terms of independence, gender balance, age and nationality of the directors. 3 of the 6 Board members are independent, as I've already indicated, which is higher than the 33.33% recommended by the AFEP-MEDEF code for controlled companies.

The Board is international. We have 5 nationalities represented. The average age is 63.5 years, and we have perfect gender parity. Regarding the composition of the Board's committees, the emphasis is on independence. The Audit Committee and the Nomination and Remuneration Committee are both composed entirely of independent directors. The Sustainability Committee has 2/3 of independent members. All of this goes to show the strong involvement of our independent directors.

I'd like to move on to executive compensation. The remuneration structure for our Chief Executive Officer is very straightforward. It is made up of a fixed part and a variable component. The variable component is calculated on the basis of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The 3 quantitative criteria weighted equally and together account for 70% of the variable remuneration, and you can see them on the screen here.

They assess Antin's performance by measuring its ability to attract investors to our funds and also to assess the financial performance of the group. The 2 qualitative criteria represent 33% of variable compensation. There is a component linked to ESG criteria and another which measures quality of governance and management. The Board of Directors considered that the targets set for our CEO had almost been completely met in 2025, and therefore, he should receive 99% of his variable compensation for 2025, subject, of course, to your approval.

For 2026, the Chief Executive Officer's remuneration structure would remain unchanged with fixed remuneration equal to that of 2025. Only the independent directors receive compensation for their duties. And the details of this for financial year 2025 are displayed on the screen. They were set by the Board of Directors following the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. And this, in accordance with the remuneration policy approved at the last Annual General Meeting.

We propose that the remuneration structure for independent directors be renewed in 2026 with the same criteria and amounts as those set in 2025. This concludes the governance section, and I will now hand over to our auditors. They are Maud MONIN and Herve TANGUY, and they will present their reports to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I shall begin by summarizing our audit reports on the consolidated financial statements and the annual financial statements set out in the booklet you will have received. The fundamental objective of our assignment is to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are legal, regular, true and fair, and that they are free from material misstatement. We certify the consolidated financial statements without qualification or comment. We also certify the annual financial statements without qualification, although they include a technical comment regarding the first-time application of ANC Regulation Number 2022/06. However, this has no material impact on the financial statements. Furthermore, the consolidated and annual financial statements have been approved by your Board of Directors.

In a complex and changing environment, we highlight in our reports the key audit matters relating to the risk of material misstatement, which in our professional judgment, were the most significant for this year's audit. The key audit matters related to the consolidated financial statements are valuation of noncurrent assets and the valuation of carried interest. Finally, the key focus of the audit on the separate financial statements relates to the valuation of equity investments, primarily the subsidiaries, AIP SAS and AIP U.K.

With regard to the group's management report, we have no comments to make as to its fairness and consistency with the consolidated financial statements. With regard to the separate financial statements, we have no comments to make following the other specific checks required by law, in particular, those relating to other information provided to shareholders, notably the corporate governance report and the management report.

Regarding the format of presentation of the consolidated financial statements and notes as well as the annual financial statements included in the annual financial report, based on our work, we conclude the presentation of the consolidated financial statements and notes as well as the -- respecting the single European electronic format. Over to Herve for the special report as well as the others. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I present the report on regulated agreements. A reminder of our assignment to bring to the attention of the general meeting regulated agreements, of which we have been aware of the purpose of our work is not to express an opinion on the usefulness or validity. With regard to agreements submitted to the approval of the AGM, we wish to inform you that we've not been notified of any authorized agreement concluded during the past financial year to be submitted for approval by the AGM pursuant to the provisions of Article L225-38, the Commercial Code.

With regard to agreements previously approved by the general meeting, we inform you that we've not been notified of any agreement already approved by the general meeting whose performance continued during the past financial year.

Lastly, we have various reports that have been prepared in respect of capital transactions, Resolutions Number 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and we have no comments to make regarding these reports.

So if you agree, we're prepared to take your questions.

Good afternoon. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Jean Francois [indiscernible]. Like last year, a few questions. Firstly, thank you for this fine presentation. There I say, hugely compelling and convincing in the rollout of assets. I've got 4 questions, somewhat similar to last year's. The first is a word on private markets. We know the private markets, be they debt or equity or under constraint with officers more towards retail, where we hear about continuation funds. I'd like to know if you deem that these constraints also affect your segment of activity, infrastructure. And I'd like to know your degree of confidence in Antin's ability to satisfactory organize the exits that you referred to in a world in which exits are today difficult to implement? That's my first question.

Since last year. Well, last year, we spoke of Ukraine. This year, we had President Trump and his tariffs. We got the war in Iran. This deglobalization, these geopolitical shifts is that changing the asset rollout strategy or fundraising orchestrated by the Board? That's my second question.

Third question on consolidation of the world of investment companies. Have you reached critical mass? Do you have an appetite to grow by acquiring further peer companies?

And my last question, maybe on word about the valuation of the company. Last year, I believe we mentioned the trajectory that wasn't favorable. So the base effect because the IPO occurred in market conditions that were, shall we say, more favorable. What's your take on the valuation of the Antin share? And are we to a expect or hope a widening of the flow? What are the thoughts of the Board?

Thank you. I'll try and answer those questions. My colleagues can perhaps complement on other aspects. So on the private markets, are they constrained? Yes, to a degree, I think there are several aspects in this market. Firstly, the tensions on the credit markets. And I'll remind you that Antin is not at all present in the credit market. Now these tensions, well, quite frankly, we're not credit specialists. But my personal sense is that they're widely overstated or exaggerated.

And so far, there are major credit players that are doing an excellent job that are really attentive to risk management. Then there are a few players who are less experienced and saw an easy way of growing the AUM and not always very good when it comes to managing their business. But I think the underlying is that the ability of companies that benefit from private to reimburse because that's what measures the risk carried by those funds is globally good today. I'm not here to defend people who manage credits, but there's an effect of kind of knock-on contagion effect of concern that seems to me to be somewhat overstated.

We as beneficiary of private or [indiscernible], we sense that there are people who are very professional, continue to be active without there being a major impact. Continuation funds, this is a trend that meets not difficulties contrary to what some may think of the exit difficulties, but to needs of investors who wish to expose long term in assets or plays that they like. 5 years ago, that wasn't an issue, and 5 years back, our major clients were asking us to invest money to grow companies in which we invested in to sell them.

Now Increasingly, we get demand from big investors, not talking the small ones, but large institutional investors to think -- to allow them to remain a shareholder of assets that they like or assets through the so-called continuation vehicles. That's a new trend in the market is sort of a caricature that says if there's continuation because companies can't sell. I think that's probably the case for -- in certain cases, but I think there's truly of a development for big investors. Say, we like a particular strategy, play want to be exposed to it. I'd say it's recent. It's emerged over the past 5 years.

Exit structure, is it more difficult, Jean? Like we said, we're in a year, a major year because formally, we have 4 processes launched, and there are 4 more coming soon. We'll give you the results in a few months, at least for the first 4. We have the market context that, today, I would say, is fully acceptable.

Let me remind you that 2024 was a year not for us, but for the whole industry. There was -- it was near stagnation simply because market conditions weren't there. There were no -- very few sellers, few buyers and difficulties in fund it to because of the DPIs, it's known the ability to return investment money to our clients so that they can then reinvest in other funds. So today, and this is my sense, not personal, but as Antin's Chairman, it's -- the situation has normalized, and you see once again an exit activity and investment activity that is very considerable for 12 months now. I think in '24, we -- very, very little, very -- it was a black year for the market.

What's the impact of deglobalization, as you put it, that is all the geopolitical conflicts impacting our strategy and fundraising. On the strategy, we're investing in 2 geographies, Europe, the U.S. I'd say the impact in terms of strategy is nil. Why? Because we're not investing in companies that might be exposed to tariffs. When we invest in a company in the U.S., they're -- primarily they're focused on the American market. European companies in which we primarily say a few exception, only present in European markets. A deglobalization imposition of tariffs has no impact on our strategy. 2 pillars, 4 sectors; Europe and North America.

For fundraising, I'd say, that we have a base of investors of a highly diversified client base. Europe still accounts for about 60% percent or thereabouts. Middle East, the Far East and North America, major areas and growing strongly. We don't sense any change of structural nature. Quite the contrary, as was said by Walid. There's strong appeal, strong attraction for Europe amongst all the international investors. And so we don't at all see any avoidance there just a caveat on the fundraising.

We appreciate that with bombing in certain Gulf countries, well, there's a kind of wait-and-see policy. But once again, we have very close ties with Gulf investors, and they continue and will continue. There's a timing issue before they resume their investment.

Critical mass, and then I'll let Walid talk to you about the valuation and changing situation in the market and our peers. Critical mass. I think, we have the ability to continue to grow our infrastructure activity in a sustained, indeed, very sustainable manner through ourselves. Critical mass we passed for, we've achieved that for investment activity.

And another question, can we use our skills to do other activities, be it organically or through M&A? The answer, as I see it, is yes. It's not an imperative, but it's something we're considering. And the challenge is to find the right strategies, the right investment vehicles and enablers so that we can reduce our global risk and not accumulate with another risk that we wouldn't [indiscernible] -- highly vigilant regarding our development. Some would say overly wait and see, but we're very conscious of what we created, and we don't want to break the machine in any way. So yes, we have discussions on that team. And sooner or later, we'll release new developments.

On the valuation, well there, very straightforward question, very easy, over to Walid.

Baptism of fire. Thank you for that easy one lobbed at me. I'll try and give you a simple straightforward answer. So just 2-pronged, start with the market context and then I'll focus on Antin. More specifically on the market context, looking at the broad picture, 12 -- last 18 months market were particularly volatile. On the upwards, the uplift was largely driven by tech stocks, whereas the rest of the industry suffered hugely. So highly volatile market. And as you probably know, against that backdrop generally, financial stocks are even more volatile and exposed to these wild swings.

So when we look at players of alternative asset management and private investment, be it in the U.S. or in Europe, the trend was strongly downward, notably in the U.S. but also in Europe. You saw that very recently with some of our European comparables. So there was a trend that was pretty negative in the market. And in that context, it -- in fact, Antin is faring quite well. Obviously, we'd like to be in another place. But in that very challenging context, Antin is not really far from the norm.

If we look at Antin's valuation, difficult for us to form a view on the right price, the right stock price, but I'd mention 2 things. One, the technical aspects. You mentioned the float, I'll return to that, but the float and liquidity have an impact on the share price. And lastly, what we control that you've heard Alain and Melanie's message. We have great ambitions. We continue that we're pivotal moment with many things ahead of us. We're working that. We're working on what we control so to have an impact on the share price. So that was on the first part of your questions.

Regarding the share price back to the free float, I'll start with a very straightforward answer, and then I'll try and complete that. So our ambition to increase the free float, answer, yes. But I'd qualify that, but we're prepared to do that. On the good side, there's alignment of interest between the Antin team and the institutional and individual investors. So we want to increase the free float, but not at any price. We want it to be done in the good conditions so that current shareholders and future transaction allow us to continue to increase the free that happen on the -- simple answer, yes, but we want to do it right. And we had a lockup that was introduced at time of IPO. In the end of September this year, we'll reach the end of the lockup period. But there again, you can be convinced of the fact that any divestment or this will be done in an orderly manner because of that alignment of interest.

Yes, I have a question, and I'll probably ask the same question next year. And this relates to Velvet.

Velvet?

Can you hear me well? Okay, Velvet. What is the amount of the investment that you're planning for this project? I saw that it's making headway. But what about your relations with Alstom? It doesn't always go very well. Does it? Are you seeing that there are delays, excess costs? You said, you were a bit vague about the deadline. You haven't given us a month. You said 2026. And what about the trains? Are you going to -- are they going to be using drivers who come from the state rail company, the SNCF, or they're going to be training their own drivers?

Well, as the amounts invested about EUR 300 million, potentially more, as you know, Antin's strategy is to make a first investment and then to deploy further in the portfolio companies in CapEx. And in this particular case, which is a greenfield case, that's particularly important to stick to that plan. We certainly intend to go beyond the first initial outlay.

Relations with Alstom, very good actually. There are no delays at the moment. We're not running over cost. We've bought 12 latest generation trains. Alstom is delighted to have a private partner in France, I think. I think that sums it up. They have good ties with us. So were not considered suppliers relationship, but a partnership. So very healthy relations. We have the impression that we have a strong position on this market.

Regarding recruitment of drivers, we don't have a communication to make on that, who is going to be the drivers of these fast trains. Perhaps 2 points, I personally am not intending to drive the train. So that should reassure you. And I don't think anybody from Antin, maybe Mark. Maybe Mark's keen to drive a faster train. I know he loves trains, but I don't think actually any of us will be doing that. And we will have experienced drivers, obviously, for these trains.

And we have another question in the middle there. You just missed him.

The presentation given by Melanie Biessy about compensation, it was a bit brief what she said. We were given a lot of percentages and figures, but we don't really know what that represents in euros, whether this be for the CEO or for the members of the Board. It went very quickly.

The amounts were on the slide, so maybe we can show the slides. Yes, the 2 screens are a bit small. Maybe the figures aren't very legible, but it's all up on the slide here. This is for the directors. And that's for the CEO. EUR 987,730, that's the fixed compensation. It's in the square there. We'll make sure that it's more visible next year, bigger. And the directors, here they are. Can you see those figures?

What's the total amount they get?

Well, Lynne Shamwana, over the year 2025, that's EUR 470,000 in total for the 3 directors. And then you can see there's 2 columns here. If you add them up for Lynne, EUR 120,000 plus EUR 39,737, Dagmar, EUR 120,000 plus the figures that amount to participation in committees or chairing committees. So the amounts vary slightly of EUR 51,579 for Dagmar, and EUR 19,737,000 for Ramon.

And I have a question about Velvet as well. I've read that you gave a loan to the company of EUR 1 billion. So you're -- are you a banker or a partner?

No, no, we invest. There's a project that needs funding, and that involves setting up a company that is going to be running 12 fast trains from Paris, Rennes to Bordeaux along the Atlantic Coast side that needs funding. And the total investment amount is close to EUR 1 billion. Now we have, in capital, that's our job. We're investing about EUR 300 million. And for the rest, we have a consortium with the banks, which is funding the debt, but we do not provide debt funding, we have capital funders.

Mr. Jean [indiscernible]. A quick question on Slide 8 on the amount of investment, 75% dotted line of funds invested. What's the point? Why do you indicate this threshold? And then on latest NorthC, Vigor Marine, and Sapphire, there are 2 investments in the U.S. How do you manage issues of exchange rate and parity and your exposure to the dollar and sales, quite a significant sales. Idex, they're important sales for the market. Do you think those sales will be a catalyst for your perception on the market? Or do you consider that people know you and that in absolute person, people look at your track record and it's going to be an event in the development of the company, but not a major one?

I'll maybe just answer, the 75% you referred is the amount of capital invested or committed in portfolio assets that allows us to launch a successor fund to the existing funds. So when that our investors as part of the mandate, we negotiate or authorize us to launch the successor fund. Mid Cap, Mid Cap I, for example. We've committed sufficient capital, and we closed the Mid Cap I investment period, and we can launch the raising of the fund Mid Cap II.

I'll address the question of exposure to the U.S. dollar. As a reminder, all our funds are in euros. We're aiming about 1/3 of investments in the U.S., notably in U.S. dollars. The investments done in U.S. dollars are hedged or not, depending on the specificity, it can be done kind of [ dynamically ] but not systematically. And it's part of the discussions within the investment committee, the willingness to take an exposure on the U.S. dollar. That's for the investments with our euro funds, all our revenues are in euros.

And the costs, as Melanie mentioned, between our 4 main offices, Paris, London, New York and Luxembourg. Paris and Luxembourg, the costs are essentially in euros, sterling in the U.K. and U.S. dollar for New York and there, the management is kind of done run of the river, but the exposure is very low on the P&L. The only issue is that, for the funds, which when we see wild variations in early 2025, an impact on the underlying assets, but they're just temporary movements. But no issue of particular hedging on the U.S. dollar.

Concerning the disposal of Idex that's public. Is it important? Yes, of course, it's very important for us. It's like any disposal divestment. It's a company that experienced strong growth, and it's now a large company that was remarkably well developed by its management team, and we're very keen that the disposal should occur under good conditions. But as a professional, it's an investment amongst others. There are other processes underway, notably in the U.S. that also require our attention. It's our business to have the best price when we sell an asset, but it's a high-quality asset.

My name is Mr. [ Conder ]. My first 2 questions, what company would you compare yourself or benchmark yourselves with in the European community [ and able to be ] in France? Second question, why don't you reinvest your dividend in shares with a reserve price, it might perhaps increase the free float?

I'll answer that. Thank you for those 2 questions. So on your first question concerning the benchmark, well, clearly, there's a measure of subjectivity in that question. I'll give you my view. Given our positioning as alternative asset management, so it happens a number of French companies are active in that sector, some not too far from here, Tikehau, Eurazeo and others. Having said that, I'd like to say that there are a number of differences, sometimes notable regarding the models of those companies as compared to us. We have a very strong balance sheet.

But to remind you, we don't invest our capital into funds, except for co-investments that represents about 1% of the size of the fund. So our model is asset-light. We focus on asset management for third parties, and we don't invest in our funds, and that's not the objective. It sometimes sets us apart from other listed companies with relatively similar profiles, but with differences that remain notable.

In Europe, we could mention other companies that are active in say, EQT, CVC, Partners Group, Bridgepoint also, yes. And in the U.S., the market is more developed with a number of very large companies. So I hope that answers your question on...

[indiscernible]

within Eurazao, you mean? No, no. It's an independently listed company. No, don't know. Never heard of. I'm sorry. So not in infrastructure or a third-party management because you need to clearly distinguish the model investment company for third parties, which is our model from portfolio companies that invest the balance sheet, where the shareholders invest in the balance sheet first and foremost.

On your second question, well, let me tell you that it's not an issue that's been discussed at this stage. We've only been -- we're only IPO-ed in 2021. We're nearing the fifth anniversary of the listing. I have no doubt that it will be amongst the issues that might be discussed going forward.

I wanted to know whether you might consider having a meeting, especially designed for shareholders to help them better understand your business and to get to know you better?

The other years, we could sign several times, but not this time. I was wondering whether we'd be having a little gift this year as well as the last year as we did.

Regarding your first question, suggestion, it's a good suggestion, actually. Together with Ludmilla, who is in charge of Investor Relations, we do spend quite a lot of time talking to investors, institutional investors, explain what we're about, our outlook. But of course, we'd be happy to broaden those meetings. We're moving towards the fifth anniversary of IPO of Antin. So maybe it would be a good idea to have a kind of refresher session to introduce or to explain our business a bit more with shareholders. That's the first point.

The second point, as we explained, we have constraints in terms of size. We wanted to make sure that we take account of all votes. Your votes will be noted on the basis of the number of shares that you hold, and we hope to be able to do better in the future.

Congratulations on your investment in Velvet. Could you share more information about why it was that you took that decision? I think that the train market is very competitive. They've got low-cost company. Ouigo, you've got the SNCF. These are state funded and supported companies that can afford to lose money up to EUR 1 billion a year because of that backing. So what's the business model that you have in mind? And how do you think you're going to be able to compete with this public competitor?

Well, first of all, the rail situation in France, rail transport situation is that there's a monopoly, and it's been hard to get any competition on the market. You've got a monopoly. We need to have a complete cultural change in SNCF, just like was the case for the electricity and energy markets with EDF, for instance, a state-owned electricity utility. There are 2 types of competition that are emerging in France in recent years.

First of all, and this is reported on widely in the press, its competition with foreign monopolies or former monopolies, Trenitalia, for instance, which operate lines between Italy and France in one case and Germany and France in the other case. And this created tensions, and it was hard for the SNCF to accept and for its workforce to come to terms with.

The market position with Velvet is quite different. This is the line along the Atlantic Coast, from Paris along the Atlantic Coast in France. There's a real need of rolling stock on that line. If you look at travel to St. Malo, to Rennes, to Bordeaux, if you try and book a seat, it's only fully booked. And this is a whole region of France that's developing very fast. So there's a real shortage in terms of rolling stock, and we're trying to fill the gap. And we're doing this at a time when the state-owned company, the SNCF, has huge needs in terms of investment. It needs to invest hugely in local trains, regional trains and suburban trains, which were really put on the back burner for a long time because they're investing in the fast train network. Huge needs.

If you travel from Paris to Limoges, it takes an 1.5 hours more now than in 1981. Why? Because the rails themselves are old. It's not very safe to go at fast speed. So the speeds have had to be reduced. The same is true to go to Clermont-Ferrand. Those are typical examples. There's been a huge amount of underinvestment. So the SNCF has announced major investment plans in that kind of line, and we're providing a solution. There's a shortage of rolling stock for a particular stretch of the network, and therefore, we are quite confident that our relations with the SNCF will remain good.

Velvet is run by Rachel Picard, who was a top executive in the SNCF in the past. She was in charge of the fast line network -- fast train network for a while. She's somebody who's highly respected, who's well known. Who knows the executives in the SNCF, everything should go smoothly. We've got a lot of cards, good cards in hand.

Let's move on now to the vote of the resolutions. And I'm going to present those resolutions to you. There are 16 resolutions being submitted to you for approval.

Resolutions 1 and 2 are vote on Antin's company and consolidated financial statements for 2025. Resolution 3 relates to the attribution of the profits and distribution to shareholders of EUR 0.71 per share. Resolution 4 gives the opportunity to take note of the absence of any regulated agreement. Resolution 5 concerns the renewal of Ramon de Oliveira's term of office as Director. Then regarding compensation, Resolution 6 submits to your approval, the information relating to the remuneration of the senior executives for the financial year 2025, as disclosed in our university registration document.

Resolution 7 relates to remuneration paid or awarded to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the same financial year. Resolutions 8 and 9 concern remuneration policies that are applicable for 2026, and these have been presented to you by Melanie.

We'll now proceed to the vote on the resolutions concerning capital and financing authorizations. We are suggesting that you renew the authorization for the share buyback program within the limits provided for by law. Simultaneously, Resolution 11 seeks to renew the authorization granted to the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by canceling shares repurchased under the share buyback program.

Resolution 12, 13 and 14, concern plans for employees of Antin or related entities. Resolution 15 seeks to grant the Board of Directors with an authorization to increase the share capital for the benefit of one or more persons. And finally, the vote on Resolution 16 would enable completion of legal formalities arising from this Annual General Meeting.

We now have the quorum, which is 95.05% of shares entitled to vote, 97.22% of existing voting rights. So we will now proceed with the vote of the resolutions. And I would suggest that you take up your voting devices.

So first of all, approval of the corporate accounts for the financial year 2025. Vote now, please.

[Voting]

Voting ended, so this is adopted. Resolution 2, approval of consolidated accounts for financial year 2025. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 3, attribution of profits and distribution to shareholders of EUR 0.71 per share. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 4, note taken of absence of regulated agreements. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 5, renewal of Ramon de Oliveira's mandate as Director for a 2-year period. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 6, approval of information relating to the remuneration of senior executives for the 2025 financial year. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 7, remuneration paid or awarded to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the same financial year, financial year 2025. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 8, approval of the remuneration policy for 2026 for independent directors. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 9, approval of remuneration policies applicable for the Chief Executive Officer for 2026. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 10, authorization for the Board to buy back its own shares in a share buyback program. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. adopted. Resolution 11, authorization granted to the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by canceling shares repurchased under the share buyback program. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Approved. Resolution 12, authorization given to the Board for our plans for employees of Antin-related entities. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Approved. 13, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital with waiver of preemptive subscription rights for corporate savings plan for employees. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 14, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital with waiver of preemptive subscription rights for shares for employees of the Antin group. Please go now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Adopted. Resolution 15, delegation of authority to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital with waiver of preemptive subscription rights by issuing shares for persons who are quoted by name. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 16, completion of power attribution of delegation of authority for legal formalities. Please vote now.

[Voting]

No more voting. The resolution is adopted.

Thank you very much indeed.

Well, as the agenda for this meeting has been completed and all resolutions have been put to your vote, all there is left for me is to thank you for your attendance and participation. We're certainly living in turbulent times, but infrastructure remains an attractive and resilient asset class meeting essential needs. We continue to see excellent opportunities as evidenced by a robust pipeline of potential transactions. Our teams are working actively to continue to identify value-creating investments, completing disposals to return value to our investors and raising new funds to continue our growth trajectory.

Thank you once again for your attention. I hereby declare this AGM closed and look forward to seeing you in 2027 on the 27th of May to be precise for our next meeting. Thank you.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Antin Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations. Please go ahead, madam.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our full year results for 2025. A copy of this release and the presentation are available on the Shareholders section of our website.

For today's presentation, I am joined by Alain Rauscher, Chairman and CEO; Mélanie Biessy, Managing Partner and COO; and Walid Damou, Partner and CFO. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Let me now hand over to Alain.

Thank you, Ludmilla. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. In 2025, we delivered a strong performance and 2026 will mark the beginning of our next growth chapter.

Starting on Slide 4. Here are some of the reasons that drive our confidence in the next cycle. First, demand for infrastructure continues to strengthen globally. Across energy, digital infrastructure, transport and social infrastructure, we see powerful structural drivers supporting long-term investment opportunities. And in this context, we see particularly strong appetite from clients for exposure to Europe.

Second, we have built a strong platform with a great team, allowing us to adapt to a rapidly evolving environment, and our track record speaks to our capacity to generate strong investment returns.

Third, Antin is well positioned to capture the best investment opportunities. Over nearly 20 years, we have built deep sector expertise and strong sourcing capabilities, relying on a pioneering investment approach in infrastructure. This is translating into a significant acceleration of our investment activity in 2025 and continued value creation across our portfolio companies.

Finally, we are entering a new growth phase with the launch of a new fundraising cycle and are ideally positioned to meet growing global demand for resilient, essential infrastructure.

Briefly, on our key highlights for 2025 on Slide 5. Our performance in '25 was solid. First, as mentioned -- just mentioned, investment activity accelerated significantly. We deployed about EUR 2.5 billion across our strategies with 6 investments completed in the second half, making it the strongest half year for deployment since our IPO. This positive momentum is carrying on into 2026.

Second, we continue to generate solid value creation across the portfolio, supported by operational improvements and strategic initiatives.

Third, our exit pipeline is strengthening with several processes underway or in preparation.

From a financial perspective, underlying EBITDA increased by 1% on a like-for-like basis, even in a year without active fundraising.

We also maintained our distribution policy to shareholders with a dividend of EUR 0.71 per share, representing a yield of approximately 8% of the current share price.

Finally, we are starting a new fundraising cycle beginning with the expected activation of Mid Cap II in the second quarter of 2026, followed by the next flagship in 2027.

We will cover these points in more detail later in the presentation. Before that, let me step back and discuss the broader infrastructure investment environment on Slide 6. The long-term fundamentals for infrastructure investing are as strong as ever. Global demand for infrastructure continues to grow, driven by several structural forces.

First, electrification and energy transition. The shift towards cleaner energy and the broader electrification require significant investment in generation, networks and energy infrastructure. This trend is amplified by greater focus on resilience and sovereignty.

Second, the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure, the growth of data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence is accelerating demand for data centers, fiber networks, towers and energy.

Third, changes in logistics and mobility as global trade and transportation systems are continuing -- continuously evolving.

And finally, demographic trends, including aging populations and urbanization, which increased the demand for essential services and social infrastructure.

At the same time, traditional sources of capital remain constrained. Public finances are under pressure across many developed economies. Banks have also reduced long-term infrastructure lending since the financial crisis due to regulatory constraints. As a result, private capital is playing an increasingly important role in financing and developing infrastructure assets. Considering the potential here, we are only scratching the surface, and this is where Antin as an investor with long-term capital, sector expertise and operational capabilities has a clear advantage.

Zooming in on Antin on Slide 7. Our strategy is built around investing in essential infrastructure businesses in Europe and North America that combine resilience with strong value creation potential. Every investment we make goes through what we call our infrastructure test. We focus on companies that provide essential services, benefit from long-term structural growth and have strong management teams capable of executing a clear strategy. Once invested, our focus is on value creation. Importantly, we are comfortable operating in complex situations. Many attractive infrastructure opportunities require operational transformation, sector expertise and time. And all of that can deter other investors. All of that has resulted over our 18-year history in a realized gross multiple of 2.5x and a realized gross IRR of 22%.

On Slide 8, we will need to tell you a bit more about our approach to value creation. The key strength of Antin is the platform we have built to support our portfolio companies. Alongside our investment teams, we have developed a broad set of in-house capabilities, including close to 50 specialists in process improvement, financing, sustainability, legal and tax and portfolio talent assessment. These experts work closely with management teams of portfolio companies to implement bespoke value creation plans.

In 2025, while constantly looking for new investment opportunities, we focused on actively managing our existing assets, supporting tens of bolt-on acquisitions and implementing performance improvement initiatives in operations, technology and security across our portfolio companies. We are also constantly working on financing and refinancing of our portfolio. And in 2025 only, we raised and refinanced debt for a total of EUR 8.4 billion to support the growth of our portfolio companies.

Turning now to fund performance in 2025 for our most recent and largest funds on Slide 9. We continue to see resilient performance across our investments in 2025, particularly in our more recent funds, which are in active value creation mode. For example, the net asset value of Flagship V increased by nearly 17% year-on-year or 18% excluding currency effect. This performance reflects continued execution across the portfolio, including the operational improvement, strategic initiatives and add-on acquisitions I just highlighted. Importantly, these results were achieved in a volatile macroeconomic environment, which demonstrate the resilience of the underlying assets. Across the entire portfolio, like-for-like performance stood at 7.7% in 2025 or 11.6%, excluding currency effects, which are mostly related to the dollar fluctuation. Overall, our funds continue to perform on or above plan.

Let me now turn to investment activity across the platform on Slide 10. The end of 2025 was a particularly active period with 6 investments signed, reflecting the strong pipeline we have been building during the last few quarters. In Flagship V, we completed our first investment in digital infrastructure with NorthC, a colocation data center company and our first investment in the United States, Vigor Marine Group, a provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services. The fund was 53% committed at the end of last year.

NextGen also continued to deploy capital with the acquisition of smart mobility platform, Matawan, bringing the fund to around 62% committed at year-end, and we expect 2 to 3 more investments in the fund.

Finally, in Mid Cap, activity accelerated significantly in the second half of the year. The fund completed 3 investments. And following the investment in Belambra, which was signed earlier this year, the fund is now fully committed, which leads us to the launch of fundraising for Mid Cap II with activation expected in the second quarter of 2026.

Importantly, our approach to investing remains unchanged. Our priority is always to source the best opportunities and to invest with discipline. We remain patient and selective, focusing on investments where we have strong conviction and clear value creation levers. This discipline in buying well has always been a key part of our investment philosophy and is an important contributor to our long-term performance.

Before handing over to Mélanie and Walid, let me finish with a few words on exits. Across Flagship III, III-B and IV, a number of portfolio companies are now reaching maturity, creating a growing pipeline of potential exits. We have already launched a couple of exit processes, and we are preparing a few additional ones. These realizations should translate into meaningful distributions to our fund investors. And this will provide an important foundation as we enter our next fundraising cycle, reinforcing our position as a trusted partner for our investors.

With that, I will now hand over to Mélanie and Walid to cover our financial performance.

Thank you, Alain. Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to present our financial performance for 2025 alongside Walid Damou, who joined Antin as Group CFO in February and whom we are pleased to welcome.

Thank you, Mélanie, and good morning, all. Having spent my first few weeks diving deep into the business and working closely with Mélanie and the broader team, I am incredibly impressed by the foundations in place. The team has done a fantastic job building this platform, and they helped make my transition seamless. As Alain highlighted, our encore remains delivering strong risk-adjusted returns for our clients. And at Antin, we are all firmly aligned on this objective.

Looking ahead, as we enter this next growth phase, my priority is ensuring we fully leverage our scale to drive operating efficiency and long-term value. With a strong bedrock, we are extremely ready to move to the next level of operational excellence, ensuring our platform keeps pace with our ambition and the evolution in our industry. So as you can hear, I'm very excited about the opportunities ahead, and I look forward to reengaging with the analyst community and our shareholders in more detail over the coming days and weeks.

Back to you, Mélanie, for our 2025 financials.

Thanks, Walid. Starting with an overview of our key financial metrics on Slide 13. The message is fairly simple. We delivered a solid performance in 2025, in line with our guidance with EBITDA that has increased by 1% on a like-for-like basis, excluding catch-up fees. As a reminder, catch-up fees are management fee true-ups charged to fund investors who join after a fund's first close to ensure equal treatment with first closures. We will focus our commentary on the evolution of our P&L, excluding catch-up fees to present the performance of our business on a like-for-like basis.

Recurring revenue increased by 2.2% in 2025, even in the absence of fundraising. This was mainly driven by a 1.6% increase in fee-paying AUM resulting from additional capital investments in our funds.

Underlying EBITDA followed this trend with a 1% increase year-on-year, and our EBITDA margin is broadly stable at 55%.

Lastly, we propose to maintain the dividend stable, in line with our guidance.

Going into more details on Slide 14. Our fee-paying AUM and total AUM increased slightly year-on-year by around 1.5%. This was expected as we had no fundraising in 2025, having held the final close of Flagship Fund V in December 2024. The increase in fee-paying AUM is driven by capital investments made during the year in Flagship Fund III, III-B and IV to finance value creation plans.

As for revenue, you will notice the near absence of catch-up fees in 2025 compared to 2024 since we finished raising Flagship V at the end of '24. As mentioned previously, the 2.2% year-on-year growth in total revenue comes from the increased FPAUM.

Performance revenue in '25 was EUR 2.9 million and like in '24, came mainly from investment income as the funds where Antin has a carry allocation have not yet crossed their hurdle.

As discussed in September, the first half of '25 was heavily impacted by FX headwinds. But as mentioned by Alain earlier, the underlying performance of portfolio companies was strong overall and the good progress on NAV allowed us to generate EUR 2.9 million in investment income, mostly in the second part of the year. You can see the revenue movements in greater detail on Slide 15.

As planned, Fund II stopped generating fees at the end of 2024. Fund III, III-b and IV invested equity early in the year, which has a strong impact on the annual increase. There's a solid investment income contribution, although slightly lower than in 2024, given the negative FX impact that we suffered in 1H '25.

Finally, I'd like to draw your attention to a small adjustment we made to the way we present our P&L. Until 2024, we used to present administration fees in our revenues and related offsetting costs in our OpEx. The 2 netted off with no impact on EBITDA. In 2025, we removed those fees from both revenues and operating expenses to simplify our P&L presentation.

Moving to Slide 16. In 2025, we saw slower year-on-year growth in operating expenses. Our costs grew by 3.7% in '25 with the increase driven by personnel expenses. We maintained a very disciplined approach to hiring, selectively strengthening the team in key areas such as investment professionals and investor relations across our offices. Between leavers and joiners, we have a net increase of 13 people. Other operating expenses decreased year-on-year as we remain focused on leveraging our scale and increasing efficiencies. We also benefited from the absence of placement fees in '25 and from reduced travel expenses.

Let's now move on to the distributions to shareholders on Slide 17. Our balance sheet remains strong in 2025 as we retained EUR 368 million in cash and cash equivalents at year-end with a little less than 1/3 of that amount earmarked for deployment in our funds, in line with our current practice of co-investing 1% to 2% of our funds. As a result, we are maintaining our distribution policy, which is to have a stable or growing dividend per share. We, therefore, plan to get a total of EUR 0.71 per share as in 2024. Considering this year's dividend since our IPO in September 2021, Antin will have distributed around EUR 470 million to its shareholders, representing EUR 2.66 per share.

I will now briefly cover our outlook on Slide 18 before handing back to Alain. We have a resilient earnings profile with more than 95% of our revenue coming from recurring management fees and less than 5% from performance fees, so a small portion.

We expect our 2026 EBITDA to be broadly stable year-on-year with several moving parts. First, we plan to activate Mid Cap II next quarter and the stream of management fees generated by this fundraising will start ramping up progressively. At the same time, we expect our fee-paying AUM from older vintages and therefore, our management fees to decrease as we expect to sell some of our portfolio companies in Fund III and Fund IV.

From a cost perspective, we expect a high single-digit growth rate year-on-year, and this will be mainly driven by continued investments in the platform and selective new hires. We maintain our distribution policy and expect the 2026 dividend to be stable.

Looking further ahead to 2027, the revenue contribution from Mid Cap II should have fully ramped up, and we will have the beginning of Fund VI contribution, which will drive the next step-up of growth in our P&L.

Back to Alain for some concluding remarks.

Thank you, Mélanie. In conclusion, we want to share the reasons behind our continued confidence in the future, even in today's unpredictable geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.

While volatility is high and may impact deal flow and fundraising, our business model remains resilient. We are specialist investors in infrastructure, an area where we see unprecedented demand for capital. We have built a very strong platform on both sides of the Atlantic with a pioneering approach and proven long-standing track record.

2026 will be a pivotal year for us as we are entering into next -- our next growth phase. We're activating Mid Cap II and Flagship VI will follow in 2027. This will translate into a step-up in earnings in 2027 and even more so in 2028. We continue to grow our platform based on excellence, and we carefully consider every decision we make so that we can continue delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for our stakeholders.

Thank you very much for your attention. Mélanie, Walid and I are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Sharath Kumar of Deutsche Bank.

Warm welcome to Walid from my side. I have 3 questions, please. Firstly, I wanted to understand your views on exits this year in the wake of heightened volatility. I've noted your comments about the exit pipeline being strong with multiple exit processes launched or imminent. Can you elaborate on this? My worry is that if the volatility remains high, what are the chances of the repeat of 2025? Related to this, can you comment if there are downside risks to 2026 consensus expectations for carried interest around EUR 25 million?

Secondly, on fundraising, any initial indications of what sort of a fund size can we expect for Mid Cap II. And on Flagship Fund VI, at this point, is it more probable to have an activation in the first half or second half of 2027? I think from a deployment point of view, you're well on track for first half 2027 activation. So I wanted to hear your thoughts.

And finally, on the usage of cash, I wanted your updated thoughts on the best possible use. Any thoughts on returning this to shareholders given that the market does not seem conducive for the launch of any new strategies? How are you thinking about inorganic growth in the wake of recent derating of multiples in the sector?

Okay. Well, you are asking all the questions that we ask ourselves on a daily basis. So if you have answers, I'm more than happy to listen to them rather than try to give my own answers, Sharath.

Okay. On exits, we are engaged on today currently on 4 exits. Some are public, others are not public. So I cannot comment on that. I cannot comment on the timing, of course, on that. Some may come very quickly. Some may be completed a bit longer. It is -- we are right into that. So clearly, it is impossible to give any precise idea. Once it's done, it's done, but we are right into action, so to speak. So I can only confirm that we are currently 4 main exits, which are underway and more to come.

Pipeline. Pipeline is, I would say, it's something which we monitor evidently very, very closely. If you just see -- and in a nutshell, I would say it is as strong as ever been. If you remember, after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and I remind you that this war has been lasting to date for 4 years, which is the duration of First World War and Second World War. It just gives an idea of the atrocity that the Ukraine are suffering.

Well, as you know well, this war has resulted into some disruption in the global economy, especially with higher interest rates, higher inflation turns into higher interest rates. And it has caused some, I would say, some -- in our profession, in particular, some slowdown in fundraising and in deployment of capital and exits, all this actually being pretty much entangled. This is over, and we give you some information on the resumption of our strong investment activity during the second half of 2025, which frankly has been, by far, I would say, our most active period ever in -- since the IPO in 2021.

So I think we are back on track. Today, the pipeline is something we monitor every week to be very direct, and it's as good as it can be. And now we have to just pick the right deals and be prudent, not rush and be sure that we select the proper battle, so to speak, to get the maximum returns for our investors.

There was a question on the downside for carried interest in '26. Maybe I can cover this one. So indeed, 2026 could be the year we recognize carried interest. This will clearly be dependent upon the timing and the outcome of the exits of assets, especially from Fund III and III-B. So of course, we will monitor very closely the situation there because this is an inflection year for carried interest. And the idea is to indeed go beyond the other return to be able to recognize this carried interest, and it will be directly dependent upon those outcomes.

Of course, timing is key as well, meaning exits need to happen, meaning closing of those exits need to happen indeed in 2026 as well, but also it will depend upon the outcome of the price at which we'll sell those assets. So not much more to comment at this stage, but you have the assumption there.

Concerning fundraising. So typically -- so clearly, Mid Cap II is underway, and we expect to make some announcement sometime in the first half -- in the second quarter, sorry, of this year. So -- but this is imminent, and we are working on it actually at present. Fund VI will be -- Fund VI -- Flagship Fund VI will be a '27 event, and we cannot comment today on the timing of the launch of such a fund. It will depend largely upon market conditions, which can -- as you know, which are volatile and can vary. But clearly, we maintain that 2027 should be -- will be the date of the launch of Fund VI.

And to complement Alain's point, on Mid Cap II, the target size is set at EUR 2.5 billion. And we expect the final close in 2027, depending indeed on the market conditions by that time.

Needless to tell you that whenever we set a target, it's not the ultimate number because we always want to do more. I'm not going to want to say how much -- by how much we beat our target for other previous vintages. But clearly, we expect to raise significantly more. And we are working and gently reminding our people in charge of fundraising to be sure they make everything they can to raise more money than this target.

And as usual, our cap is set at a very later stage of the fundraising process.

Concerning Fund VI, we can give you no information at this stage on the target size because it's not been decided as we speak, and it has to be decided by the Executive Committee. So today, we can say nothing on this respect.

Now concerning cash at the bank, it is clear that it is significant. This being said, when we pay a yield dividend of 8%, I think there is not too much pressure to give it back. It may always be useful.

And I'm sure you will appreciate that we could have probably invested this cash in other, I would say, ventures, be it organic initiatives or acquisitions without the turmoil on the overall markets, which frankly has disrupted all or postponed largely our reflections and actions in the group to use this cash. But clearly, we have not abandoned the ambitions, and we are also continuing to work on new initiatives, simply timing matters, and we are very prudent in that.

The next question is from Nicholas Herman of Citi.

Welcome, Walid. Three from my side as well, please. On activity, I guess this is a broader reflection. But I would say that I don't think anyone would disagree with you that the infrastructure opportunity for you and the industry is very significant. But on activity and fundraising, the sector was clearly very heavily impacted in 2022 and 2024 due to less industry activity, less fewer cash distributions. And I think you referenced yourself, Alain, that deal flow and fundraising could be impacted. I mean is there anything that you see that makes you more optimistic this time that you and the sector can be more immune this time around? That's the first one.

On the second question is coming back to exits, please. Very encouraging to hear about the strong exit pipeline and momentum, particularly in Fund IV, where I guess my impression at least is that you have slightly lagged peers on DPI so far. I appreciate that you can't say too much on specific data, but just broadly, how should we be thinking about the mix of exit routes? Are these typically sales, sales to strategics or to sponsors? Just kind of curious in terms of the breadth of potential buyers.

And then finally, just a clarification -- well, a question around costs. Mélanie, I'm not sure -- apologies, the line kind of was a bit cut out when you're talking about the guidance. But did I hear you say correctly -- I hear correctly that you are guiding to high single-digit cost growth for this year?

And I guess on the back of low to mid-single-digit cost growth last year, I was under the impression that you were previously assuming historically mid-teens cost growth. Maybe that might be mistaken. But what has changed? And what gives you confidence that you are investing enough to support future growth and future returns for the business?

Concerning our view on fundraising, I think we -- maybe I will give you a position. I hope it represents a portion of Antin, but I think it does. We have seen the devastating effects after -- in 2022 of inflation coming back and the time it took to fix inflation and make sure that inflation and interest rates would come -- will resume to be back at, I would say, reasonable and customary levels.

To be more specific, I think that it has taken about 2 to 3 years to achieve that, and this probably was achieved at the end of 2024. So the full year of 2022, '23, '24 have been years where the adjustments to come back to, I would say, normal levels of cost of funding have been achieved and the inflation has been under-managed.

So in our profession, clearly, this has had a major impact on what we call the DPI index, which measures how much money we return compared to how much money we have invested. And if this index deteriorates, it means for our LPs that they are investors that they don't get enough money back to reinvest capital in new vintages of funds. So -- and this has happened and it has durated more or less 3 years, '22, '23, '24. We have seen a softening of the conditions in 2025. And frankly, we continue to see such softening of conditions since the beginning of the year.

Now we are in a situation where a new conflict actually has erupted. It is extremely difficult to predict whether it will lead to inflationary pressures, whether it will have an impact on interest rates. So it is too early to tell. And it doesn't apply to Antin or to our industry, but it applies to the overall activities when companies need to refinance themselves, for instance, or fund new CapEx. So it is an economy-wide issue.

So I mean, you know as well as we can do. I'm not cyclic. But what I can tell you is that the fundamentals for continuing to invest in infrastructure remain excellent. We have momentum.

We have currently discussions with some LPs throughout the world. And clearly, as we speak, there is a willingness to invest significantly and in particular, in our Mid Cap Fund, which is the one on which we are testing in real terms, so to speak, the market. So we are not worried for that. This being said, the geopolitical situation is what it is, and we will evolve into whatever it may evolve into, and we will have, of course, to take stock of that.

You talked about -- you asked a question about our exit and how we sell assets given the size, I would think you referred that. Did you refer to that of the assets?

Well, first of all, I think we have to -- we are in this situation where even the largest funds in infrastructure. So people typically managing USD 20 billion, USD 25 billion, there are a few of them, cannot afford to make an acquisition of some assets, including some of our assets by themselves. And it's a fact. It is a fact that we have invested in a sector which, in many cases, has been underinvested and suddenly because it's just part of utilities or groups which were constrained on capital.

So we just basically bought assets, both companies and put a lot of capital to work. And this, of course, has resulted into much, much bigger, I would say, vehicles.

So this means that we -- when we buy an asset, in many cases now, we team up with some parties. It can be one of our peers. It can be some co-investors, usually is some co-investors. So typically, large investors in our funds who want to invest alongside us. And it can be sovereign wealth funds, it can be pension funds or whatever, who want to invest in the long term for some particular strategies.

So we are used to work in such a consortium type of structure when we make acquisitions. And evidently, when we dispose assets which are much bigger, if we've done a good job, the same applies to new buyers.

And so the notion that we buy ourselves an asset and we sell to another party who just buys 100% of the equity, it's something I wouldn't say which belongs to the passe, the past. But clearly, we see many, many transactions in which this structure is much more complex. So it's a consortia of people who have interest to take a 20%, 25% stake, et cetera, alongside some people who will do the job.

So this is completely common. We have to adapt to that, and we have adapted to that. For instance, our Investor Relations team is also in charge of structuring co-investment programs in the companies we invest into. So it is part of our, I would say, approach to investing to include interested LPs to participate to consortia.

So don't see that as a negative. It's a feature of the resilience of the assets we invest in and which frankly gives way to an interest, especially from sovereign wealth funds to be long-term investors, long-term minority investors in assets in which they see long-term merits like fiber, for instance. But it applies to most of our assets.

As per the clarification on cost and the guidance for 2026, I do confirm, Nicholas, that the guidance is an increase in the high single-digit region, so growth rate. Do we feel it's enough to support the future growth? We've built up very regularly and progressively over the past years a very strong platform, operating platform, investment platform, and we see that we start reaching a critical mass. We have a very good maturity of the platform, hence -- and plus we are disciplined in our cost control.

So we feel today that we have the ability to monitor our cost towards this guidance, which is lower than what we would have said -- that we have said earlier. This will imply 2 things. So looking at the personnel expenses, very selectively hiring, doing strategic hirings, especially in the investment -- for the investment team or Investor Relations team. But it's also being really cost controlling, disciplined on the other OpEx.

So we feel we should be able to get to that level by end of 2026. And we are really confident that based on the current setup to be beefed up very selectively, we should be able to deliver on the mandate and the performance we've committed to with our investors.

There is one situation among our U.S. peers, which I will not name, but I'm sure you can recognize it, which is under restructuring, cost-cutting exercise, okay? They do cost cutting essentially because they are faced with enormous problems of performance. And therefore, a lot of changes and redundancies are observed into the investment team, in particular, investment team, which is the result of some history of, I would say, bad performance in some cases or bad management in others. We are certainly not in that situation.

And I think we start benefiting from what we can qualify as operating leverage, which is that at some stage, you have a platform which is of such a scale that adding one more fund doesn't really change because you have reached all the kind of investment you need to do, all things being equal, of course. And so if you think, I would say, the future, to manage the same, say, 30 deals at a given time for us, whether it's a deal which was the kind of deal size we did for Fund III or the one we would do for Fund V or VI doesn't really make a difference in terms of staffing. It's just the same kind of people working on bigger deals.

But we will -- we have no intention to move all things being equal from about a portfolio -- active portfolio today of 30 companies more or less to 50 or 60, which would require adding many resources. So we benefit from some form of an operating leverage. This being said on top of -- on the other side, we clearly have some programs on which we need to be active and monitor the investments we have to do like in AI, for installation of AI that we can have. But clearly, I think we benefit today of sort of platform effect, which means we benefit from operating leverage.

And maybe, Nicholas, very nice reconnecting. I'll just add a couple of points there. So when you look at the last few years, I mean, you would have seen that in 2024, there was a lot of investment going into the platform.

And then going back to what Mélanie said around the high single-digit growth year-on-year in 2026. I think it's important to break that down into the different categories without our costs. So as you know, personnel expenses represent the vast majority of our expenses. And within that, there is personnel expenses on the investment teams and then on the operations.

So the way we think about the high single-digit percentage growth year-on-year, I think you can assume that when it comes to non-people expenses, this is definitely kind of mid-single digits. So that's something that we have under control. And as Alain said, we're getting a lot of operating leverage. And then when it goes to personnel expenses, there, again, I mentioned the 2 categories, and we will have focused and disciplined approach to investment, but there is investment in particular on the investment side. And as such, you end up with an average high single digit. But as you can see, it's a mix of different things there.

Got it. I appreciate the very comprehensive answers there. Much appreciated. If I could -- sorry to hog the call here, but just to ask a couple of clarifications. On the exits, sorry for being a bit passe there in my approach to exits. It sounds like minority stake sales to your co-investors, which makes sense. I guess just can you just help us frame the volume of exits there on an invested capital basis, that would be helpful.

And then coming back to costs, I guess just big picture, what has changed for you to now just be comfortable with a lower amount of cost -- absolute cost growth compared to before? Is it just like the fact that we have not seen the new strategies come through as you had previously expected? And then going forward, should we be thinking about high single digit being a sustainable cost growth level?

Yes. Just on the cost, you should not over-engineer the change. There's no change. It's just assessing what we have at the end of the year 2025 and what we need for '26 onwards. And clearly, for '26, when we redo the exercise based on what has been achieved in terms of operating leverage, in terms of gaining efficiencies, in terms of type of people, expertise that we need or not, where we have lagged, we end up with this guidance.

So it's really based on the reality of our platform today, and we were not anticipating some additional team for new strategy that is postponed or whatever, not at all. So it's really about assessing what we have in terms of platform and what we would need for 2026. Maybe 2027 will be another story. But for '26, we are pretty clear on this guidance. And there's no hidden agenda of things that we would have done, but has not materialized. Nothing of that sort.

It's really business as usual, so to speak. So we try to -- we give you a guidance, which reflects what we want to achieve. So it's a way to get a very clear discipline on our cost. But this being said, underneath, we, for instance, reinforced our setup in the states by having 2 co-heads. We thought it was a good idea to have 2 co-heads out there. So -- but it is because we think that we -- it is good for the business. So it's not because we have a hidden plan to launch a new business. It's just like we think it's better. And of course, we are always careful about the use of cash. And so if we can save in some other areas, we do, but to overall be in line with our guidance.

On exit, there was a question on assessing the volume, et cetera...

I think it will be what it is. I'm very sorry, but we don't know how much we will sell. We have ideas, of course, of how much we sell the assets. But then there is a market. So hopefully, we'll do better. But I can give you no information there.

So far, the only thing I could tell about exit is clearly that today, the market is open for funding new acquisitions of our assets. It is open. 2, 3 years ago, it was not so obvious. The market was very difficult or extremely pricey. So today, we still benefit from terms which are decent, and it is an open market. So this is the only thing I can say to you today. As for the volume, it will be what it is. The biggest, I hope.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Arnaud Giblat of BNP Paribas.

I've got 3 questions, please. Can I start with the sizing of Fund VI. I mean given that you've been in the market, we're raising Mid Cap II and I mean, you've got a lot of feedback from investors there. I'm just wondering if -- it sounds like you're expecting about a 20-odd percent small increase in fund size in Mid Cap II versus Mid Cap I. Should we be thinking that this is a good guide for the potential step-up in Fund VI. I mean I suppose it's the same investors that invest in the Mid Cap fund versus Fund VI. So is this going to be a good indication?

The second question is on your guidance of stable EBITDA. I mean given everything you've said about asset change in '26 -- AUM change, sorry, in '26 and cost growth, I assume that there's not much in there in that stable EBITDA guidance for performance fees. I understand that a lot of the performance fees are coming from III-b . So just wondering how many exits you might need to be to reach carry out for III-b as well?

And finally, on data centers as an investment theme. I mean there's a lot of money going in there. You've made your first investment. Do you expect this to become a big theme for yourselves in the future?

Yes, I can take the first and third question, and Mélanie will take on the second one. I think on Fund VI, well, what we can tell you is that we are not marketing this spend, as you know, Arnaud. So on the Mid Cap II, clearly, there is strong appetite. But I mean, until we have sign bulletins in our safe, it is very hard to comment on that. But clearly, there is strong appetite today, essentially because people like strategy, people like our approach and many LPs also like the returns we provide. So I would say that the Mid Cap II is -- in my view, is going to be -- to show a good outcome, again, in difficult times, I insist on that. Frankly, I can say nothing in the sizing of Fund VI because today it's premature.

Secondly, we have not approved it. So I can give you no authorized number because it's not authorized. There is no figure which is authorized. And we will see in due course when we are about to launch, Mid Cap Fund VI. So this will be determined sometime, I would say, in the second half of this year when we reflect about the size of the -- target size of Mid Cap I. Today, we are still monitoring. First, we are focused on making Mid Cap II a real success. And then we will have clearly, I would say, levers to assess where we stand. We always -- when we assess the size of a fund -- of a new fund, and it applies to any strategy and any time actually in our investment history.

We always think of several things. The first one is what size of funds can we raise, which will allow us to deploy capital to capital in a timely manner. So no point in raising as it is a big debate in our sector, especially in America, where you have some people who raise enormous amounts of money through retail, for instance, or insurance companies. The question is where can they deploy this kind of capital. So in our case, we say, okay, where is the demand? So what kind of fund size can we derive from the market demand?

Secondly, what kind of money can we raise at a given time, which varies. At times, you have a buoyant market for fundraising. At times, it's a more prudent market. So this is a second element.

And it's very important to have that in mind because we don't raise big funds for the sake of raising big funds. We do that because we think we can make good investments because there is a market to deploy the capital there. So that's the only thing I can tell you. And today, we believe that after 3 very difficult years of 2022, '23, '24, we are now in a better -- for the last year or so in a better situation.

As per performance fee, Arnaud, you're absolutely spot on in terms of the global EBITDA guidance and the impact on performance fees. Just as a reminder, the first performance fee carried interest that will positively impact the P&L comes from a bit of Fund III and Fund III-B. Fund III-B is a very concentrated fund composed of 4 assets, 2 are up for sale. And as I said earlier, carried recognition for '26 will be depending upon the timing of the closing of those sales and the outcome, the amount that we succeed in gating. And then you would have 2 others, one smaller, one bigger.

And so you can assess kind of the profile of this Fund III, Fund III-B, mainly impacting carried interest recognition over the coming years being between '26 and '28. So that's the only thing I can say to guide you, but you're absolutely spot on. On performance fee, that will not be massive in 2026, but smaller than what you potentially had in mind.

Concerning data centers, we see actually enormous figures flagged to cater for investment in data center related to AI. I think an industry figure talks mentioned about $500 billion to $600 billion of investment in AI-related data centers in America only for the next 5 years. So this is quite mind-boggling.

Amazon has announced, I think, Monday or Tuesday that they were intending to spend up to $53 billion on data centers in the near future, $53 billion for just one company. So the amounts are completely mind-boggling.

On this -- and some of our peers actually are focusing on this strategy, I think, of a company called DigitalBridge, which is being taken over by SoftBank. And the reason why this operation takes place is precisely because SoftBank wants to be exposed long term to big AI-related data centers.

In our case, we are very prudent because one of the particularities -- physical particularities of AI data centers is that they are absolutely huge and not structured to allow for many different, I would say, customers. So it's really a single customer play. And these customers are huge customers, typically the biggest, I would say, tech companies in the world.

So personally -- well, not personally, but Antin so far has invested massively in another segment of the data center, which is called the colocation data centers where you have numerous typically 80, 100, 200 different customers. It can be local hospitals, it can be local businesses, it can be universities, whatever, who all have a rack in a product. And so if you lose 1 or 2 such customers, you can easily replace them by new customers. So it's a much safer bet as opposed to depending on a huge investment, we can be $5 billion, $10 billion on just 1 hyperscaler. So our approach there is very prudent.

And to -- we talked about the infra test. And on this one, frankly, the infra test, if we think about in terms of risk and ability to limit our risk, I would say that when you depend upon 100 small investments, your risk is moderate. If you depend on one huge company, which can basically, if you fund this asset, you decide to do something else or buy back, you are highly dependent.

So the same asset can give way to a different level of risk, and we are more focused on the lower risk segment, which is colocation data center. But we made some big investments, particularly recently in a company called the NorthC in Holland, which operates in several countries in Europe, which is focused on colocation data centers.

I think there are no more questions on the line. So I'm going to take a question that was sent in written form. So it's Laura Gris Trillo from Jefferies, who is asking.

Can you give us an update on your plans for organic launches? We touched on that before, but that was the first question.

The second question is the lockup put in place at the IPO is going to expire in 2026. What are the different options that we are considering?

Organic launch, we covered it...

Organic launch, yes, we covered it mostly. I would say that, as you understand, in this market, we focus on delivering what is key for us and which is, one, this year, it's a Mid Cap II; and two, it is Fund VI for next year. We have -- of course, we have plans for organic initiatives, which are ready, which have not been shelved, but they are ready. And when market conditions are favorable, we can basically resume such initiative, but it's not a priority.

Maybe quickly, Laura, on the expiry of the lockup. As you know, there is a shareholder agreement that is in place since the IPO. And I think it's important to remember that this shareholder agreement will remain in place even after the end of the lockup. So all the disposals or you should assume that the disposals will be done in a coordinated manner. And you've seen the first block sale last year. So it's fair to assume some more to come. But I mean we cannot say much more on that topic for the time being.

Again, I believe that there are no more questions on the line. And I think given the time that we should probably conclude the call.

Well, I just wanted to thank you for your attention. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones. Thank you.

Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Antin Half Year Results 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations of Antin. Please go ahead, madam.

Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our half year results. A copy of this release and the presentation are available on the Shareholders section of our website.

For today's presentation, I am joined by Alain Rauscher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Mélanie Biessy, Managing Partner, Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Let me now hand over to Alain.

Thank you, Ludmilla, and good morning, everybody. It is my pleasure to welcome you on this call and present our activity update.

The first half of 2025 was quite eventful on the geopolitical and macroeconomic front. In this volatile and uncertain context, we concentrated largely our investment activity on growing our portfolio companies. Let me focus here on a few highlights of the period. First, our portfolio continues to perform well, and our companies yet again displayed nearly 20% EBITDA growth over the last 12 months.

Second, we have been increasingly active on the investment side signing many large add-on transactions at our portfolio companies. After the end of the half -- the first half, we unveiled a new investment for our NextGen fund.

Third, we have a good exit pipeline as most of the companies in Fund III and some in Fund IV near maturity. These exits will enhance DPI for fund investors in time for our next fundraise.

Turning to our financing financial performance. We delivered slightly better revenue and slightly lower costs than expected. We continue our high dividend policy as announced in March. Finally, we have refined our outlook for this year, mainly to reflect the depreciation of the U.S. dollar compared to the euro. More about this will be said in a moment by Melanie.

The first half of 2025 was a very busy period for our portfolio companies. Let me tell you about some of the major events that took place across our portfolio. This includes a new GBP 2.3 billion financing round for CityFibre. The acquisition of 500 megawatts from ACCIONA in Spain by Opdenergy and [indiscernible] brand name [indiscernible]. But those should not eclipse other operations such as Origis securing over $1 billion of investments or Consilium acquiring Ares Marine and IAC. And these are only a couple of examples.

All these plus more initiatives, not displayed here, contribute to a healthy 10.4% revenue growth and 19.1% EBITDA growth across our portfolio. We complemented them with further injection from our funds totaling EUR 700 million over the last 12 months to help these companies become platform. This allows them to reach a scale that is attractive to a potential buyer, which in turn will enhance the returns of our funds.

In terms of new investments, we continue to be very disciplined and focused on paying the right price for each acquisition. Just last week, we announced an exciting new investment, a majority stake, in a company called Matawan, fast-growing smart mobility platform, which offers mission critical services to public transport networks and travelers in Europe and the U.S. This is a seventh investment by our NexGen Fund I, which is now more than 65% committed.

We hope to share more good news with you in the coming weeks, particularly in the mid-cap segment. So our portfolio companies have continued to perform well above over the first half despite the macroeconomic headwinds. All our funds remained on or above plan. This is the strength of infrastructure, which has proven once again to be a highly resilient asset class. We strengthened this resilience by building diversified portfolios by sector and by country, as you can see on this chart.

Foreign exchange fluctuations in the first half, particularly with the U.S. dollar, led to an unfavorable impact when translating asset values from dollars to euros. This explains why net asset values across all our funds increased by an average of 1.3%, which included currency effects, but by 4.7%, excluding them. Fund V, which has yet to make an investment in U.S. dollars, is largely unaffected and continues to perform very well across all assets.

We have also a solid exit pipeline for our funds. With Fund II fully realized as of the end of last year, we are now focusing on the realization of Fund III and Fund III-B. Back in March, we pointed towards 2 exits in 2025. We are actively working on both of them, but their exact timing is evidently uncertain in today's volatile environment. This does not, however, change the big picture.

Most of Fund III and some of Fund IV investments are nearing maturity. And so we expect to greatly ramp up our exit activity over the next 12 -- 18 to -- sorry, the next 18 to 24 months. This will allow us to return several billion euros to investors over the time period, which will help feed new allocations to new funds.

And so that gives us a fairly clear trajectory for the near future. Our top priority is to accelerate the deployment of our funds and to return the shorter fund cycles. We have been below our usual pace of dividend for the last 2 years. We clearly have the means to do more and quicker, while maintaining our quality and performance standards.

Our second priority is maximizing returns on upcoming exits. Realizations of Fund III and IV will be key for the next few years of our time to attract both clients and talent. This will determine the success of our next fundraising cycle, which we are starting to prepare with the launch of Mid Cap Fund II in 2026, followed by Flagship Fund VI. NexGen is a new strategy, and we will return to market once we demonstrate our ability to create value there.

With that said, I will now hand over to Melanie for the financial results.

Thank you, Alain. Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to present our financial results for my first earnings call as interim CFO. Although it may not happen again as we announced this morning the appointment of our new CFO, Walid Damou, who will arrive in February 2026. Walid will bring great expertise in both private markets and corporate finance, thanks to his prior experience at CVC, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. We look forward to having him on board.

And for now, let us proceed with our financial performance in the first half. On Slide 10, you see that we comment our key metrics with and without catch-up fee. I will focus on the evolution without catch-up fees, as this reflects the intrinsic performance of our business, which remains solid. As a reminder, catch-up fees are nonrecurring revenues. They were quite significant last year, standing at EUR 10.5 million in 1H '24 and much lower in 1H '25 at EUR 0.9 million.

Given Fund V has now been raised, we will not account for catch-up fees on Fund V anymore beyond this half. Let's start with fee-paying AUM that are up 6.2% year-on-year. This was driven by additional funds raised in 2H '24 and add-on investments made in our portfolio companies in 1H '25. This higher fee-paying AUM consequently increased management fee revenue, which drives our topline performance for the first half. Revenue was up 8%.

Simultaneously, operating expenses increased by 8.9% year-on-year, resulting in a 7.1% underlying EBITDA increase. This OpEx increase was essentially linked to personnel expenses, which rose by 11.1%. This is a contained increase, as we had guided earlier this year on a mid-teen growth, and this has been slightly favored by the U.S. depreciation as 1/3 of OpEx are in U.S. dollars.

Other operating expenses grew by just 3.6% compared to last year. Hence, on cost management, we aim to strike the right balance between discipline and continuing investment in the team to support our future growth. Net income increased by 1.3% year-on-year, and this growth was impacted by lower financial income as interest rates have come down.

Taking a closer look at our top line evolution between 1H '24 and 1H '25. Management fees on our flagship funds increased by EUR 10.6 million. Indeed, additional funds have been raised for Fund V, final closing has occurred in 2H '24, and we've been able to raise EUR 0.8 billion. And we further injected capital in our portfolio of companies over the last 12 months, including in Fund III and Fund IV for around EUR 400 million.

Regarding performance revenue, changes versus last year are less material, and as Alain outlined in the business update, currency movements hamstrung some asset valuations in the first half, which led us to recognize limited contribution from investment income and almost no carried interest.

With respect to carried interest, the first recognition of accounting carry from Fund III and Fund III-B is contingent on the timing of exits and on the valuation of assets. We are making progress on the 2 exits with plan for this year, but the exact timing is uncertain.

The currency headwinds mentioned by Alain earlier, negatively impacted the valuations of our U.S. investments. And as a result, we do not expect to recognize carried interest in '25, but its medium-term potential remains unchanged. Overall, carry revenue potential for Antin for all current vintages remains above EUR 0.5 billion based on the fund's target performance. And as a reminder, there are no costs associated to this revenue apart from taxes.

Moving on to our balance sheet. We retain a strong cash position and no borrowings at the end of June, which are enabled by our capital-light high cash generative business model. We notably continue to invest in our funds. As a reminder, out of our EUR 361 million in cash, about EUR 110 million are earmarked for co-investment and carried funding for current vintages, and we've already called capital for an amount of EUR 90 million. A sizable share of cash will also be used to fund our co-investment in future vintages, consistent with the capital-light approach we've deployed so far.

The remainder of our cash is currently reserved to potentially fund organic growth or opportunistic M&A. We're continuing to work on these topics, but our current focus is on maintaining the right momentum on our capital deployment and exit actively.

We also maintained our distribution policy. Our interim dividend is slightly up year-on-year, but the full year distribution will remain stable versus 2024. This is in line with our policy to have a stable or growing dividend over time and reflects confidence in our future growth potential.

With this interim distribution, we will now have returned more than EUR 400 million to shareholders since our IPO 4 years ago, which represents about EUR 2.3 per share and 20% of our market cap.

A word now about liquidity. We are well aware of the difficulties encountered by some public market investors when faced with the trading volumes induced by a small free float. To address this situation, we expect to enhance our liquidity through successive share placements enabled by lockup expiry. We started doing so with our first share placement in January of this year, which expanded the free float by 1.3%. And you should expect other share placements to take place in the future and the free flow to gradually expand over time.

Looking forward, we have refined our 2025 outlook with the full-year EBITDA now expected at around EUR 160 million versus above EUR 160 million previously. We are impacted by unfavorable currency fluctuations, mainly the depreciation of the U.S. dollar versus the euro. As a consequence and as of today, we no longer expect carried interest recognition in '25, but its medium-term potential remains unchanged.

And for the same reason, we expect investment income for the year to be lower than previously anticipated. We have partially mitigated this by more long-term contracted revenues and cost discipline. All in, our expected lending for the year does not move much, and our P&L remains strong. The other elements of our guidance are unchanged, and we reiterate our expectations of a step change in earnings in 2027 with the significant expected contribution from Mid Cap II and Flagship Fund VI.

Back to Alain now for some concluding remarks.

Thank you, Melanie. We focus today on our solid first half 2025 results, but I hope you also take away from this call, our strong confidence in Antin's continued growth journey. As a company, we are focused not just on the short term, but on building our time for the medium and long term. We are a differentiated and growing platform, one of the largest managers in Europe and worldwide in infrastructure, an asset class that has proven its resilience and growth potential across cycles.

Our objective since inception of the firm has remained unchanged, deliver top investment returns while at the same time, building a better business that creates value for all our stakeholders, whether fund investors, employees or shareholders.

Thank you very much for your attention, and I would like to open up to questions.

[Operator Instructions] First question is from Sharath Kumar, Deutsche Bank.

I have 3 questions, please. Firstly, I wanted to understand a bit more about your views on the deal activity outlook. While it is perfectly understandable on the lack of exits, I was a bit surprised to the slower pace of deployment. We have seen a lot of your competitors talk about 2025 having the potential for being a very good vintage year. So generally want to have your thoughts as to why the slower pace of deployment. And related to exits, you spoke about recovery in exit activity over the next 18 to 24 months. So in this context, do you think that carried interest expectations from consensus for 2026 has some downside risk? So that is the first question.

Second one is on fundraising. Again, given the slower pace of deployment in your flagship fund, do you think it's more reasonable to expect as a base case Flagship Fund VI coming on board only in 2027. Also, do you want to make any comments at this point in time on the potential size that we can expect?

And final questions on the use of cash on your balance sheet, quite substantial at nearly 60% of your asset size. And with interest rates getting lower, at least in the near term, it could be fair to say that it's not being put to optimum use. How should we think about the utilization? Any updates on M&A opportunities or the potential launch of new strategies would be appreciated.

Okay. Thank you very much, Sharath. Well, first of all, the first question you asked about carried interest recognition. What we can expect from 2025, 2026 and why we did not take in for the first half any recognition. I think it would be useful if Melanie could explain the mechanism because it is not that the pie is not there. The pie is there, but we are bound by IFRS rules. And so it is important to understand that what it is.

Exactly, exactly. And the pie is there, I totally concur to that. So in terms of carried interest recognition, the most imminent carried interest lies with Fund III-B, of course, Fund III, but Fund III-B, where we have 20% of the carried interest there.

Fund III-B is concentrated fund, which is a non-expense to Fund III, IV assets into this. And so when you compute the accounting carry, you have to determine discounted liquidated value of your portfolio. And this discounted liquidated value of the portfolio seen from today has been impacted over the first semester by the U.S. depreciation. We have one asset in U.S. dollar, one in GBP in this IV asset fund.

And so the sensitivity is very high when you compute the liquidity value and that you discount it, and you discount it based on your perception of when your assets will be sold. And so there's a bit of uncertainty there. And we are very close to the other returns. So this means that very rapidly, if valuation is a bit down, you get down. So the first asset that will be sold from this Fund III-B will allow us having a better certainty and visibility on when we can recognize carried interest.

And that's the reason why for '25, we decided that we would take a conservative position, not expecting recognizing in '25, but potentially recognizing it in the short to medium term thereafter.

Will there be carried interest in '26? It's possible. We cannot be -- we cannot confirm it during this call. It's too soon to say.

You have to understand that we are very, very close to this hurdle rate to activate the recognition of carrier interest. So a small -- and actually a small ForEx impact. And actually, the impact has been very significant. It's minus 13%, as you know well. Dollar has gone down to the euro by 13%. So it gives you an idea of the impact since the beginning of the year. So this is the kind of impact, which is sufficient, in fact, to not recognize any kind of carried interest. But the reality is, again, the pie is there. It's a matter of time to recognize it.

There was a question on the deal activity...

Yes, deal activity. Deal activity, I would say that we measure that actually internally in a very simple manner by the number of the investment committees that we convene and which we attend. And I must say it is an extremely busy time, way more busy than a year ago. So typically, things are going back to normal. Financing, as you know well, also are available. It's difficult. Of course, it's expensive, but they are available. And we indicated to you some landmark financing, one being CityFibre, which is a big -- it's EUR 2.3 billion -- it's EUR 2.8 billion financing. So it's a very large financing, and it gives an idea of the depth, I would say, of the market for high-quality assets and projects. So yes, the activity is picking up again.

This being said, we are very, very careful, especially when we think of selling assets. We don't want to sell to people who are just the bottom-fishers and look to try to expect some form of a quick fire sale. We are not in this mood at all. We -- our brief is to maximize revenues for our investors. So, therefore, we take a very prudent route whenever we look at some disposals.

But for acquiring new assets, yes. And you will see probably in the next few weeks, we'll make some announcements in the mid-cap strategy. There are several situations, which are extremely advanced. When I say extremely, it means it has to do -- we talk about things which are under exclusivity, so very advanced. And so you will see that activity is picking up.

On fundraising, I think, the one thing I would like to mention is very simple. The DPI is the major driver to limiting or allowing LPs to reinvest or invest more cash in some new strategies. So the question really is how confident are investors that money will be returned to them shortly so that they can commit new additional capital to one manager or a new strategy. So this is really what it comes down to.

We, of course, cannot control what's going in the market. The market is what it is. The DPI is today low in the market, which limits the ability of LPs to put more capital, except in some particular cases like sovereign wealth funds, who basically don't have really to incur, I would say, to pay pensions, for instance, but who receive cash that they have to invest. But more or less, the DPI is a major factor limiting the ability of LPs in the market of funding new strategies or new funds.

So this being said, we enjoy a relationship with a very large number of LPs and trustful relationships. What we can do ourselves is to return capital. So -- and of course, we've done that. I will continue, and I can tell you that the more we return, the easier the fundraising will be. And so we have that in our mind. So I don't want to perceive that it's a particularly risky environment, it is not. If we do a good job, good investments, return capital, then we will get new strategies funded or new funds funded.

And timing wise maybe, just to tell you, the next one to go to the market will be mid-cap. So Mid Cap II will be launched at some stage. And there will be some impact in 2026 of Mid Cap II. And as per Flagship Fund VI, as you were referring to Sharath, it's too soon to say. We need to focus on deploying capital first, and we'll be able to come back to you in a few months to give you a more precise view on the timing to market for Fund VI.

One thing which is very important is that you say, well, the -- I would say, the sort of mainstream view would be that if you have a big fundraise, it's more difficult, yes and no. Yes and no because in fact, when you start deploying, which is our case, funds of EUR 10.2 billion for Flagship Fund V, which is USD 12 billion, by the way, so it's very large, in fact, you enter into a category of LPs who can offer some very significant co-investments to some very large LPs. And this has a huge value for those LPs, the ability.

If you ask major sovereign wealth funds to deploy, to invest, to make a co-investment of EUR 100 million, it will be of no interest to him. If you can propose to him to make EUR 0.5 billion or EUR 1 billion or EUR 1.5 billion co-investment, it has a huge value. So in fact, I would like to mitigate the perceived risk of raising a big -- depending on raising big funds by this factor, which is very, very important.

And in fact, we have a group of LPs for our flagship fund, which are very, very large investors globally, and those guys will basically continue, I think, to back us because they get, I would say, extra benefit like access to large co-investments.

Use of cash, balance sheet, okay, we certainly have kept some cash at the bank. I would tend to think that in today's environment, it's pretty good to have cash at the bank than debt. I'm sorry to be very conservative, but I truly believe that. I think we certainly have got ambitions to deploy this cash, be it through M&A or funding organic initiatives.

We evidently have to take into account when we -- that comes to, say, launching new initiatives, the market status, is there a market appetite for a new strategy that we will back in today's executive environment. So I think we've done a lot of preparation work. We are ready actually to launch several such, I would say, organic initiatives. But clearly, we have to wait for the right window opportunity.

By the way, it comes back to one point I would like to make because we manage this company in the interest of investors and shareholders. But clearly, our first brief, and this is why we exist, is to make sure that we have proper resources to do the best possible job and create the best investments for our LPs. This is why we come to the office every morning in the first place.

So we always tend to -- we have a question to say, do we want to maximize income by postponing or reducing investments -- recruitments? Or do we want to invest in the future by preparing for the next step? What we do is clearly the latter. We continue -- in our P&L, what you can see in our OpEx base, you see some amount of people we recruited to prepare for the next step. And this is very, very important for us to do this and not just try to maximize by EUR 1 million or EUR 2 million profit for the first half or the second half. So I would like to reiterate this.

Next question is from Nicholas Herman, Citi.

Yes. Three questions from me as well, please. So the first question is on hiring, there was a notable increase in investment staff in the first 6 months of the year. Could you please clarify which strategy that hiring relates to?

Second question is on your guidance. So I note your comments that you don't expect to recognize any carry in 2025. So given that you're now guiding to around EUR 160 million of EBITDA, does that imply around EUR 140 million of costs for this year? So yes, and that would -- if that's correct, that would imply about 6% cost growth this year. Is that sound right to you?

And then the final question, just on the -- just to clarify on the FX headwinds. I think you said that the adjustment to your guidance is driven by FX. Now I understand, i.e., that FX has had an impact on fund valuations, and I understand that fully. But I guess, is my interpretation from that, that you seem to be implying that, otherwise, you would be achieving a hurdle rate without that FX impact, which I'm a little bit surprised by, just because I would have thought that you also need to have exits in order to hit that -- for the accounting portfolio value to hit your hurdle rate. And so far, there have been no exits this year. And with only 3.5 months of the year left, it doesn't seem like there's going to be time to achieve the exits that would be needed to hit your hurdle rates anyway. So just to clarify that, please.

Melanie?

Yes. Good. I'll start with the hiring and the increase in FX. So indeed, and it's a nice segue to what -- to the comments Alain just made on fueling the engine to prepare for the future growth. We have hired more people, and you have always joined us levers, but we have hired people and promoted people at partners level, senior partners level.

One key hire is a senior partner that has joined the New York office in May this year, Ryan Shockley, and Ryan is really focusing his time on the flagship strategy. He is also focusing on NextGen. So for the moment and for the time being, he is working and all the people that we hire so far are working on the exiting strategy. So that's to answer your first question.

In terms of guidance, we assume that the OpEx will be stable for -- up to the end of the year, which means that we expect an average of 10% increase in terms of OpEx. So don't expect that we'll get above that rate. Maybe a last point I'd like to answer on the FX headwinds and the fact that we could not necessarily recognize carried interest in '25, just back to the way we account for carried interest on the P&L. So we follow an IFRS norm that is a matter of the timing to exit of assets and the valuation of those assets.

And you could potentially recognize some carried interest without having to sell an asset. It depends upon the valuation. And there, if there's -- it reduces your chances to recognize carried interest. And if you have assets that are far from being in a sailing mode, then you are far from recognizing carried interest as well. So the 2 parameters have to play and go the right direction to be able to extract a discounted liquidated value that is above the other return. So that's the reason why since from today, and as of today, we expect not recognizing carried interest. We'll see, maybe it will be, but we'd like to be prudent on that, and we feel it's better not to overpromise on carried interest in 2025.

And Nicholas, to be clear, when you see some of our peers, for instance, who have very diversified, who have been there for many, many years, you see some carried interest in their books. It is not related to exits. It's just a way to value. It's related to the valuation of our portfolio according to certain norms, and so it is not related to -- you don't...

It's not cash on cash. It's not cash.

It's not cash on cash.

It's not cash on cash, we -- and that you have that in mind. Yes, good.

And just a quick follow-up. Just one quick follow-up then. So you guided to around 10% OpEx growth for this year. I guess that seems to be -- is it fair to say that's slightly below your BAU. So should we be assuming then a cost catch-up in 2026 then?

Yes, expectation is roughly 10% on the OpEx, so -- but I think that the number you were referring to when you started asking your question, it's kind of put on if I heard it well.

I was just saying -- so I think you just -- you talked about 10% cost inflation for this year. Should we, therefore, expect a cost catch-up in 2026, please?

Yes. I can't comment on that...

No. Again, Nicholas, we don't talk about -- it's not a cost inflation to be very clear. There was...

Cost growth. Sorry, I missed, sorry, cost growth, excuse me. Apologies.

That's an increase to everybody. Again, it's related to hires. And these hires basically reflect the needs that we foresee for activity. And, of course, they are totally under our control. So it's very hard to assess what will be the number for 2026, but we'll control it. It's too soon.

You'll be informed, but it's too soon in from today. We are really focusing on end of this year and not projecting on 2026.

I would say we have made some big -- in 2025, we made some very big reinforcement, especially at senior levels, like Ryan Shockley for instance in New York, so which is a very important reinforcement and others, by the way. So I think the bulk is behind us, but evidently, if we believe we need to reinforce, we will do it.

Next question is from Arnaud Giblat, BNP.

Just 3 questions then. Sorry, I just -- I'd like to follow up on the hirings in 2026. You said the bulk of hiring is behind you, and I heard that right. So what sort of headcount growth could we expect for '26, if I can try again?

My second question, please, is on value creation. So thanks for the usual slide on value creation. So sort of ex-FX, so you seem to be running a high single-digit value creation on a yearly basis. That's been the case for some time. You also gave EBITDA growth in your portfolio companies. It's been running at north of 20% -- or close to 20% for a number of years. So I'm just wondering if you could comment on the other moving parts because -- I mean, clearly, over time, perhaps you should expect maybe a bit more of an alignment between value creation and EBITDA growth. So is it a case that valuation multiples are coming down? Or is it dilution from the CapExes you're doing or other moving parts? If you could give a bit more color there, that would be useful.

And finally, could I ask about Origis? So there's been some announced changes on tax credits in the U.S. I was wondering what impact that, that would -- what changes there? I mean, obviously, with the U.S. government, maybe being less generous on tax credits, if there's any impact on Origis.

So thank you, Arnaud. On the hiring plan for 2026, we'll continue recruiting in people. We see that there are some new skill set that we want to reinforce. So you should expect that the tax base will continue to increase, but in a contained manner. As Alain said, the bulk is behind, and we want now to be really focused when hiring people and have really complementary and high contributors to the team. So I can't give you any numbers for the time being. Of course, you'll get to know more and get more information on that. But clearly, we'll continue hiring in a contained and disciplined manner.

On value creation, okay, I think the activity we tried to display to you in the first half, which, frankly, is very consistent with what we've been doing since inception of Antin is that value creation is related to investing in companies, which are or which we will transform into platforms for growth. That's really our mantra, our DNA. We don't invest in a company, make a couple of minor investments, make a small recap and then sell it for 3 years later. We don't do that at all.

So typically, we would take a company and consider it as a platform for growth. One very good example actually of that strategy is CityFibre, where -- as you know, where we have -- we team up with Goldman Sachs and Mubadala, and we have grown this company enormously over the last 7 years. So this is really the kind of things we do. So value creation is related to, of course, commercial activity, to creating platforms and also to CapEx.

And frankly, it is very difficult, Arnaud, to give you any benchmark because CapEx associated to growing platforms varies enormously. It can be M&A. We can do bolt-on M&A. In fact, it's not CapEx, it's M&A. You can, on the contrary, do a very large CapEx or do little CapEx. So it varies enormously, and I'm very sorry to skip it. We would have to be specific deal by deal to give you much more clarity on that. But the concept is we invest in platforms and we grow the platform. That's how we make things. And the idea behind that is that when we sell the assets, people buy an established platform and pay value for that. So that's really our way.

Concerning Origis, I think Origis has gone through, I would say, a major step in its development. It's a great platform. It's a big platform, by the way. Now, you have to understand that most of the -- I would say, most of the -- Origis and its peers have in the U.S. are with states, not with federal -- I would say, with federal government. So it's with states. And, therefore, you have some states which are favorable to some, I would say, development, including, I would say, some red states like maybe its Florida, things like that, who are favorable to renewable.

I think that you -- what you hear a lot of noise on offshore wind in particular, which -- for which President Trump has got some very strong dislike, I don't know why, but he has that. Now, offshore wind clearly is within the realm of federal -- I would say, federal state. So clearly, this is why there is some backlashing in that. We have no exposure to offshore wind. But for the rest, to be frank, it's a matter of development state by state.

Yes. And as you know, Origis is using investment tax credits to finance and build solar and storage energy. And the One Big Beautiful Bill of Trump on the 3rd of July has announced that tax credit will be absent from all projects from 1st of Jan 2028 onwards. So everything that Origis is doing currently is not impacted by this deal. And the Origis team has always developed an investment case that is not based on subsidies and tax credit. So you should -- we are reassured because Origis will not be negatively impacted by this new deal.

I think the -- one of the reasons for such graceful attitude from President Trump relates to the fact that there are enormous needs for -- to develop data centers for AI-related activities, and that it's the cheapest and quickest way to provide energy for this -- for the sector.

So -- and people who are working on AI cannot wait. So typically, this type of centers consume enormous amounts of energy, and this is the quickest available, I would say, source of energy possible. So I think this is why we have this gap. But clearly, contrary to the perception, [ Antin, Rebel Energy ], et cetera, there is sort of a grace period, which will be favorable to our business.

Could I follow up there, please? One on value creation. Can you give us the typical range of uplift on exits for -- that you've experienced in the past? I mean, there hasn't been many material exits for a while, so I'm just wondering if you could update us on that.

And the second on Origis, you mentioned energy for data centers. I completely get that. Could you give us an idea of what proportion of the energy generated by Origis will go to data centers?

Will go to what?

Will go to data centers.

The proportion of the -- proportion of energy.

I would say this one, we cannot -- the second question, we cannot answer, we don't know. It's a fair, fair answer because when you have some installed base, I mean, it's there, and therefore, it's -- whoever wants to use it can use it. So we don't really control that. We connect it to a grid, and that's how it goes.

Concerning the first one, the uplift of valuation. So we have some metrics. But again, metrics can vary, but just to tell you an idea, if we compare the NAV, say, 1 year before exits to the price we get historically, and I would like to be prudent on that. Historically, we've got -- it's a multiple and its several times, 10% uplift, which is very sizable.

But again, we have to be very careful about that. We don't want to overpromise. We have to be careful because the market can be good at some time, it can be less good. So we certainly cannot commit to a figure. But clearly, we are very prudent in our valuations, and we are known for being very prudent, which is good, in my view. Maybe it won't help you to push up the target price because you -- we don't recognize enough carry interest value, but we are prudent by nature. So yes, uplift, we expect to have very significant uplift, but we keep it until its -- sale is done. And we'll communicate actually to you about this uplift deal by deal.

Next question is from Angeliki Bairaktari, JPMorgan.

Just 2 for me, please. On the Mid Cap II fund raising, I think last time you indicated that you needed another 2 to 3 deals to -- for Mid Cap I to activate Mid Cap II. So realistically, given we haven't had any announcements so far this year, and it takes some time between announcement and close, are we looking into a Mid Cap II activation in terms of management fees towards the second half and perhaps the late 2026? And have you already started marketing Mid Cap to investors? Or is that something that is going to happen a little bit later?

And second question, just a follow-up on the potential launch of a new strategy, which I think we have touched upon in the past. You mentioned that you obviously need -- you are ready to go, you've done the work, but obviously, it needs to be the right market window. What conditions do we need to see to have the conviction to launch this potential new strategy for you? Like what would need to be in place for that to happen?

Thank you, Angeliki. On Mid Cap II, I think we were in a situation where the Mid Cap I is very, very advanced. And as I said, we are in some -- in a couple of very, very advanced situation, which will take us very closely to our threshold or exceed it according to the price we pay. So we're very close to that.

Have we started launching? Well, officially no, of course, but we are constantly in the market preparing for new raise. And to be quite frank, we are ready to go if we -- once we need to go, and we have cleared all our say hurdles to go. So it's -- preparation is done. The LT base, we know very well, of course, and we expect, like it's the case of always when we raise new funds, we expect most of the existing LPs to come back. And hopefully, some others have expressed some interest to join a mid-cap strategy. So we are not really worried. It's a matter of when. I'm sorry to not be more specific, but it's a better way.

We can say maybe that premarketing would be starting imminently once we announce potentially 1 or 2 deals. So premarketing is almost there. And then activating effectively will be 2026. Is it in 1H or 2H, where we would be disappointed? It would be in 2H. But at the same time, we need to -- we can't be affirmative on that as well.

Yes. But clearly, we're ready. I think the -- if we have the ambition of raising a bigger fund, a Mid Cap II larger than Mid Cap I, evidently, we'll need to get new money, as we say in our verbiage, and this means that the premarketing actually focuses precisely on new money and not existing money because people know us. And usually, people who invest in mid-cap strategies will also invest in other strategies for 10 or 15 years. So it's the quickest way in a way to raise. But if we are ambitious to raise a bigger Mid Cap II, this is where we need premarketing.

Concerning the launch of new strategies, what is required? I would think -- well, you understood that we've been doing lots of preparatory work. What is required is essentially market appetite, interest for strategy. So we're testing the water, and we try to see whether we -- there is enough interest to raise a significant new strategy.

When we launched NextGen, we targeted EUR 1 billion. So clearly, a new strategy, we will not target smaller because it will make no difference for us. So this is why we have to wait for the proper time to go to market on a new strategy. So I'm sorry not to be more specific, but this is exactly the way we reflect by the way.

We received a question in the chat on the webcast. And the question comes from Arnaud Palliez from CIC. He's asking, when do you expect to launch fundraising for Flagship Fund VI, Mid Cap II and NextGen II. We just talked about Mid Cap II, but perhaps a word on NextGen II.

On NextGen II, and you said -- sorry, you said on the Flagship. Yes. Yes. I mean, basically, it's all related to the deployment of capital. We have just done, I think, what is an amazing investment in this company called Matawan, which is really a very innovative type of -- I would say, of investment because it's all about mobility for public transportation. And they have this amazing SaaS and service, which is very capital light for municipalities or local authorities. That's a big thing compared to other things.

So it's an extremely appealing investment thesis when some municipalities want to change their tram or a bus network because it's very, very -- it requires extremely little CapEx from them. So this is a very, very interesting type of thing.

So with that, I think we have reached about 65% of capital deployed for NextGen I. As you know, our threshold is to reach 75% of capital before launching -- before being allowed by those to launch a new fund. So you see we are not very far from that, maybe 1 or 2 years way.

But before coming back to market, one, we want to make sure because it's a new type of strategy on nascent, I would say, activities. It can be returning the networks for electric vehicles. It can be recycling units for used tires to extract carbon black with a JV we have with Michelin.

So we want to be sure before coming into market. Even if we raised 75%, that we have a compelling case for LPs that they are happy with what we are doing and what the value that we have created is in line with their expectations. So it's not just like -- we reached 75% on EUR 1, and we go to market for a second fund. We have to first make sure that our LPs are happy, and we are happy that we raised and they are happy for another and larger fund for NexGen Fund II.

Concerning Fund VI, Fund VI, we are looking at many projects. I would say that probably we are 1 or 2 years away, maybe 2 days away, 2, 3 years away.

Yes, a bit more, but we don't have the visibility enough today to...

It's premature. We're working a lot on that, but frankly, it's too early. It's too early to tell.

But it's likely that Fund VI will come before NexGen II, so Mid Cap II first, very imminent. Fund VI, as soon as we have more visibility and we are working on deploying capital, and NextGen II indeed is maturing with the value creation on the portfolio companies that we hold, continuing and deploying capital and so coming at a third stage in terms of timing.

Concerning next-generation infra and GI, we are not a tech firm. We're not a VC, right? So we invest in products with -- in companies with proven technology. So we don't take any technological bets. And we essentially try to invest at a pretty advanced stage. But in companies which have not -- don't meet completely the infrastructure, I would say, characteristic, and hopefully, they will when we sell the asset. That's really our mantra. That's why we are extremely attentive to be very selective on picking the right investments and growing those companies and to create value. We take our time, but clearly, as well as you said, it would be -- we're not far from launching the second center.

We also received a question from Laura Gris Trillo from Jefferies. The question is should we expect to see a further peaking AUM uplift driven by more capital calls on Flagship Fund III and IV in the second half of 2025?

Thank you, Laura, that's a good, interesting question. You've seen that we had injected further capital in Fund III and Fund IV in 1H. 2H will be more limited because those portfolio companies have matured. We come to a stage of high maturity, preparing, nearing exits for some of them. So indeed, usually, capital calls at that stage of the cycle are lower by definition. So you should expect very limited, if not, no capital injection. So maybe don't project much on that.

And another question from the webcast is about share buyback. And the question is, are we considering a share buyback to reflect the company's value.

Well, on that, we've partly answered the questions when we were speaking about the liquidity, about the fact that there would be further share placement in the market to gradually expand the free float. So share buyback is not the priority for us. We really focus on allowing some marketing -- public market investors to beef up their position or enter into the capital of the firm. So that's the priority, improving liquidity, growing the free float, and this will be enabled by the future share placements. Once lockups had -- lockups that bound the current equity partners will have expired.

These were all the questions from the webcast. Operator, do we have other questions from the call?

We have no other questions registered at this time.

Well, okay, that terminates our call. Thank you very much for your attention, all of us, and looking forward to seeing you next time.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.