Peter Orszag: So we’re in the midst of active discussions — well, first, I’d note we have, again, the embedded growth that I mentioned before from the MDs in key areas that are ramping up. But with regard to the new lateral hires, active discussions. We’ve been adding, for example, in restructuring. We just had a new restructuring MD join start in Europe and there’re others coming. The issue is that we’re very — we’re selective in making sure that our lateral hires are a good cultural fit and also in the areas where obviously we want to expand. And then also in areas — and productive in those areas, clearly. And then also at the right expectation with regard to their compensation. And so I won’t comment on what other people are doing, that’s their business.
But with regard to ours, we’re very comfortable with the tenor of the discussions we’re having, the attractiveness of the Lazard platform going forward. There’s a lot of interest in joining Lazard from a wide array of different bankers, and we are going to be selective in the matching function to make sure that we wind up maximizing the chances that the fit is a good one. And I think we can do that in a shareholder-friendly and growth-enhancing way. Only other thing I’d finally say is I want to really emphasize the point I made about our ability to grow our own talent and to create productive bankers through internal promotion. We stand out in having a long history of being able to do that. While you should expect going forward from us is that continued excellence in internal talent development, coupled with more aggressive lateral hiring than we may have done during some historical periods.
Ryan Kenny: And just on the comment of eventually getting back to target range on the comp ratio once revenue environment normalizes. Is that still mid to high 50s?
Brennan Hawken: Yes, it is.
Operator: We’ll take our next question from James Yaro with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
James Yaro: I just want to start first with the impact of the U.S. elections next year, and what that could mean for both of your businesses?
Peter Orszag: Look, I’d say the U.S. election at this point is something that comes up in the first 5 minutes of client discussions before you turn to the actual matter that you’re discussing. I expect that as we move into 2024 more fully, the time allocated to that topic will increase a bit. But again, when I said the tone of client discussions have turned more constructive, that’s the dominant factor. And obviously, as we move into 2024, the U.S. election, I think, will be another thing that generates demand for our geopolitical insights, but we don’t see it right now having a massive effect on the trajectory that we’re looking at in either business.
James Yaro: That’s very constructive. Maybe just turning to the asset management business again. I just wanted to touch on the financing for potential acquisitions once more. How are you thinking about your leverage levels today? And would you contemplate adding to these to fund any potential deals?
Peter Orszag: Well, we’re comfortable that we have 2 very cash-generative businesses. The number I gave you, for example, on the amount of buybacks that we’ve done above the dilution offset over the past 4 years is indicative of that. And so that provides some perspective on the cash flow that we have available. That having been said, I don’t want to rule out any options. It will depend on the particular target. If we were to hypothetically finance part of an acquisition through additional debt, obviously, we would be motivated to reduce that leverage quickly over time as 1 would expect in any M&A transaction. But I think we’ve got lots of options available to us moving forward.
Operator: We’ll take our next question from Devin Ryan with JMP Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
