Moelis & Co - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

Or

For the transition period from            to           

Commission File Number: 001-36418

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(212) 883-3800

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well‑known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S‑T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, non‑accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262 (b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐  No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and nonvoting common equity held by non‑affiliates of the Registrant as of June 30, 2020 was $1,715 million.

As of February 10, 2021, there were 58,027,155 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and 5,948,750 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2021 annual meeting of stockholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10‑K.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

When we use the terms “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us,” we mean Moelis & Company, a Delaware corporation (incorporated in January 2014), and its consolidated subsidiaries. “Old Holdings” refers solely to Moelis Asset Management LP (formerly Moelis & Company Holdings LP). References to the “IPO” refer to our initial public offering in April 2014 where Old Holdings reorganized its business in connection with the offering of 7,475,000 shares of Moelis & Company Class A common stock. Following the reorganization, the advisory business is now held under Moelis & Company Group LP (“Group LP”), a Delaware limited partnership, and Group LP is controlled by Moelis & Company.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD‑LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Form 10‑K contains forward‑looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. You can identify these forward‑looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “intend,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These forward‑looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance, based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements. In particular, you should consider the numerous risks outlined in Item 1A.

Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward‑looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward‑looking statements. You should not rely upon forward‑looking statements as a prediction of future events. We are under no duty to and we do not undertake any obligation to update or review any of these forward‑looking statements after the date of this filing to conform our prior statements to actual results or revised expectations whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Item 1.    Business

Overview

Moelis & Company is a leading global independent investment bank that provides innovative strategic and financial advice to a diverse client base, including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. We assist our clients in achieving their strategic goals by offering comprehensive, globally integrated financial advisory services across all major industry sectors. Our team of experienced professionals advises clients on their most critical decisions, including mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions and other corporate finance matters.

Moelis & Company was founded in 2007 by veteran investment bankers to create a global independent investment bank that offers multi-disciplinary solutions and exceptional transaction execution combined with the highest standard of confidentiality and discretion. We create lasting client relationships by providing focused innovative advice through a highly collaborative and global approach not limited to specific products or access to particular regions. Our compensation model fosters our holistic approach to clients by emphasizing quality of advice and is not a commission based structure where employees are compensated on a defined percentage of the revenues they generate. We believe our discretionary approach to compensation leads to exceptional advice, strong client impact and enhanced internal collaboration.

Since our inception, we have achieved rapid growth by hiring high‑caliber professionals, expanding the scope and geographic reach of our advisory services, developing new client relationships and cultivating our professionals through training and mentoring. Today we serve our clients with over 600 advisory professionals, including 128 Managing Directors, based in 22 geographical locations around the world. We have demonstrated strong financial performance, achieving revenues of $943.3 million in 2020, and have advised on over $3.6 trillion of transactions since inception.

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Our Advisory Offering

We offer holistic advisory solutions to clients by integrating our bankers’ deep industry knowledge and broad corporate finance experience with our global capabilities. With 22 geographical locations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, we combine local and regional expertise with international market knowledge to provide highly integrated information flow and strong cross‑border capabilities. Since our founding, we have rapidly scaled our global platform, as we believe clients value our ability to be relevant in their local market as well as to provide valuable global insights.

We combine our global capabilities with expertise in all major industries including Consumer & Retail; Energy, Power & Infrastructure; Financial Institutions; Financial Sponsors; General Industrials; Healthcare; Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure and Technology, Media & Telecommunications. We collaborate globally to bring our deep industry knowledge to the local markets where our clients operate.

We focus on a wide range of clients, including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments, and we deliver the full resources of our firm and the highest level of senior attention to every client, regardless of size or situation.

We advise our clients through all phases of the business cycle using our strong capabilities in M&A and strategic advisory, capital markets, recapitalization and restructuring, and private funds advisory.

Moelis & Company established a premier M&A and strategic advisory franchise advising clients on mergers, acquisitions, sales and divestitures, special committee assignments and shareholder defense. We counsel our clients through all stages of the process as we evaluate strategic alternatives, assess potential acquirers and targets, provide valuation analyses and advise on transaction terms including valuation, structuring, timing and potential financing. Additionally, we have an exclusive sales franchise with a strong track record in achieving maximum value for clients in their sale processes.

We have substantial expertise in guiding special committees of boards of directors to evaluate strategies and negotiate proposals by leveraging decades of transaction experience. We execute a rigorous process to help special committees synthesize alternatives and develop an appropriate course of action. We bring a strong understanding of key deal points and the interplay between deal terms, value and the various stakeholders involved.

Our shareholder defense team provides corporate boards with effective solutions to a broad range of contested shareholder situations. We draw from decades of experience working with both public companies, boards and management to advise clients across every industry, at every stage of an activist campaign; from privately engaging with shareholders to stave off a formal campaign, to defending the company’s interests in a proxy fight or hostile media campaign.

We also act as placement agent for our clients on a broad range of capital raising mandates and provide general capital markets advice. We bring expertise on all aspects of public and private debt and equity transactions to provide comprehensive capital structure advice, structure customized financing solutions and raise capital through private placements. Furthermore, we act as underwriter on offerings to institutional investors that do not require the overhead of sales and trading operations.

For our clients in financial distress, we partner senior recapitalization and restructuring professionals with our industry, M&A and capital markets experts to provide holistic advice. We advise both companies and creditors, utilizing our strong relationship network to access capital, identify potential partners and drive support for our transactions. Since our inception, approximately 60% of our recapitalization and restructuring engagements have been on the company or debtor side of a transaction. We believe that during times of financial distress, having a true partner as an advisor is of critical importance, and our partnership and collaboration with our clients during these times has helped us develop long‑lasting company relationships. In addition, our deep relationships throughout the creditor and recapitalization and restructuring communities provide multiple creditor side origination opportunities and allow us to develop a comprehensive perspective for all constituents. We understand that in distressed situations, many creditors become temporary equity holders of businesses, and we help these clients realize value which leads to further M&A activity for us. Furthermore, during distressed economic environments, companies may require an immediate infusion of capital to fund business operations. Through our full integration with our capital markets experts, we are able to provide our clients with innovative solutions to solve their capital needs.

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We also provide capital raising, secondary transaction and other advisory services to private fund sponsors and limited partners. Our team’s extensive experience raising capital for a wide variety of fund sponsors located in North America, Europe, Asia and the emerging markets is fully integrated with our global platform, ensuring the broadest possible marketing efforts for our clients. Combined with the Firm’s leading financial sponsor and M&A capabilities across a wide range of strategies, including buyout, growth capital, distressed, special situations, venture and sector specific strategies, we are positioned to deliver a range of strategic, customized solutions to our clients across the entire private equity lifecycle.

In addition, we provide a broad range of other financial advisory services tailored to the specific circumstances and needs of our clients. For example, we have substantial experience in advising clients on complex risk exposures, we act as expert witness for clients in major litigation and we assist private clients and governments in negotiations of significant commercial matters.

We seek to generate repeat business from our clients by becoming long‑term partners with them as opposed to being solely transaction focused. We are also committed to developing new client relationships, and we maintain an active dialogue with a large number of potential clients, as well as with their financial and legal advisors, on an ongoing basis. We continue to penetrate new relationships through our business development initiatives, growing our senior team with professionals who bring additional client relationships and through introductions from our strong network of relationships with senior executives, board members, attorneys and other third parties.

We have an affiliation with the sponsor (“Atlas Crest”) of Atlas Crest Investment Corp. (“Atlas Crest I”), special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), and subsequent related SPACs. Mr. Moelis is a founding member of Atlas Crest and serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Atlas Crest I. Atlas Crest SPACs provide us with an opportunity to assist private companies in effecting an initial public offering (“IPO”).  

Our Key Competitive Strengths

With 22 geographical locations around the world, capabilities in all major industries and deep advisory expertise, we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the strong market opportunity for independent investment banks. Furthermore, we believe our business is differentiated from that of our competitors in the following respects:

Globally Integrated Firm with Innovative Advisory Solutions:  We provide the high‑touch and conflict free benefits of an independent investment bank with the global reach, sector depth and product expertise more commonly found at larger financial institutions. With 22 geographical locations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, we combine local and regional expertise with international market knowledge to provide our clients with highly integrated information flow and strong cross‑border capabilities. We harness the deep industry expertise and broad corporate finance experience of our 128 global Managing Directors, which include 58 former sector and product heads from major investment banks. We reinforce our model with a discretionary incentive compensation structure that encourages a high degree of collaboration and our “One Firm” mentality.

Advisory Focus with Strong Intellectual Capital:  We primarily focus on advising clients, unlike most of our major competitors who derive a large percentage of their revenues from lending, trading and underwriting securities. We believe this independence allows us to offer advice free from the actual or perceived conflicts associated with lending to clients or trading in their securities. In addition, our focus on advisory services frees us from the pressure of cross‑selling products, which we believe can distract from the dialogue with clients around their long‑term strategy, compromising the advice. We provide intellectual capital based on our judgment, expertise and relationships combined with intense senior level attention to all transactions. Our focus on delivering intellectual capital allows us to operate a lower risk and capital light model with attractive profit margins. We have limited exposure to net capital regulatory requirements relating to our specialized underwriting mandates. We are not exposed to the financial risk and regulatory requirements that arise from, or the capital investments required in, balance sheet lending and trading activities.

Fast Growing Global Independent Investment Bank:  Since our inception in 2007, we have achieved rapid growth, earning revenues of $943.3 million in 2020. In our early years, we took advantage of the dislocation in the financial services industry following the global financial crisis and capitalized on the unique opportunity to hire talent. We currently have 22 offices globally with 897 employees, including 128 Managing Directors who

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have on average over 21 years of investment banking experience. We believe the quality and scale of our global franchise and the speed at which it has been achieved would be a challenge to replicate today.

Strong Financial Discipline:  We have remained financially disciplined with an intense focus on managing our organic growth in a profitable manner. We hired aggressively during the global financial crisis to take advantage of the dislocation among our competitors and in recent years have taken a more measured approach to hiring as the markets and compensation levels have stabilized. We are also highly focused on growing our Managing Directors through internal promotions, adding to our talent base with individuals that are passionate about our culture and have proven track records on our platform. Currently, more than one-third of our Managing Directors have been internally promoted. We believe our investment in talent at the junior level creates a self-sustaining pool of Managing Director talent, which in turn helps us manage profitable growth and allows us to return more capital to shareholders in the long run. We incentivize our bankers as owners by awarding equity compensation in order to align the interests of our employees and equity holders. Additionally, we have focused on entering new regions and sectors through cost effective strategies. We intend to maintain our financial discipline as we continue to grow our revenues, expand into new markets and increase our areas of expertise.

Significant Organic Growth Opportunities:  We have made significant investments in our intellectual capital with the hiring or promotion of 53 Managing Directors in the last five years. In addition, we have invested time and resources in our recruiting and training and development programs. We established a meaningful presence at the top undergraduate programs in our first year of operations, and continue to invest in our talent pipeline, which has resulted in the hiring of over 900 analysts and associates from campus since our inception. We are poised to continue realizing meaningful organic growth from these investments. We have achieved critical size in key industry sectors and regions around the globe, as well as recognition for advising on innovative transactions, which have enhanced our brand globally. We are positioned to continue to grow revenues as a result of increased individual productivity as our investments in people mature and as we continue to leverage our global platform through enhanced connectivity and idea generation and expanded brand recognition.

High Standard of Confidentiality and Discretion:  Due to the highly sensitive nature of M&A discussions where confidentiality is of paramount importance to clients, the M&A business is most effectively operated on a “need to know” basis. We believe that large financial conglomerates with multiple divisions, “Chinese Walls” and layers of management have a significantly greater number of employees who have access to sensitive client information, which can increase the risk of confidential information leaking. Such leaks can materially impair the viability of transactions and other strategic decisions. We have established a high standard of confidentiality and discretion, as well as instituted procedures designed to protect our clients and minimize the risk of sensitive information leaking to the market.

Diversified Advisory Platform:  Our business is highly diversified across sectors, types of advisory services and clients. Our broad corporate finance expertise positions us to advise clients through any phase of their life cycle and in any economic environment. We focus on a wide range of clients from large public multinational corporations to middle market private companies to individual entrepreneurs, and we deliver the full resources of our firm and the highest level of senior attention to every client, regardless of size or situation. In addition, we have no meaningful concentration, with our top 10 transactions representing less than 25% of our revenues in 2020. Our holistic “One Firm” approach also reduces dependence on any one product or banker and allows us to leverage our intellectual capital across the firm as necessary to offer multiple solutions to our clients, increase our client penetration and adapt to changing circumstances.

Partnership Culture:  We believe that our momentum and commitment to excellence have created an environment that attracts and retains high quality talent. Our people are our most valuable asset and our goal is to attract, retain and develop the best and brightest talent in our industry across all levels. We strive to foster a collaborative environment, and we seek individuals who are passionate about our business and are committed to our culture. We have established a compensation philosophy that reinforces our long‑term vision and values by rewarding collaboration, client impact and lasting relationships and encourages employees to put the interests of our clients and our Company first. Above all, our core values nurture a culture of partnership, passion, optimism, hard work and inclusion, inspiring the highest level of quality and integrity in every interaction with our clients and each other.

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Our Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is to continue to take advantage of what we believe are attractive market opportunities to enhance our leadership position as a global independent investment bank, advising our clients on important mergers and acquisitions, recapitalization and restructuring transactions and other strategic matters. We seek to achieve these objectives through the following two primary strategies:

Deepen and Expand our Client Relationships:  We seek to continue to deepen and expand our client relationships, which are the foundation of our business. We are tireless in our pursuit of offering the highest quality integrated advice and most innovative solutions that lead to the long‑term success of our clients. We believe this approach has enhanced our reputation as a trusted advisor to our clients, and we intend to leverage this approach further as we increase our touch points with our clients and develop new client relationships.

Broaden our Areas of Expertise Based on Client Needs:  We intend to pursue further industry and geographic expansion and introduce new product expertise based on client needs. In addition to hiring high quality professionals who will expand our market share, we will seek to grow through increasing the tenure of our Managing Directors, investing in and training our next generation of Managing Directors and continuing to hire analysts and associates from leading undergraduate and graduate programs. We believe that developing talent internally creates a more sustainable franchise and reinforces the culture of our firm.

Our People

We believe that our people are our most valuable asset. Our goal is to attract, retain and develop the best and brightest talent in our industry across all levels. We strive to foster a collaborative environment, and we seek individuals who are passionate about our business and our culture. Our Managing Directors are compensated based on the quality of advice and execution provided to a client, which is predicated on delivering our full suite of advisory services through a high degree of collaboration across different industries, products and regions. This collaborative approach is demonstrated by the fact that on almost all of our transactions, at least two Managing Directors support the client. We reinforce our long‑term vision and values by rewarding for client impact and lasting relationships. Our year‑end evaluation process measures both performance and alignment with our core value system, ensuring that we continue to integrate our expertise to meaningfully enhance the quality of our advice and strengthen our client relationships. We do not compensate on a commission‑based pay model and do not manage our business based on industry, product or regional silos. Our compensation structure for junior bankers is based on a system of meritocracy whereby bankers are rewarded for top performance. Measuring performance enables us to recognize employee achievements and continue to identify and invest in areas of targeted development and professional growth.

We recruit our junior bankers from the world’s leading undergraduate and graduate programs and have developed relationships with a variety of associations and diversity groups at universities where we recruit. Since our inception we have had a dedicated campus recruiting effort through which we have hired over 900 analysts and associates from these programs. We devote significant time and resources to training and mentoring our employees and have implemented generalist programs in which our junior professionals receive significant transaction experience across a wide range of products and industries. We believe this exposure enhances the investment banking experience and allows our junior professionals to develop and refine their proficiency in a broad variety of corporate finance matters at an early stage in their career. We are committed to talent retention and our goal is to develop our brightest and most ambitious junior professionals into successful Managing Directors. As of December 31, 2020, we had 903 employees globally, including 627 advisory professionals and 125 Managing Directors.

Moelis Australia

In 2009, we opened our sixth global office in Sydney to provide investment banking services in Australia and expand our coverage of the Asia Pacific region. Following the establishment of this office and the hiring of what we believed to be a strong executive team, we entered into a 50%-50% joint venture with Moelis Australia Holdings PTY Limited on April 1, 2010 (“Moelis Australia”). Moelis Australia operates a financial advisory services business, an equity capital markets and research, sales and trading business covering Australian public equity securities and asset management businesses.

On April 10, 2017, Moelis Australia consummated its initial public offering and became listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as Moelis Australia Limited (ASX: MOE). Our original position of 50.0 million shares has been reduced by the sale of 20.5 million shares of MOE during 2019 and diluted through share offerings of MOE common stock. Despite these transactions, we still maintain a significant investment and partnership with Moelis Australia. In connection with Moelis Australia’s initial public offering, the Company and Moelis Australia entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement pursuant to which Moelis Australia continues to conduct its investment banking advisory business in Australia and New Zealand as an integrated part of the global advisory business of the Company.

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Our Strategic Alliances

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and its Subsidiary, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

Effective January 1, 2012, we entered into a strategic alliance with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”) and its subsidiary, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. (“Nikko”) to provide advisory services, including advising on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings and other corporate finance matters, to Japanese companies in regions where our firms conduct business. The alliance provides us and our clients with access to the Japanese market and provides us with opportunities to advise Japanese clients on the full suite of our advisory services, with a particular focus on cross‑border M&A. Established in 1876 as Mitsui Bank, SMBC is the second largest bank in Japan based on market capitalization. Nikko is one of the five major securities companies in Japan.

Alfaro, Dávila y Scherer, S.C.

Effective September 2, 2016, we entered into a strategic alliance with Alfaro, Dávila y Scherer, S.C. (“ADS”), the leading independent strategic and financial advisory firm in Mexico, to provide advisory services to our global client base with a focus on cross-border transactions. ADS’s successful track record of developing long-term relationships and advising multinational corporations and privately held companies in strategic transactions benefits our global clients looking to expand into Mexico or for Mexican corporates eager to grow internationally. With this strategic alliance, coupled with our office in Brazil, Moelis & Company has a presence in the two largest markets in Latin America.

Competition

The financial services industry is intensely competitive, and we expect it to remain so. Our competitors are other investment banking and financial advisory firms. We compete on both a global and a regional basis, and on the basis of a number of factors, including depth of client relationships, industry knowledge, transaction execution skills, our range of products and services, innovation, reputation and price.

We believe our primary competitors in securing advisory engagements include the investment banking businesses of Bank of America Corporation, Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and other large investment banking firms as well as independent investment banking firms such as Evercore Partners Inc., Greenhill & Co., Inc., Houlihan Lokey, Inc., Lazard Ltd, NM Rothschild & Sons Limited, PJT Partners, Inc., and many closely held boutique firms.

We compete to attract and retain qualified employees. Our ability to continue to compete effectively in our business will depend upon our ability to attract new employees with diverse knowledge and skills and develop, retain and motivate our existing employees.

In past years there has been substantial consolidation in the financial services industry. In particular, a number of large commercial banks and other broad‑based financial services firms have established or acquired broker‑dealers or have merged with other financial institutions. Many of these firms have the ability to offer a wider range of products, from loans, deposit‑taking and insurance to brokerage, asset management and investment banking services, which may enhance their competitive position. They also have the ability to support investment banking and securities products with commercial lending and other financial services revenues in an effort to gain market share, which could result in pricing pressure in our business or loss of opportunities for us. In addition, we may be at a competitive disadvantage relative to certain of our competitors who are able to, and regularly do, provide financing or market making services that are often instrumental in effecting transactions. The trend toward consolidation has significantly increased the capital base and geographic reach of our competitors as well as the potential for actual or perceived conflicts of these firms.

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Regulation

Our business, as well as the financial services industry generally, is subject to extensive regulation in the U.S. and across the globe. As a matter of public policy, regulatory bodies in the U.S. and the rest of the world are charged with safeguarding the integrity of the securities and other financial markets and with protecting the interests of customers participating in those markets, not with protecting the interests of our stockholders or creditors. In the U.S., the SEC is the federal agency responsible for the administration of the federal securities laws. Moelis & Company LLC, our wholly‑owned subsidiary through which we conduct our financial advisory business in the U.S., is registered as a broker‑dealer with the SEC. Moelis & Company LLC is subject to regulation and oversight by the SEC. In addition, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”), a self‑regulatory organization that is subject to oversight by the SEC, adopts and enforces rules governing the conduct, and examines the activities, of its member firms, including Moelis & Company LLC. State securities regulators also have regulatory or oversight authority over Moelis & Company LLC.

Broker‑dealers are subject to regulations that cover all aspects of the securities business, including capital structure, record‑keeping and the conduct and qualifications of directors, officers and employees. In particular, as a registered broker‑dealer and member of a self‑regulatory organization, we are subject to the SEC’s uniform net capital rule, Rule 15c3‑1. Rule 15c3‑1 specifies the minimum level of net capital a broker‑dealer must maintain and also requires that a significant part of a broker‑dealer’s assets be kept in relatively liquid form. The SEC and various self‑regulatory organizations impose rules that require notification when net capital falls below certain predefined criteria, limit the ratio of subordinated debt to equity in the regulatory capital composition of a broker‑dealer and constrain the ability of a broker‑dealer to expand its business under certain circumstances. Additionally, the SEC’s uniform net capital rule imposes certain requirements that may have the effect of prohibiting a broker‑dealer from distributing or withdrawing capital and requiring prior notice to the SEC for certain withdrawals of capital.

In addition to the regulation we are subject to in the United States, we are also subject to regulation internationally by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Certain parts of our business are subject to compliance with laws and regulations of U.S. federal and state governments, non‑U.S. governments, their respective agencies and/or various self‑regulatory organizations or exchanges relating to, among other things, the privacy of client information, and any failure to comply with these regulations could expose us to liability and/or reputational damage.

The U.S. and non‑U.S. government agencies and self‑regulatory organizations, as well as state securities commissions in the United States, are empowered to conduct periodic examinations and initiate administrative proceedings that can result in censure, fines, the issuance of cease‑and‑desist orders or the suspension or expulsion of a broker‑dealer or its directors, officers or employees.

Federal anti‑money‑laundering laws make it a criminal offense to own or operate a money transmitting business without the appropriate state licenses, which we maintain, and registration with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In addition, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the Treasury Department’s implementing federal regulations require us, as a “financial institution,” to establish and maintain an anti‑money‑laundering program.

In connection with its administration and enforcement of economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers, designated under programs that are not country‑specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called “Specially Designated Nationals,” or SDNs. Assets of SDNs are blocked, and we are generally prohibited from dealing with them. In addition, OFAC administers a number of comprehensive sanctions and embargoes that target certain countries, governments and geographic regions. We are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving any country, region or government that is subject to such comprehensive sanctions.

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The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and the UK 2010 Bribery Act (the “UK Bribery Act”) prohibit the payment of bribes to foreign government officials and political figures. The FCPA has a broad reach, covering all U.S. companies and citizens doing business abroad, among others, and defining a foreign official to include not only those holding public office but also local citizens acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of foreign government‑run or ‑owned organizations or public international organizations. The FCPA also requires maintenance of appropriate books and records and maintenance of adequate internal controls to prevent and detect possible FCPA violations. Similarly, the UK Bribery Act prohibits us from bribing, being bribed or making other prohibited payments to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage.

Executive Officers and Directors

Board of Directors

Kenneth Moelis,

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company

Navid Mahmoodzadegan,

Co‑President and Managing Director of the Company

Jeffrey Raich,

Co‑President and Managing Director of the Company

Eric Cantor,

Managing Director and Vice Chairman of the Company

Elizabeth Crain

Chief Operating Officer

John A. Allison,

Chairman of the Executive Advisory Council of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, member of the Cato Institute’s Board of Directors and Former Chairman and CEO of BB&T Corp.

Yolonda C. Richardson,

Executive Vice President of Global Programs for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator

Kenneth L. Shropshire

Adidas Distinguished Professor of Global Sport and CEO of Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, David W. Hauck Professor Emeritus, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Former Faculty Director of Wharton Sports Business Initiative

Other Executive Officers

Joseph Simon

Chief Financial Officer

Osamu R. Watanabe

General Counsel and Secretary

Organizational Structure

Overview

Moelis & Company is a holding company and its only assets are its partnership interests in Group LP, its equity interest in the sole general partner of Group LP, Moelis & Company Group GP LLC, and its interests in its subsidiaries. Moelis & Company operates and controls all of the business and affairs of Group LP and its operating entity subsidiaries indirectly through its equity interest in Moelis & Company Group GP LLC.

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The simplified diagram below depicts our organizational structure (percentages are as of December 31, 2020).

Certain Managing Director and Other Employees1 Public Stockholders Certain Pre-IPO Group LP Unitholders Moelis & Company Partner Holdings LP2 Class A Common Stock 49% Voting Interest Class B Common Stock 51% Voting Interest Exchangeable Class A Partnership Units Non-Voting 9% Economic Interest Moelis & Company Exchangeable Class A Partnership Units Non-Voting 4% Economic Interest 100% Equity Interest Class A Partnership Units Non-Voting 87% Economic Interest3 Moelis & Company Group GP LLC Sole General Partner Moelis & Company Group LP Operating Entities 1. Includes certain current and former Managing Directors and employees of the Company. 2. Mr. Moelis controls the managing member of Partner Holdings. See ”-- Rights of Partner Holdings and Stockholders Agreement.” 3. A portion of these Class A partnership units are held indirectly through subsidiaries. Moelis & Company also holds Class B partnerships units in Group LP. See “--Amended and Restated Limited Partnership Agreement of Group LP–Voting and Economic Rights.” Note: All entities on the chart above are incorporated or formed in Delaware.

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Amended and Restated Limited Partnership Agreement of Group LP

We operate our business through Group LP and its subsidiaries. The provisions governing the operations of Group LP and the rights and obligations of its partners are set forth in the amended and restated limited partnership agreement of Group LP, the material terms of which are described below. The amended and restated limited partnership agreement of Group LP is filed as an exhibit to this Form 10‑K.

Through our control of the general partner of Group LP, we have unilateral control (subject to the consent of Moelis & Company Partner Holdings LP (“Partner Holdings”) on various matters) over the affairs and decisions of Group LP. As such, we, through our officers and directors, are responsible for all operational and administrative decisions of Group LP and the day‑to‑day management of Group LP’s business.

Voting and Economic Rights

Group LP issued Class A partnership units to Moelis & Company and to the holders of Old Holdings units at the time of the reorganization. In addition, Group LP issued Class B partnership units to Moelis & Company. The Group LP Class B partnership units correspond with the economic rights of shares of Moelis & Company’s Class B common stock. Group LP Class A unitholders have no voting rights by virtue of their ownership of Group LP partnership units, except for the right to approve certain amendments to the amended and restated limited partnership agreement of Group LP, certain changes to the capital accounts of the limited partners of Group LP and any conversion of Group LP to a corporation other than for purposes of a sale transaction. Partner Holdings holds all shares of Moelis & Company Class B common stock, enabling it to exercise majority voting control over Moelis & Company and, indirectly, over Group LP.

Pursuant to the Group LP amended and restated limited partnership agreement, we have the right to determine when distributions will be made to the partners of Group LP and the amount of any such distributions. If we authorize a distribution, such distribution will be made, except as required under applicable tax law, to the partners of Group LP (i) in the case of a tax distribution, generally to the holders of partnership units in proportion to the amount of taxable income of Group LP allocated to such holder and (ii) in the case of other distributions, pro rata in accordance with the percentages of their respective partnership units.

Coordination of Moelis & Company and Group LP

At any time we issue a share of Class A common stock for cash, unless we use the proceeds for certain specified permitted purposes (including the acquisition Group LP Class A partnership units or other property), the proceeds received by us will be promptly transferred to Group LP, and Group LP will issue to us one of its Group LP Class A partnership units. At any time we issue a share of Class A common stock pursuant to our equity incentive plan we will contribute to Group LP all of the proceeds that we receive (if any), and Group LP will issue to us one of its Group LP Class A partnership units, having the same restrictions, if any, attached to the shares of Class A common stock issued under the equity incentive plan. Conversely, if we redeem or repurchase any of our shares of Class A common stock, Group LP will, immediately prior to our redemption or repurchase, redeem or repurchase an equal number of Group LP Class A partnership units held by us, upon the same terms and for the same price, as the shares of Class A common stock are redeemed or repurchased. We can only redeem or repurchase shares of Class A common stock if Group LP first redeems or repurchases an equivalent amount of Group LP Class A partnership units that we hold.

Exchange Rights

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Group LP amended and restated limited partnership agreement, each Group LP Class A unitholder (except for Moelis & Company) has the right to exchange Group LP Class A partnership units, either for shares of our Class A common stock on a one‑for‑one basis, or cash (based on the market price of the shares of Class A common stock), at Group LP’s option. If Group LP chooses to exchange such units for our Class A common stock, Moelis & Company will deliver an equivalent number of shares of Class A common stock to Group LP for further delivery to the exchanging holder and receive a corresponding number of newly issued Group LP Class A partnership units. The exchanging holder’s surrendered Group LP Class A partnership units will be cancelled by Group LP. As Group LP Class A unitholders exchange their Group LP Class A partnership units, Moelis & Company’s percentage of economic ownership of Group LP will be correspondingly increased. Following each such exchange, Partner Holdings will be required to surrender to Moelis & Company a corresponding number of shares of Class B

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common stock, and each such share will be converted into approximately 0.00055 shares of Class A common stock, which will be delivered to Partner Holdings. Group LP will also convert an equivalent number of Class B partnership units held by Moelis & Company into Class A partnership units based on the same conversion rate.

Registration Rights

Moelis & Company has granted certain registration rights in the amended and restated limited partnership agreement of Group LP, the stockholders agreement with Partners Holdings and the strategic alliance agreement with SMBC, each filed as exhibits to this Form 10‑K.

Rights of Partner Holdings and Stockholders Agreement

Moelis & Company is party to a stockholders agreement with Partner Holdings pursuant to which, for so long as the Class B Condition (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) is satisfied, Partner Holdings has approval rights over significant corporate actions by Moelis & Company. Our board of directors will nominate individuals designated by Partner Holdings equal to a majority of the board of directors, for so long as the Class B Condition is satisfied.

After the Class B Condition ceases to be satisfied, for so long as the Secondary Class B Condition (as defined in the stockholders agreement with Partners Holdings) is satisfied, Partner Holdings will have certain approval rights (including, among others, over the appointment or termination of the Chief Executive Officer) and our board of directors will nominate individuals designated by Partner Holdings equal to one quarter of the board of directors.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

The industry, market and competitive position data referenced throughout this Form 10‑K are based on research, industry and general publications, including surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry publications, surveys and studies generally state that they have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. We have not independently verified such third party information. While we are not aware of any misstatements regarding any industry, market or similar data presented herein, such data involve uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the headings “Special Note Regarding Forward‑Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in this Form 10‑K. The M&A market data for announced and completed transactions in 2020 and 2019 referenced throughout this Form 10‑K was obtained from Thomson Financial as of January 5, 2021 and January 3, 2020, respectively.

In this Form 10‑K, we use the term “independent investment banks” or “independent advisors” to refer to investment banks primarily focused on advisory services and that conduct limited or no commercial banking or sales and trading activities. We use the term “global independent investment banks” to refer to independent investment banks with global coverage capabilities across all major industries and regions. We consider the global independent investment banks to be our publicly traded peers, Evercore Partners Inc., Greenhill & Co., Inc., Houlihan Lokey, Inc., Lazard Ltd, PJT Partners, Inc., and us.

OTHER INFORMATION

Our website address is www.moelis.com. We make available free of charge on the Investor Relations section of our website (http://investors.moelis.com) this Annual Report on Form 10‑K (“Form 10‑K”), Quarterly Reports on Form 10‑Q, Current Reports on Form 8‑K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We also make available through our website other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, including our Proxy Statements and reports filed by officers and directors under Section 16(a) of that Act, as well as our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. From time to time we may use our website as a channel of distribution of material company information. Financial and other material information regarding the Company is routinely posted on and accessible at http://investors.moelis.com. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about us by enrolling your email by visiting the “Contact Us” section at http://investors.moelis.com. We do not intend for information contained in our website to be part of this Form 10‑K. The inclusion of our website in this Form 10‑K does not include or incorporate by reference the information on our website into this Form 10‑K.

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Item 1A.    Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business

Risks Related to Recruiting and Retaining Talent and Competition

Our future growth will depend on, among other things, our ability to successfully identify, recruit and develop talent and will require us to commit additional resources.

We have experienced rapid growth over the past several years, which may be difficult to sustain at the same rate. Our future growth will depend on, among other things, our ability to successfully identify and recruit individuals and teams to join our firm. It typically takes time for these professionals to become profitable and effective. During that time, we may incur significant expenses and expend significant time and resources toward training, integration and business development aimed at developing this new talent. If we are unable to recruit and develop profitable professionals, we will not be able to implement our growth strategy and our financial results could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, sustaining growth will require us to commit additional management, operational and financial resources and to maintain appropriate operational and financial systems to adequately support expansion, especially in instances where we open new offices that may require additional resources before they become profitable. See “—Our growth strategy may involve opening or acquiring new offices and expanding internationally and would involve hiring new Managing Directors and other senior professionals for these offices, which would require substantial investment by us and could materially and adversely affect our operating results.” There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our expanding operations effectively, and any failure to do so could materially adversely affect our ability to grow revenue and control our expenses.

Our ability to retain our Managing Directors and our other professionals, including our executive officers, is critical to the success of our business.

Our future success depends to a substantial degree on our ability to retain qualified professionals within our organization, including our Managing Directors. However, we may not be successful in our efforts to retain the required personnel as the market for qualified investment bankers is extremely competitive. Our investment bankers possess substantial experience and expertise and have strong relationships with our advisory clients. As a result, the loss of these professionals could jeopardize our relationships with clients and result in the loss of client engagements. For example, if any of our Managing Directors or other senior professionals, including our executive officers, or groups of professionals, were to join or form a competing firm, some of our current clients could choose to use the services of that competitor rather than our services. There is no guarantee that our compensation and non‑competition arrangements with our Managing Directors provide sufficient incentives or protections to prevent our Managing Directors from resigning to join our competitors. In addition, some of our competitors have more resources than us which may allow them to attract some of our existing employees through compensation or otherwise. The departure of a number of Managing Directors or groups of professionals could have a material adverse effect on our business and our profitability.

We depend on the efforts and reputations of Mr. Moelis and our other executive officers. Our senior leadership team’s reputations and relationships with clients and potential clients are critical elements in the success of our business. The loss of the services of our senior leadership team, in particular Mr. Moelis, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to attract clients.

We face strong competition from other financial advisory firms, many of which have the ability to offer clients a wider range of products and services than those we can offer, which could cause us to fail to win advisory mandates and subject us to pricing pressures that could materially adversely affect our revenue and profitability.

The financial services industry is intensely competitive, and we expect it to remain so. Our competitors are other investment banking and financial advisory firms. We compete on both a global and a regional basis, and on the basis of a number of factors, including depth of client relationships, industry knowledge, transaction execution skills, our range of products and services, innovation, reputation and price. In addition, in our business there are usually no long‑term contracted sources of revenue. Each revenue‑generating engagement typically is separately solicited, awarded and negotiated.

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We have experienced intense competition over obtaining advisory mandates in recent years, and we may experience further pricing pressures in our business in the future as some of our competitors may seek to obtain increased market share by reducing fees.

Our primary competitors are large financial institutions, many of which have far greater financial and other resources than us and, unlike us, have the ability to offer a wider range of products, from loans, deposit taking and insurance to brokerage and trading, which may enhance their competitive position. They also regularly support investment banking, including financial advisory services, with commercial lending and other financial services and products in an effort to gain market share, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage and could result in pricing pressures or loss of opportunities, which could materially adversely affect our revenue and profitability. In addition, we may be at a competitive disadvantage with regard to certain of our competitors who are able to and often do, provide financing or market making services that are often a crucial component of the types of transactions on which we advise.

In addition to our larger competitors, over the last few years a number of independent investment banks that offer independent advisory services have emerged, with several showing rapid growth. As these independent firms or new entrants into the market seek to gain market share there could be pricing pressures, which would adversely affect our revenues and earnings.

Risks Related to Market Conditions and the Impact on Our Business

Changing market conditions can adversely affect our business in many ways, including by reducing the volume of the transactions involving our business, which could materially reduce our revenue.

As a financial services firm, we are materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic conditions throughout the world. For example, our revenue is directly related to the volume and value of the transactions in which we are involved. During periods of unfavorable market or economic conditions, the volume and value of M&A transactions may decrease, thereby reducing the demand for our M&A advisory services and increasing price competition among financial services companies seeking such engagements. In addition, during periods of strong market and economic conditions, the volume and value of recapitalization and restructuring transactions may decrease, thereby reducing the demand for our recapitalization and restructuring advisory services and increasing price competition among financial services companies seeking such engagements. Our results of operations would be adversely affected by any such reduction in the volume or value of such advisory transactions. Further, in the period following an economic downturn, the volume and value of M&A transactions typically takes time to recover and lags a recovery in market and economic conditions.

Our profitability may also be adversely affected by our fixed costs and the possibility that we would be unable to scale back other costs within a time frame sufficient to match any decreases in revenue relating to changes in market and economic conditions. The future market and economic climate may deteriorate because of many factors beyond our control, including rising interest rates or inflation, international conflict, terrorism, natural disasters, a pandemic or political uncertainty.

If the number of debt defaults, bankruptcies or other factors affecting demand for our recapitalization and restructuring advisory services declines, our recapitalization and restructuring business could suffer.

We provide various financial recapitalization and restructuring and related advice to companies in financial distress or to their creditors or other stakeholders. A number of factors affect demand for these advisory services, including general economic conditions, the availability and cost of debt and equity financing, governmental policy and changes to laws, rules and regulations, including those that protect creditors. In addition, providing recapitalization and restructuring advisory services entails the risk that the transaction will be unsuccessful or take considerable time and can be subject to a bankruptcy court’s authority to disallow or discount our fees in certain circumstances. If the number of debt defaults, bankruptcies or other factors affecting demand for our recapitalization and restructuring advisory services declines, our recapitalization and restructuring business would be adversely affected.

Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could adversely affect our results.

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Because our financial statements are denominated in U.S. dollars and we receive a portion of our net revenue in other currencies (including euros and pound sterling), we are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currencies. In addition, we pay certain of our expenses in such currencies. We have not entered into any transactions to hedge our exposure to these foreign exchange fluctuations through the use of derivative instruments or otherwise. An appreciation or depreciation of any of these currencies relative to the U.S. dollar would result in an adverse or beneficial impact, respectively, to our financial results.

Risks Related to the Drivers of Our Revenues

Our revenue in any given period is dependent on the number of fee‑paying clients in such period, and a significant reduction in the number of fee‑paying clients in any given period could reduce our revenue and adversely affect our operating results in such period.

Our revenue in any given period is dependent on the number of fee‑paying clients in such period. We had 205 clients and 150 clients paying fees equal to or greater than $1 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively. We may lose clients as a result of the sale or merger of a client, a change in a client’s senior management, competition from other financial advisors and financial institutions and other causes. A significant reduction in the number of fee‑paying clients in any given period could reduce our revenue and adversely affect our operating results in such period.

Substantially all of our revenue is derived from advisory fees. As a result, our revenue and profits are highly volatile on a quarterly basis and may cause the price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate and decline.

Our revenue and profits are highly volatile. We derive substantially all of our revenue from advisory fees, generally from a limited number of engagements that generate significant fees at key transaction milestones, such as closing, the timing of which is outside of our control. We expect that we will continue to rely on advisory fees for most of our revenue for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, a decline in our advisory engagements or the market for advisory services would adversely affect our business. In addition, our financial results will likely fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on the timing of when fees are earned, and high levels of revenue in one quarter will not necessarily be predictive of continued high levels of revenue in future periods. Because we lack other, more stable, sources of revenue, which could moderate some of the volatility in our advisory revenue, we may experience greater variations in our revenue and profits than other larger, more diversified competitors in the financial services industry. Fluctuations in our quarterly financial results could, in turn, lead to large adverse movements in the price of our Class A common stock or increased volatility in our stock price generally.

Because in many cases we are not paid until the successful consummation of the underlying transaction, our revenue is highly dependent on market conditions and the decisions and actions of our clients, interested third parties and governmental authorities. For example, we may be engaged by a client in connection with a sale or divestiture, but the transaction may not occur or be consummated because, among other things, anticipated bidders may not materialize, no bidder is prepared to pay our client’s price or because our client’s business experiences unexpected operating or financial problems. We may be engaged by a client in connection with an acquisition, but the transaction may not occur or be consummated for a number of reasons, including because our client may not be the winning bidder, failure to agree upon final terms with the counterparty, failure to obtain necessary regulatory consents or board or stockholder approvals, failure to secure necessary financing, adverse market conditions or because the target’s business experiences unexpected operating or financial problems. In these circumstances, we often do not receive significant advisory fees, despite the fact that we have devoted considerable resources to these transactions.

In addition, we face the risk that certain clients may not have the financial resources to pay our agreed‑upon advisory fees. Certain clients may also be unwilling to pay our advisory fees in whole or in part, in which case we may have to incur significant costs to bring legal action to enforce our engagement agreement to obtain our advisory fees.

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Risk Related to Managing Our Business, Including Conflicts, Employees, Client Satisfaction

and Our Reputation

Our failure to deal appropriately with actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest could damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our business.

We confront actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest in our business. For instance, we face the possibility of an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest where we represent a client on a transaction in which an existing client is a party. We may be asked by two potential clients to act on their behalf on the same transaction, including two clients as potential buyers in the same acquisition transaction, and we may act for both clients if both clients agree to us doing so. In each of these situations, we face the risk that our current policies, controls and procedures do not timely identify or appropriately manage such conflicts of interest.

It is possible that actual, potential or perceived conflicts could give rise to client dissatisfaction, litigation or regulatory enforcement actions. Appropriately identifying and managing actual or perceived conflicts of interest is complex and difficult, and our reputation could be damaged if we fail, or appear to fail, to deal appropriately with one or more potential or actual conflicts of interest. Regulatory scrutiny of, or litigation in connection with, conflicts of interest could have a material adverse effect on our reputation which could materially adversely affect our business in a number of ways, including a reluctance of some potential clients and counterparties to do business with us.

Employee misconduct, which is difficult to detect and deter, could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain clients and talent and by subjecting us to legal liability and reputational harm.

There have been a number of highly-publicized cases involving fraud or other misconduct by employees in the financial services industry, and there is a risk that our employees engage in misconduct that adversely affects our business. Our business often requires that we deal with confidential matters of great significance to our clients. Our employees’ improper use or disclosure of confidential information provided by our clients could subject us to regulatory investigations or sanctions and we could suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position, the trading price of our common stock, current client relationships and ability to attract future clients. In addition, our financial professionals and other employees are responsible for following proper measures to maintain the confidentiality of information we hold. If an employee’s failure to do so results in the improper release of confidential information, we could be subject to reputational harm and legal liability, which could impair our ability to attract and retain clients and in turn materially adversely affect our business. We also face the risk that our employees engage in work place misconduct, such as sexual harassment or discrimination, despite our implementation of policies and training to prevent and detect misconduct. In addition to impairing our ability to attract and retain clients, such misconduct may also impair our ability to attract and retain talent resulting in a materially adverse affect on our business. It is not always possible to deter employee misconduct despite the precautions we take to prevent and detect misconduct. If our employees engage in misconduct, our business could be materially adversely affected.

We may face damage to our professional reputation if our services are not regarded as satisfactory or for other reasons.

As an advisory service firm, we depend to a large extent on our relationships with our clients and reputation for integrity and high‑caliber professional services to attract and retain clients. As a result, if a client is not satisfied with our services, it may be more damaging in our business than in other businesses.

Negative publicity regarding our business and our people could adversely impact our reputation and our business.

We depend to a large extent on our reputation for integrity and high‑caliber professional services to attract and retain clients. We may experience negative publicity from time to time relating to our business and our people, regardless of whether the allegations are valid. Such negative publicity may adversely affect our business in a number of ways, including whether potential clients choose to engage us and our ability to attract and retain talent.

The use of the “Moelis” brand name by either Old Holdings and its subsidiaries or Moelis Australia and the affiliation of Atlas Crest with Moelis may expose us to reputational harm that could adversely affect our business should they take actions that damage the brand name.

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Old Holdings and Moelis Australia operate as separate legal entities. We have licensed to Old Holdings and its subsidiaries the use of the “Moelis” brand name for certain purposes, including in connection with asset management activities. We have licensed to Moelis Australia the use of the “Moelis” brand name in connection with its financial advisory services business, an equity capital markets and research, sales and trading business covering Australian public equity securities and asset management businesses. As Old Holdings and its subsidiaries and Moelis Australia historically have and will continue to use the “Moelis” brand name, and because we no longer control these entities, there is a risk of reputational harm to us if any of Old Holdings, its subsidiaries or Moelis Australia, among other things, have engaged, or in the future were to engage in poor business practices, or were to experience adverse results or otherwise damage the reputational value of the “Moelis” brand name. These risks could adversely affect our revenue and our business prospects.

Atlas Crest is a special purpose acquisition company that is affiliated with Moelis. Mr. Moelis is the non-Executive Chairman of Atlas Crest. Mr. Moelis, other executive officers and Managing Directors of Moelis own a majority of the sponsor of Atlas Crest. If Atlas Crest engages in poor business practices or experiences adverse results, Moelis could suffer reputational harm that could adversely affect our revenue and our business prospects.

Risk Related to Operating Our Business, Including Litigation, Financial Regulations

and Information Technology and Security

The scale, scope and duration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business are unpredictable and depend on a number of factors outside of our control.

The rapid, worldwide spread of a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has created global economic disruption and uncertainty. In 2020, we were able to adjust rapidly to the uncertainty created by COVID-19 and achieve significant growth in our business over 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and the potential future impact on the global financial markets of COVID-19 and government responses thereto is still uncertain. We believe COVID-19’s impact will be significantly driven by factors that are beyond our control, including, for example: the extent to which COVID-19 variants become additional public health threats, the timing, scope and effectiveness of governmental responses to the pandemic; the pace and effectiveness of vaccinations and medical advancements providing treatments for COVID-19, the timing and speed of economic recovery; and the impact on our clients’ willingness to transact in the business environment created by COVID-19. As a result COVID-19 could still have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We have implemented various initiatives to reduce the impact of COVID-19, such as supporting the ability for all of our employees working remotely from home, while seeking to maintain business continuity. We face various cybersecurity and other operational risks related to our business on a day to day basis, which are heightened by COVID-19. We rely heavily on financial, accounting, communication and other information technology systems, including, without limitation, cloud based information technology systems, and the people who operate them. These systems, including the systems of third parties on whom we rely, may experience a disruption as a result of COVID-19 or increased cybersecurity threats. If we were unable to timely and successfully recover, that could materially disrupt our business and cause material financial loss, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability. An extended period of remote working by our employees could strain our technology resources and introduce operational risks, including heightened cybersecurity risk. Remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 presents a threat to our employees’ well-being. As shelter-in-place restrictions have been lifted, we have implemented plans for our employees’ return to office. These plans need to comply with federal, state and local regulations and take into account local conditions, which may result in increased operational and compliance costs. There is no guarantee that the measures implemented will protect the health of our employees and could negatively impact employee sentiment and productivity. While we have implemented a business continuity plan to protect the health of our employees, such plans cannot anticipate all scenarios, and we may experience a potential loss of productivity.

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As a member of the financial services industry, we face substantial litigation risks.

Our role as advisor to our clients on important transactions involves complex analysis and the exercise of professional judgment, including rendering “fairness opinions” in connection with mergers and other transactions. We also act as an underwriter, placement agent and dealer manager in capital markets transactions. Our activities may subject us to the risk of significant legal liabilities to our clients, investors in capital markets transactions and affected third parties, including shareholders of our clients and investors who bring securities class actions against us. Litigation risks often may be difficult to assess or quantify and their existence and magnitude often remain unknown for substantial periods of time. Our engagements typically include broad indemnities from our clients and provisions to limit our exposure to legal claims relating to our services, but these provisions may not protect us in all cases, including when a client does not have the financial capacity to pay under the indemnity. As a result, we may incur significant legal expenses in defending against or settling litigation. In addition, we may have to spend a significant amount to adequately insure against these potential claims. Substantial legal liability or significant regulatory action against us could have material adverse financial effects or cause significant reputational harm to us, which could seriously harm our business prospects.

Extensive and evolving regulation of our business and the business of our clients exposes us to the potential for significant penalties and fines due to compliance failures, increases our costs and may result in limitations on the manner in which our business is conducted.

As a participant in the financial services industry, we are subject to extensive financial regulation in the U.S. and internationally. We are subject to general laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

Our ability to conduct business and our operating results, including compliance costs, may be adversely affected as a result of any new requirements imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), FINRA or other U.S. or foreign governmental regulatory authorities or self‑regulatory organizations that regulate financial services firms or supervise financial markets. We may be adversely affected by changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules by these governmental authorities and self‑regulatory organizations. In addition, some of our clients or prospective clients may adopt policies that exceed regulatory requirements and impose additional restrictions affecting their dealings with us. Accordingly, we may incur significant costs to comply with U.S. and international regulation. In addition, new laws or regulations or changes in enforcement of existing laws or regulations applicable to our clients may adversely affect our business. For example, changes in antitrust enforcement could affect the level of M&A activity and changes in applicable regulations could restrict the activities of our clients and their need for the types of advisory services that we provide to them.

Our failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations could result in adverse publicity and reputational harm as well as fines, suspensions of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of the registration of us or any of our subsidiaries as a financial advisor and could impair executive retention or recruitment. For example, we are subject to bribery and anti-corruption regulation, especially with respect to businesses we conduct for clients that are governmental entities or owned by governmental entities. In addition, any changes in the regulatory framework could impose additional expenses or capital requirements on us, result in limitations on the manner in which our business is conducted, have an adverse impact upon our financial condition and business and require substantial attention by senior management. In addition, our business is subject to periodic examination by various regulatory authorities, and we cannot predict the outcome of any such examinations.

We are exposed to risks and costs associated with protecting the integrity and security of our clients’, employees’ and others’ personal data and other sensitive information.

As part of our business, we manage, utilize and store sensitive or confidential client or employee data, including personal data. As a result, we are subject to various risks and costs associated with the collection, handling, storage and transmission of sensitive information, including those related to compliance with increasingly stringent U.S. and foreign data collection and privacy laws and other contractual obligations, as well as those associated with the compromise of our information systems collecting such information. For example, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which became effective in May 2018 and replaced the current data protection laws of each EU member state, requires companies to meet new and more stringent requirements regarding the handling of personal data.  Any failure to comply with these regulations could expose us to liability and/or reputational damage.

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If any person, including any of our employees, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to client or employee data, or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates that data, we could be subject to significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or criminal prosecution. In addition, unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client or employee data, whether through cyber-attacks, systems failure, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients and their related revenue in the future.

Our business is subject to various cybersecurity and other operational risks.

We face various cybersecurity and other operational risks related to our business on a day‑to‑day basis. We rely heavily on financial, accounting, communication and other information technology systems, including, without limitation, cloud based storage systems, and the people who operate them. These systems, including the systems of third parties on whom we rely, may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of tampering or a breach of our network security systems or otherwise.

Our clients typically provide us with sensitive and confidential information. We are dependent on information technology networks and systems to securely process, transmit and store such information and to communicate among our locations around the world and with our clients, alliance partners and vendors. We may be subject to attempted security breaches and cyber‑attacks and a successful breach could lead to shutdowns or disruptions of our systems or third‑party systems on which we rely and potential unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential information. Breaches of our or third‑party network security systems on which we rely could involve attacks that are intended to obtain unauthorized access to our proprietary information, destroy data or disable, degrade or sabotage our systems, often through the introduction of computer viruses, cyber‑attacks and other means and could originate from a wide variety of sources, including foreign governments or other unknown third parties. If our or third‑party systems on which we rely are compromised, do not operate properly or are disabled, we could suffer a disruption of our business, financial losses, liability to clients, regulatory sanctions and damage to our reputation. Phishing attacks and email spoofing attacks are often used to obtain information to impersonate employees or clients in order to, among other things, direct fraudulent bank transfers or obtain valuable information. Fraudulent transfers resulting from phishing attacks or email spoofing of our employees could result in a material loss of assets, reputational harm or legal liability and in turn materially adversely affect our business. In addition, our investment banking professionals and other employees are responsible for following proper measures to maintain the confidentiality of information we hold. If an employee’s failure to do so results in the improper release of confidential information, or our systems are otherwise compromised or do not operate properly, we could suffer a disruption of our business, financial losses, liability to clients, regulatory sanctions and reputational harm and in turn materially adversely affect our business.

We operate a business that is highly dependent on information systems and technology. Any failure to keep accurate books and records can render us liable to disciplinary action by governmental and self‑regulatory authorities, as well as to claims by our clients. We rely on third‑party service providers for certain aspects of our business. Any interruption or deterioration in the performance of these third parties or failures of their information systems and technology could impair our operations, affect our reputation and adversely affect our business.

In addition, a disaster or other business continuity problem, such as a pandemic, other man‑made or natural disaster or disruption involving electronic communications or other services used by us or third parties with whom we conduct business, could lead us to experience operational challenges, and if we were unable to timely and successfully recover that could materially disrupt our business and cause material financial loss, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

The cost of compliance with international broker‑dealer, employment, labor, benefits and tax regulations may adversely affect our business and hamper our ability to expand internationally.

Since we operate our business both in the U.S. and internationally, we are subject to many distinct broker‑dealer, employment, labor, benefits and tax laws in each country in which we operate, including regulations affecting our employment practices and our relations with our employees and service providers. If we are required to comply with new regulations or new interpretations of existing regulations, or if we are unable to comply with these regulations or interpretations, our business could be adversely affected or the cost of compliance may make it difficult to expand into new international markets. Additionally, our competitiveness in international markets may be adversely affected by regulations requiring, among other things, the awarding of contracts to local contractors, the employment of local citizens and/or the purchase of services from local businesses or favoring or requiring local ownership.

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Our international operations are subject to certain risks, which may affect our revenue.

In 2020, we earned approximately 16% of our revenues from our international operations. We intend to grow our non‑U.S. business, and this growth is important to our overall success. In addition, many of our larger clients are non‑U.S. entities seeking to enter into transactions involving U.S. businesses. Our international operations carry special financial and business risks, which could include the following:

If our international business increases relative to our total business, these factors could have a more pronounced effect on our operating results.

The U.K. exit from the European Union could adversely affect our business.

The U.K. exited the European Union (“EU”) on January 31, 2020 with a transitional period ending on December 31, 2020. Whilst the initial terms of the U.K.’s ongoing relationship with the EU are now in place, the impact of this relationship is difficult to predict. Such uncertainty may continue for a significant period of time and may have an adverse impact on M&A transactions in Europe and our business therefrom and will increase our legal, compliance and operational costs in Europe.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash in the future to service any future indebtedness.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance any future debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance. We cannot provide assurance that we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal of, and interest on, any future indebtedness, including lease liabilities. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund any future debt service obligations or contractual obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance such indebtedness.

Risks Related to Growing Our Business

We may enter into new lines of business which may result in additional risks and uncertainties in our business.

We currently generate substantially all of our revenue from advisory transactions. However, we may grow our business by entering into new lines of business. To the extent we enter into new lines of business, we will face numerous risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with actual or perceived conflicts of interest because we would no longer be limited to the advisory business, the possibility that we have insufficient expertise to engage in such activities profitably or without incurring inappropriate amounts of risk, the required investment of capital and other resources and the loss of clients due to the perception that we are no longer focusing on our core business.

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Entry into certain lines of business may subject us to new laws and regulations with which we are not familiar, or from which we are currently exempt, and may lead to increased litigation and regulatory risk. In addition, certain aspects of our cost structure, such as costs for compensation, occupancy and equipment rentals, communication and information technology services, and depreciation and amortization will be largely fixed, and we may not be able to timely adjust these costs to match fluctuations in revenue related to our entering into new lines of business. If a new business generates insufficient revenues or if we are unable to efficiently manage our expanded operations, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our joint venture, strategic investments and acquisitions may result in additional risks and uncertainties in our business.

In addition to recruiting and internal expansion, we may grow our core business through joint ventures, strategic investments or acquisitions.

In the case of joint ventures and strategic investments, such as Moelis Australia, we are subject to additional risks and uncertainties relating to governance and controls, in that we may be dependent upon personnel, controls and systems, including management of the business by third parties, and subject to, liability, losses or reputational damage relating to such personnel, controls and systems and the management decisions of third parties that are not under our control. Moelis Australia is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the value of the shares held by us at any given time are subject to fluctuation as a result of their performance and prevailing market and business conditions. These fluctuations in value may be material.

In the event we make further strategic investments or acquisitions, we would face numerous risks and would be presented with financial, managerial and operational challenges, including the difficulty of integrating personnel, financial, accounting, technology and other systems and management controls.

Our growth strategy may involve opening or acquiring new offices and expanding internationally and would involve hiring new Managing Directors and other senior professionals for these offices, which would require substantial investment by us and could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

Our ability to grow our advisory business organically depends in part on our ability to open or acquire new offices, expand internationally and hire new Managing Directors and other senior professionals for these offices. We may not be successful in any efforts to open new offices, expand internationally or hire new Managing Directors and other senior professionals for these offices. The costs of opening a new office, expanding internationally and hiring the necessary personnel to staff the office are substantial. If we are not successful in these efforts, we may not be able to recover our investments or our substantial cost outlays, and new international operations may not achieve profitability.

Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure

Moelis & Company’s only assets are its partnership interests in Group LP, its equity interest in the sole general partner of Group LP, Moelis & Company Group GP LLC, and its interests in its subsidiaries, and Moelis & Company is accordingly dependent upon distributions from Group LP to pay dividends, taxes and other expenses.

Moelis & Company is a holding company, and its only assets are its partnership interests in Group LP, its equity interest in the sole general partner of Group LP, Moelis & Company Group GP LLC, and its interests in its subsidiaries. Moelis & Company has no independent means of generating revenue. Moelis & Company intends to cause Group LP to make distributions to its partners in an amount sufficient to cover all applicable taxes payable, other expenses and dividends, if any, declared by us.

Group LP is generally prohibited under Delaware law from making a distribution to a partner to the extent that, at the time of the distribution, after giving effect to the distribution, liabilities of Group LP (with certain exceptions) exceed the fair value of its assets. Furthermore, certain subsidiaries of Group LP may be subject to similar legal limitations on their ability to make distributions to Group LP. Moreover, our regulated subsidiaries may be subject to regulatory capital requirements that limit the distributions that may be made by those subsidiaries.

Deterioration in the financial condition, earnings or cash flow of Group LP and its subsidiaries for any reason could limit or impair their ability to pay such distributions. Additionally, to the extent that Moelis & Company requires funds and Group LP is restricted from making such distributions under applicable law or regulation or under the terms of financing arrangements, or is otherwise unable to provide such funds, our liquidity and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

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A change in relevant income tax laws, regulations, or treaties, or an adverse interpretation of these items by tax authorities, could result in an audit adjustment or revaluation of our deferred tax assets that may cause our effective tax rate and tax liability to be higher than what is currently presented in the consolidated statements of financial condition.

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated statements of financial condition, we are required to estimate income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. Significant management judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any valuation allowance recorded against our deferred tax assets. This process requires us to estimate our actual current tax liability and to assess temporary differences resulting from differing book versus tax treatment. Our effective tax rate and tax liability is based on the application of current income tax laws, regulations, and treaties. These laws, regulations, and treaties are complex, and the manner in which they apply to our facts and circumstance is sometimes open to interpretation. We believe our application of current laws, regulations, and treaties to be correct and sustainable upon examination by the tax authorities. However, the tax authorities could challenge our interpretation resulting in additional tax liability or adjustment to our income tax provision that could increase our effective tax rate. In addition, tax laws, regulations, or treaties enacted in the future may cause us to revalue our net deferred tax assets and have a material change to our effective tax rate.

We will be required to pay our Managing Directors for certain tax benefits we may claim as a result of the tax basis step‑up we receive in connection with follow-on offerings and related transactions. In certain circumstances, payments under the tax receivable agreement may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual tax benefits we realize.

Group LP Class A partnership units may be exchanged for shares of Class A common stock. On the date of our initial public offering in April 2014, we were treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as having directly purchased Class A partnership units in Group LP from the then existing unitholders which resulted in an increase in the tax basis of the assets of Group LP that otherwise would not have been available. The exchange and purchases of Class A partnership units in Group LP in connection with the initial public offering and additional follow-on offerings, may also result in increases in the tax basis of the assets of Group LP that otherwise would not have been available. Such increases in tax basis are likely to increase (for tax purposes) depreciation and amortization deductions and therefore reduce the amount of income tax we would otherwise be required to pay in the future. These increases in tax basis may also decrease gain (or increase loss) on future dispositions of certain capital assets to the extent the increased tax basis is allocated to those capital assets. The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) may challenge all or part of these tax basis increases, and a court could sustain such a challenge.

We have entered into a tax receivable agreement with our Managing Directors that provides for the payment by us to our Managing Directors of 85% of the amount of cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax or franchise tax that we actually realize as a result of (a) the increases in tax basis attributable to our Managing Directors and (b) tax benefits related to imputed interest deemed to be paid by us as a result of this tax receivable agreement. While the actual increase in tax basis, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the tax receivable agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges, the price of shares of our Class A common stock at the time of the exchange, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable, and the amount and timing of our income, we expect that, as a result of the size of the increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Group LP attributable to our interests in Group LP, during the expected term of the tax receivable agreement, the payments that we may make to our Managing Directors could be substantial.

Although we are not aware of any issue that would cause the IRS to challenge a tax basis increase, our Managing Directors generally will not reimburse us for any payments that may previously have been made under the tax receivable agreement. As a result, in certain circumstances we could make payments to the Managing Directors under the tax receivable agreement in excess of our cash tax savings. Our ability to achieve benefits from any tax basis increase, and the payments to be made under the tax receivable agreement, will depend upon a number of factors, as discussed above, including the timing and amount of our future income.

In addition, the tax receivable agreement provides that, upon a merger, asset sale or other form of business combination or certain other changes of control or if, at any time, we elect an early termination of the tax receivable agreement, our (or our successor’s) obligations with respect to exchanged or acquired Class A partnership units (whether exchanged or acquired before or after such change of control or early termination) would be based on certain assumptions, including that we would have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize the deductions arising from the increased tax deductions and tax basis and other benefits related to entering into the tax receivable agreement, and, in the case of certain early termination elections, that any Class A partnership units that have not been exchanged will be deemed exchanged for the market value of the Class A common stock at the time of termination. Consequently, it is possible, in these circumstances also, that the actual cash tax savings realized by us may be significantly less than the corresponding tax receivable agreement payments.

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Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock

Mr. Moelis has significant voting power in Moelis & Company which may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interests.

Mr. Moelis, through his control of Partner Holdings, has significant voting power in Moelis & Company. Mr. Moelis’ interests may differ from those of other stockholders. Mr. Moelis’ voting power in Moelis & Company as of December 31, 2020 is approximately 51% and as of February 23, 2021 will decrease to approximately 45%. Mr. Moelis’ voting power is primarily through his control of Partner Holdings, which currently holds all outstanding Class B common stock. The shares of Class B common stock entitle Partner Holdings to (i) for so long as the Class B Condition is satisfied, ten votes per share and (ii) after the Class B Condition ceases to be satisfied, one vote per share. In addition, Moelis & Company has entered into a stockholders agreement with Partner Holdings, pursuant to which, for so long as the Class B Condition is satisfied, Partner Holdings has certain approval rights over certain transactions. As a result, because Mr. Moelis has significant voting power in Moelis & Company and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for cumulative voting, Mr. Moelis has significant power with respect to the election of the members of our board of directors and thereby with respect to our management and affairs, including determinations with respect to acquisitions, dispositions, borrowings, issuances of Class A common stock or other securities, and the declaration and payment of dividends. Mr. Moelis has significant power with respect to the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval, including a change of control of Moelis & Company or a change in the composition of our board of directors. Mr. Moelis’ significant voting power could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their Class A common stock as part of a sale of Moelis & Company and might ultimately affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

We are transitioning from a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules of the New York Stock Exchange to no longer being a controlled company.

Mr. Moelis’ voting power in Moelis & Company as of December 31, 2020 is approximately 51% and as of February 23, 2021 will decrease to approximately 45%. As a result, we are as of December 31, 2020 a “controlled company” under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and will cease to be a controlled company as of February 23, 2021. Under the NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power in the election of directors is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that (i) a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors and (ii) that the board of directors have compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees composed entirely of independent directors. We have elected not to comply with those requirements. Accordingly, as we transition during the one year period following February 23, 2021, we do not have a majority of independent directors on our board of directors and you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements set by the NYSE. As we transition to a non-controlled company, we expect to incur additional corporate governance and other compliance costs, including increased director compensation for additional independent directors and expanded governance committees.

Failure to maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act of 2002 could have a material adverse effect on our business and share price.

As a publicly traded company, we are required to document and test our internal control procedures in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404(a) of Sarbanes‑Oxley, which requires, beginning with the filing of our second annual report with the SEC, annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able or willing to issue an unqualified report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Matters impacting our internal controls may cause us to be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions by the SEC, or violations of applicable stock exchange listing rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements is also likely to suffer if our independent registered public accounting firm reports a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This could materially adversely affect us and lead to a decline in the market price of our shares.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our Company or our sector, the price of our Class A common stock could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock depends in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrades our Company or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our Company, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

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The market price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock in spite of our operating performance. In addition, our operating results could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors, and in response, the market price of our Class A common stock could decrease significantly. You may be unable to resell your shares of our Class A common stock at or above the public offering price.

While we currently intend to pay a quarterly cash dividend to our stockholders, we may change our dividend policy at any time. There can be no assurance that we will continue to declare cash dividends.

During February, 2021, the Board of Directors of Moelis & Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share. The $0.55 per share will be paid on March 26, 2021 to Class A common stockholders of record on February 22, 2021. Although we currently intend to pay a quarterly cash dividend to our stockholders, we have no obligation to do so, and our dividend policy may change at any time. Returns on stockholders’ investments will primarily depend on the appreciation, if any, in the price of our Class A common stock. Whether we continue and the amount and timing of any dividends are subject to capital availability and periodic determinations by our Board of Directors that cash dividends are in the best interest of our stockholders and are in compliance with all respective laws and agreements of the Company applicable to the declaration and payment of cash dividends. Future dividends, including their timing and amount, may be affected by, among other factors: general economic and business conditions; our financial condition and operating results; our available cash and current anticipated cash needs; capital requirements; contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders; and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. Our dividend payments may change from time to time, and we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to declare dividends in any particular amounts or at all. The reduction in or elimination of our dividend payments could have a negative effect on our stock price.

Anti‑takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law could delay or prevent a change in control.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws may delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that a stockholder may consider favorable by permitting our board of directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock, requiring advance notice for stockholder proposals and nominations and placing limitations on convening stockholder meetings. In addition, there is no cumulative voting in the election of directors, and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that directors may be removed, with or without cause, only with the affirmative vote of at least 80% of the voting interest of stockholders entitled to vote; provided, however, that for so long as the Class B Condition is satisfied, directors may be removed, with or without cause, with the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting interest of stockholders entitled to vote. In addition, we are subject to provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law that restrict certain business combinations with interested stockholders. These provisions may also discourage acquisition proposals or delay or prevent a change in control, which could harm our stock price. See “Description of Capital Stock.”

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2.    Properties

Our principal executive offices are located in leased office space at 399 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022. We lease the space for our offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, Washington DC, and West Palm Beach. We do not own any real property. We consider these arrangements to be adequate for our present needs.

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Item 3.    Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, from time to time the Company and its affiliates are involved in judicial or regulatory proceedings, arbitration or mediation concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of its businesses, including contractual and employment matters. In addition, government agencies and self‑regulatory organizations conduct periodic examinations and initiate administrative proceedings regarding the Company’s business, including, among other matters, compliance, accounting and operational matters, that can result in censure, fine, the issuance of cease‑and‑desist orders or the suspension or expulsion of a broker‑dealer, investment advisor, or its directors, officers or employees. In view of the inherent difficulty of determining whether any loss in connection with such matters is probable and whether the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated, particularly in cases where claimants seek substantial or indeterminate damages or where investigations and proceedings are in the early stages, the Company cannot estimate the amount of such loss or range of loss, if any, related to such matters, how or if such matters will be resolved, when they will ultimately be resolved, or what the eventual settlement, fine, penalty or other relief, if any, might be. Subject to the foregoing, the Company believes, based on current knowledge and after consultation with counsel, that it is not currently party to any material pending proceedings, individually or in the aggregate, the resolution of which would have a material effect on the Company.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5.    Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Our Class A common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MC.” There is no publicly traded market for our Class B common stock, which is held by Moelis & Company Partner Holdings LP.

As of February 10, 2021, there were approximately 89 holders of record of our Class A common stock. This does not include the number of shareholders that hold shares in “street‑name” through banks or broker‑dealers.

Dividend Policy

Since the IPO in April 2014, the Company has regularly declared and paid quarterly dividends and plans to continue paying regularly quarterly dividends. During February 2021, the Board of Directors of Moelis & Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share. The $0.55 per share will be paid on March 26, 2021 to Class A common stockholders of record on February 22, 2021.

Concurrent with the payment of dividends to the holders of Class A common stock, the Company generally pays dividend equivalents, in the form of unvested restricted stock units (“RSU”). RSUs are typically granted as part of annual incentive compensation and to new hires. The dividend equivalents have the same vesting and delivery terms as the underlying RSUs.

The declaration and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors. Our board of directors will take into account: general economic and business conditions; our financial condition and operating results; our available cash and current anticipated cash needs; capital requirements; contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders; and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant.

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Stock Performance

The following performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing. Our stock price performance shown in the graph below is not indicative of future stock price performance.

The stock performance graph below compares the performance of an investment in our Class A common stock, from December 31, 2015 through December 31, 2020, with that of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P Financial Index. The graph assumes $100 was invested at the close of business on December 31, 2015. It also assumes that dividends were reinvested on the date of payment without payment of any commissions. The performance shown in the graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future performance.

Share Repurchases in the Fourth Quarter of 2020

The following table sets forth information regarding the Company’s purchases of its Class A common stock on a monthly basis during the fourth quarter of 2020. Share repurchases are recorded on a trade date basis.

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Equity Compensation Plan Information

See Item 12, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters—Equity Compensation Plan Information.”

Item 6.    Selected Financial Data

Not Applicable.

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Item 7.    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Form 10‑K. Actual results and the timing of events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in such forward‑looking statements due to a number of factors, including those set forth in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward‑Looking Statements” and elsewhere in this Form 10‑K.

Executive Overview

Moelis & Company is a leading global independent investment bank that provides innovative strategic advice and solutions to a diverse client base, including corporations, governments and financial sponsors. We assist our clients in achieving their strategic goals by offering comprehensive integrated financial advisory services across all major industry sectors. With 22 geographical locations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, we advise clients around the world on their most critical decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets and other corporate finance matters. Our ability to provide confidential, independent advisory services to our clients across sectors and regions and through all phases of the business cycle has led to long-term client relationships and a diversified revenue base.

As of December 31, 2020, we served our clients globally with 627 advisory bankers. We generate revenues primarily from providing advisory services on transactions that are subject to individually negotiated engagement letters which set forth our fees. We generally generate fees at key transaction milestones, such as closing, the timing of which is outside of our control. As a result, revenues and net income in any period may not be indicative of full year results or the results of any other period and may vary significantly from year to year and quarter to quarter. The performance of our business depends on the ability of our professionals to build relationships with clients over many years by providing trusted advice and exceptional transaction execution.

Business Environment and Outlook

Economic and global financial conditions can materially affect our operational and financial performance. See “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this Form 10‑K for a discussion of some of the factors that can affect our performance. The M&A market data for announced and completed transactions in 2020 and 2019 referenced throughout this Form 10-K was obtained from Thomson Financial as of January 5, 2021 and January 3, 2020, respectively.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, we earned revenues of $943.3 million, an increase of 26% from the $746.5 million earned during the same period in 2019. This compares favorably with a 13% decrease in the number of global completed M&A transactions greater than $100 million in the same period.

Our team of investment banking professionals continues to be very active, providing high quality advice to a growing number of clients around the globe. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the global M&A market experienced the strongest quarter of announced transactions in history. This strong activity continued into calendar year 2021, which should allow for a positive M&A environment in the near to intermediate term. As a result, our M&A activity for both financial sponsors and strategics remains elevated versus the prior year. In addition, our restructuring activity continues to be strong as companies in certain parts of the economy are continuing to experience ongoing financial issues as a result of the business disruption caused by COVID-19. The record level of corporate debt issued in 2020 should also provide a steady level of restructuring activity. Combined with our growing capital markets business, including our SPAC franchise, we believe we are well positioned to provide advice to companies across all sectors on their capital and liquidity needs.

Our talented employees have adapted to the work from home environment caused by COVID-19. We believe that while COVID-19 may continue to add uncertainty to the business environment, our Firm remains well positioned due to our thorough business continuity planning, experienced management team, and focused client coverage.

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Results of Operations

The following is a discussion of our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. For a discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018, refer to “Item 7- Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Revenues

We operate in a highly competitive environment. Each revenue‑generating engagement is separately solicited, awarded and negotiated, and there are usually no long‑term contracted sources of revenue. As a consequence, our fee‑paying client engagements are not predictable, and high levels of revenues in one period are not necessarily predictive of continued high levels of revenues in future periods. To develop new business, our professionals maintain an active dialogue with a large number of existing and potential clients. We add new clients each year as our bankers continue to expand their relationships, as we hire senior bankers who bring their client relationships and as we receive introductions from our relationship network of senior executives, board members, attorneys and other third parties. We also lose clients each year as a result of the sale or merger of clients, changes in clients’ senior management, competition from other financial services firms and other causes.

We earn substantially all of our revenues from advisory engagements, and, in many cases, we are not paid until the completion of an underlying transaction. The vast majority of our advisory revenues are recognized over time, although the recognition of our transaction fees are constrained until the engagement is substantially complete.

Complications that may terminate or delay a transaction include failure to agree upon final terms with the counterparty, failure to obtain required regulatory consents, failure to obtain board or stockholder approvals, failure to secure financing, adverse market conditions or unexpected operating or financial problems related to either party to the transaction. In these circumstances, we often do not receive advisory fees that would have been received if the transaction had been completed, despite the fact that we may have devoted considerable time and resources to the transaction. Barriers to the completion of a restructuring transaction may include a lack of anticipated bidders for the assets of our client or the inability of our client to restructure its operations or indebtedness due to a failure to reach agreement with its creditors. In these circumstances, our fees are generally limited to monthly retainer fees and reimbursement of certain out‑of‑pocket expenses.

We do not allocate our revenue by the type of advice we provide because of the complexity of the transactions on which we may earn revenue and our holistic approach to client service. For example, a restructuring engagement may evolve to require a sale of all or a portion of the client, M&A assignments can develop from relationships established on prior restructuring engagements, and capital markets expertise can be instrumental on both M&A and restructuring assignments.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

Revenues were $943.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared with $746.5 million for the same period in 2019, representing an increase of 26%. The increase in revenues was primarily driven by greater transaction completions and greater average fees per transaction as compared to the prior year period.

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The number of fee-paying clients increased year‑over‑year from 265 clients in 2019 to 316 clients in 2020, and the number of clients who paid fees equal to or greater than $1 million increased from 150 clients in 2019 to 205 clients in 2020.

Operating Expenses

The following table sets forth information relating to our operating expenses:

Our operating expenses are classified as compensation and benefits expenses and non‑compensation expenses, and headcount is the primary driver of the level of our expenses. Compensation and benefits expenses account for the majority of our operating expenses. Non‑compensation expenses, which include the costs of professional fees, travel and related expenses, communication, technology and information services, occupancy, depreciation and other expenses, generally have been less significant in comparison with compensation and benefits expenses.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

Operating expenses were $677.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and represented 72% of revenues, compared with $632.0 million for the same period in 2019 which represented 85% of revenues. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by higher compensation and benefits expenses associated with greater revenues, partially offset by lower non-compensation expense primarily driven by less travel and related expenses.

Compensation and Benefits Expenses

Our compensation and benefits expenses are determined by management based on revenues earned, the competitiveness of the prevailing labor market and anticipated compensation requirements for our employees, the level of recruitment of new Managing Directors, the amount of compensation expenses amortized for equity awards and other relevant factors. As a result, our compensation expenses may fluctuate materially in any particular period. Accordingly, the amount of compensation expenses recognized in any particular period may not be consistent with prior periods or indicative of future periods.

Our compensation expenses consist of base salary and benefits, annual incentive compensation payable as cash bonus awards, including certain amounts subject to clawback and contingent upon a required period of service (“contingent cash awards”) and amortization of equity‑based compensation awards. Base salary and benefits are paid ratably throughout the year. Equity awards are amortized into compensation expenses on a graded basis (based upon the fair value of the award at the time of grant) during the service period over which the award vests, which is typically four or five years. The awards are recorded within equity as they are expensed. Contingent cash awards are amortized into compensation expenses over the required service period. Cash bonuses, which are accrued throughout the year, are discretionary and dependent upon a number of factors including the performance of the Company and are generally paid during the first two months of the year with respect to prior year performance. The equity component of the annual incentive award is determined with reference to the Company’s estimate of grant date fair value, which in turn determines the number of equity awards granted subject to a vesting schedule.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

For the year ended December 31, 2020, compensation‑related expenses of $560.8 million represented 59% of revenues, compared with $488.4 million which represented 65% of revenues in the prior year. The increase in compensation expenses was primarily related to higher discretionary bonus expense associated with greater revenues and increased headcount as compared with the prior year period.

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Non‑Compensation Expenses

Our non-compensation expenses include the costs of occupancy, professional fees, communication, technology and information services, travel and related expenses, depreciation and other expenses.

Historically (prior to COVID-19), our non-compensation expenses associated with business development have increased as we have increased headcount and the related non-compensation support costs which results from growing our business. This trend may continue as we expand into new sectors, geographies and products to serve our clients’ growing needs.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

Non‑compensation expenses were $116.8 million in the year ended December 31, 2020, representing 12% of revenues, compared with $143.6 million, or 19% in the prior year. The decrease in non-compensation expenses was primarily related to decreased travel and other business development expenses related to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, in addition to our continued and focused expense discipline.

Other Income and Expenses

Other income and expenses consists of earnings from equity method investments, gains and losses on investments, interest income and expense, and other infrequent gains or losses.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

Other income and expenses were income of $4.4 million and income of $33.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The income of $4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 is primarily related to the enforcement of noncompete provisions, adjustments to the amounts due pursuant to the Company's Tax Receivable Agreement, and income from the Company’s joint venture in Moelis Australia. The prior year period includes gains of $12.6 and $8.1 million related to the sale of 12.5 million and 8.0 million shares of Moelis Australia common stock, respectively, as well as income from the Company’s joint venture in Moelis Australia.

Provision for Income Taxes

The Company’s operations are comprised of entities that are organized as limited liability companies and limited partnerships. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, taxes related to income earned by these entities represent obligations of their interest holders, except for certain foreign, state and local income taxes. The Company is subject to U.S. corporate, federal, state, and local income tax on its allocable share of results of operations from Group LP.

Years Ended December 31, 2020 versus 2019

The Company’s provision for income taxes and effective tax rates were $51.7 million and 19% and $11.8 million and 8% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The income tax provision for the aforementioned periods primarily reflect the Company’s allocable share of earnings from Group LP at the prevailing U.S. federal, state, and local corporate income tax rate, and the impact of the excess tax benefit recognized in connection with equity-based compensation delivered at a price above the grant date price.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our current assets have historically been comprised of cash, short term liquid investments and receivables related to fees earned from providing advisory services. Our current liabilities are primarily comprised of accrued expenses, including accrued employee compensation. We pay a significant portion of incentive compensation during the first two months of each calendar year with respect to the prior year’s results. We also distribute estimated partner tax payments primarily in the first quarter of each year with respect to the prior year’s operating results. Therefore, levels of cash generally decline during the first quarter of each year after incentive compensation has been paid to our employees and estimated tax payments have been distributed to partners. Cash before dividends and share buybacks then typically builds over the remainder of the year.

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We evaluate our cash needs on a regular basis in light of current market conditions. Cash and cash equivalents include all short‑term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and have original maturities of three months or less from the date of purchase. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Company had cash equivalents of $119.0 million and $96.0 million, respectively, invested in U.S. Treasury instruments and money market securities. Additionally, as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Company had cash of $83.5 million and $71.8 million, respectively, maintained in U.S. and non‑U.S. bank accounts, of which most bank account balances exceeded the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and U.K. Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”) coverage limits.

In addition to cash and cash equivalents, we hold various types of government debt securities that are classified as investments on our consolidated statements of financial condition as they have original maturities of three months or more from the date of purchase. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company held $172.7 million and $174.0 million of U.S. treasury instruments classified as investments, respectively.

Our liquidity is highly dependent upon cash receipts from clients which generally requires the successful completion of transactions. The timing of receivable collections typically occurs within 60 days of billing. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019 accounts receivable were $89.3 million and $45.1 million, respectively, net of allowances of $3.8 million and $4.1 million, respectively.

To provide for additional working capital and other general corporate purposes, we maintain a $65.0 million revolving credit facility. In April 2020, the Company renewed its $65.0 million revolving credit facility which extended the maturity date to June 30, 2021. Unless the lender issues a notice of termination at least 60 days prior to such maturity date, this facility will automatically extend to June 30, 2022. Advances on the facility bear interest at the greater of a fixed rate of 3.50% per annum or at the Company’s option of (i) LIBOR plus 1% or (ii) Prime minus 1.50%. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had no borrowings under the credit facility.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company’s available credit under this facility was $60.5 million as a result of the issuance of an aggregate amount of $4.5 million of various standby letters of credit, which were required in connection with certain office leases and other agreements. The Company incurs a 1% per annum fee on the outstanding balances of issued letters of credit.

During February, 2021, the Board of Directors of Moelis & Company declared a dividend of $0.55 per share to be paid on March 26, 2021 to Class A common stockholders of record on February 22, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company paid aggregate dividends of $4.1525 per share which included special dividends of $2.75 per share and regular quarterly dividends of $1.4025 per share.

In February 2019, the Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of shares of Class A common stock and/or Class A partnership units of Group LP with no expiration date. This new authorization replaced the former repurchase program and the remaining authorization under the program was eliminated. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company repurchased 1,201,525 and 1,331,443 shares, respectively, pursuant to the Company’s share repurchase program and shares repurchased from its employees for the purpose of settling tax liabilities incurred upon delivery of equity-based compensation awards. The remaining balance of shares authorized for repurchase under the program was $75.2 million as of December 31, 2020.

Regulatory Capital

We actively monitor our regulatory capital base. Our principal subsidiaries are subject to regulatory requirements in their respective jurisdictions to ensure general financial soundness and liquidity. This requires, among other things, that we comply with certain minimum capital requirements, record‑keeping, reporting procedures, experience and training requirements for employees and certain other requirements and procedures. These regulatory requirements may restrict the flow of funds to and from affiliates. See Note 11 of the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2020 for further information. These regulations differ in the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and other countries in which we operate a registered broker‑dealer. The license under which we operate in each such country is meant to be appropriate to conduct an advisory business. We believe that we provide each of our subsidiaries with sufficient capital and liquidity, consistent with their business and regulatory requirements.

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Tax Receivable Agreement

In connection with the IPO in April 2014, we entered into a tax receivable agreement with our eligible Managing Directors that provides for the payment to eligible Managing Directors of 85% of the amount of cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax or franchise tax that we realize as a result of (a) the increases in tax basis attributable to exchanges by our eligible Managing Directors and (b) tax benefits related to imputed interest deemed to be paid by us as a result of this tax receivable agreement. The Company expects to benefit from the remaining 15% of income tax cash savings, if any, that we realize.

For purposes of the tax receivable agreement, income tax cash savings will be computed by comparing our actual income tax liability to the amount of such taxes that we would have been required to pay had there been no increase to the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Group LP as a result of the exchanges and had we not entered into the tax receivable agreement. The term of the tax receivable agreement commenced upon consummation of the IPO and will continue until all such tax benefits have been utilized or expired, unless we exercise our right to terminate the tax receivable agreement for an amount based on an agreed value of payments remaining to be made under the agreement.

Payments made under the tax receivable agreement are required to be made within 225 days of the filing of our tax returns. Because we generally expect to receive the tax savings prior to making the cash payments to the eligible selling holders of Group LP partnership units, we do not expect the cash payments to have a material impact on our liquidity.

In addition, the tax receivable agreement provides that, upon a merger, asset sale, or other form of business combination or certain other changes of control or if, at any time, we elect an early termination of the tax receivable agreement, our (or our successor’s) obligations with respect to exchanged or acquired units (whether exchanged or acquired before or after such change of control or early termination) will be based on certain assumptions, including that we would have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize the deductions arising from the increased tax deductions and tax basis and other benefits related to entering into the tax receivable agreement, and, in the case of an early termination election, that any units that have not been exchanged are deemed exchanged for the market value of the Class A common stock at the time of termination. Consequently, it is possible, in these circumstances, that the actual cash tax savings realized by us may be significantly less than the corresponding tax receivable agreement payments.

Cash Flows

Our operating cash flows are primarily influenced by the amount and timing of receipt of advisory fees, which are generally collected within 60 days of billing, and the payment of operating expenses, including payments of incentive compensation to our employees. We pay a significant portion of incentive compensation during the first two months of each calendar year with respect to the prior year’s results. Our investing and financing cash flows are primarily influenced by activities to fund investments and payments of dividends and estimated partner taxes. A summary of our operating, investing and financing cash flows is as follows:

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Year Ended December 31, 2020

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $203.3 million at December 31, 2020, an increase of $34.7 million from $168.6 million at December 31, 2019. Operating activities resulted in a net inflow of $429.2 million primarily attributable to cash collected from clients, net of cash operating expense outflows, including discretionary bonuses paid during the period. Investing activities resulted in a net outflow of $40.0 million primarily attributable to cash outflows for construction in progress. Financing activities resulted in a net outflow of $351.8 million primarily related to the payment of dividends and tax distributions and treasury stock purchases.

Year Ended December 31, 2019

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $168.6 million at December 31, 2019, a decrease of $93.2 million from $261.8 million at December 31, 2018. Operating activities resulted in a net inflow of $209.3 million primarily attributable to cash collected from clients, net of cash operating expense outflows, including discretionary bonuses paid during the period. Investing activities resulted in a net outflow of $51.9 million primarily attributable to net purchases of investments with a partially offsetting inflow related to Moelis Australia share sales. Financing activities resulted in a net outflow of $252.7 million primarily related to the payment of dividends and tax distributions, and treasury stock purchases.

Contractual Obligations

As of December 31, 2020, the Company has a total payable of $307.6 million due pursuant to the tax receivable agreement in the consolidated financial statements and of this amount an estimated $2.8 million will be due in less than one year. These amounts represent management’s best estimate of the amounts currently expected to be owed under the tax receivable agreement. Payments made under the tax receivable agreement are required to be made within 225 days of the filing of our tax returns. We generally expect to receive the tax savings prior to making the cash payments to the eligible selling holders of Group LP partnership units, we do not expect the cash payments to have a material impact on our liquidity. During 2020, we made payments of $36.5 million pursuant to the tax receivable agreement.

Additionally, the Company has contractual obligations related to its leases for corporate office space and an aircraft. Please see Note 12 to the consolidated financial statements for details regarding when these obligations are due.

Market Risk and Credit Risk

Our business is not capital‑intensive and we do not invest in derivative instruments or, generally, borrow through issuing debt. As a result, we are not subject to significant market risk (including interest rate risk, foreign currency exchange rate risk and commodity price risk) or credit risk.

Risks Related to Cash and Short‑Term Investments

Our cash and cash equivalents include all short‑term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and have original maturities of three months or less from the date of purchase. We invest most of our cash in highly-rated municipal bonds, U.S. government agency debt securities and U.S. treasury instruments. Cash is maintained in U.S. and non‑U.S. bank accounts. Most U.S. and U.K. account balances exceed the FDIC and FSCS coverage limits. In addition to cash and cash equivalents, we hold various types of U.S. treasury instruments that are classified as investments on our consolidated statement of financial condition as they have original maturities of three months or more (but less than twelve months) from the date of purchase. We believe our cash and short‑term investments are not subject to any material interest rate risk, equity price risk, credit risk or other market risk.

Credit Risk

We regularly review our accounts receivable and allowance for credit losses by considering factors such as historical experience, credit quality, age of the accounts receivable, and the current economic conditions that may affect a customer’s ability to pay such amounts owed to the Company. We maintain an allowance for credit losses that, in our opinion, provides for an adequate reserve to cover losses that may be incurred. See “—Critical Accounting Policies—Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses.”

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Exchange Rate Risk

The Company is exposed to the risk that the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies may have an adverse effect on the reported value of the Company’s non‑U.S. dollar denominated assets and liabilities. Non‑functional currency‑related transaction gains and losses are recorded in the consolidated statements of operations. In addition, the reported amounts of our revenues may be affected by movements in the rate of exchange between the pound sterling, euro, Brazilian real, Hong Kong dollar, rupee and the U.S. dollar, in which our financial statements are denominated. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the net impact of the fluctuation of foreign currencies in other comprehensive income (loss) in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income was a loss of $2.0 million, and a gain of $1.5 million, respectively. We have not entered into any transactions to hedge our exposure to these foreign currency fluctuations through the use of derivative instruments or other methods.

Critical Accounting Policies

We believe that the critical accounting policies included below represent those that are most important to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations and require management’s most difficult, subjective and complex judgment.

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Estimates and assumptions are reviewed periodically, and the effects of revisions are reflected in the period for which they are determined to be necessary.

All intercompany balances and transactions within the Company have been eliminated.

Revenue and Expense Recognition

We earn substantially all of our revenues from advisory engagements, and, in many cases, we are not paid until the completion of an underlying transaction. The Company recognizes revenues from providing advisory services when or as our obligations are fulfilled and collection is reasonably assured. The vast majority of our advisory revenues, which include reimbursements for certain out-of-pocket expenses, are recognized over time; however, a small number of transactions may be recognized at a point in time. We provide our advisory service on an ongoing basis which, for example, may include evaluating and selecting one of multiple strategies. During such engagements, our clients are continuously benefitting from our counsel and the over time recognition matches the transfer of such benefits. However, the recognition of transaction fees is constrained until substantially all services have been provided, specified conditions have been met and it is probable that a significant reversal of revenue will not occur in a future period. Upfront fees and retainers specified in our engagement letters that meet the over time criteria will be recognized on a systematic basis over the estimated period where the related services are performed. Revenues may be recognized at a point in time if the engagement represents a singular objective that does not transfer any notable value until formally completed, such as when issuing a fairness opinion. In these instances, the point in time recognition appropriately matches the transfer and consumption of our services.

Incremental costs of obtaining a contract are expensed as incurred since such costs are generally not recoverable and the typical duration of our advisory contracts is less than one year. Costs to fulfill contracts consist of out-of-pocket expenses that are part of performing our advisory services and are typically expensed as incurred, except where the transfer and consumption of our services occurs at a point in time. For engagements recognized at a point in time, out-of-pocket expenses are capitalized and subsequently expensed in the consolidated statement of operations upon completion of the engagement. The Company records deferred revenues when it receives fees from clients that have not yet been earned (e.g. an upfront fee) or when the Company has an unconditional right to consideration before all performance obligations are complete (e.g. upon satisfying conditions to earn an announcement fee, but before the transaction is consummated).

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses

The accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition present accounts receivable balances net of allowance for credit losses based on the Company’s assessment of the collectability of customer accounts.

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The Company maintains an allowance for credit losses that, in management’s opinion, provides for an adequate reserve to cover losses that may be incurred. For purposes of determining appropriate allowances, the Company stratifies its population of accounts receivable into two categories, one for short-term receivables and a second for private funds advisory receivables. Each population is separately evaluated using an aging method that results in a percentage reserve based on the age of the receivable, in addition to considerations of historical charge-offs and current economic conditions.

After concluding that a reserved accounts receivable is no longer collectible, the Company will charge-off the receivable. This has the effect of reducing both the gross receivable and the allowance for credit losses. If a reserved accounts receivable is subsequently collected, such recoveries reduce the gross receivable and the allowance for credit losses and is a reduction of bad debt expense, which is recorded within other expenses on the consolidated statement of operations. The combination of recoveries and the provision for credit losses of a reported period comprise the Company’s bad debt expense.

Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, “Accounting for Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”), which requires the recognition of tax benefits or expenses on temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of its assets and liabilities by applying the enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. Such net tax effects on temporary differences are reflected on the Company’s consolidated statements of financial condition as deferred tax assets. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when the Company believes that it is more‑likely‑than‑not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

ASC 740 prescribes a two‑step approach for the recognition and measurement of tax benefits associated with the positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return that affect amounts reported in the financial statements. The Company has reviewed and will continue to review the conclusions reached regarding uncertain tax positions, which may be subject to review and adjustment at a later date based on ongoing analyses of tax laws, regulations and interpretations thereof. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, no unrecognized tax benefit was recorded. To the extent that the Company’s assessment of the conclusions reached regarding uncertain tax positions changes as a result of the evaluation of new information, such change in estimate will be recorded in the period in which such determination is made. The Company reports income tax‑related interest and penalties relating to uncertain tax positions, if applicable, as a component of income tax expense. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, no such amounts were recorded.

Leases

The Company maintains operating leases for corporate offices and an aircraft. The Company determines if a contract contains a lease at inception. Operating leases are recorded as right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and lease liabilities on the consolidated statements of financial condition. ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Operating lease liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date and are measured at the present value of anticipated lease payments over the lease term. The operating lease ROU assets are equal to the lease liabilities, adjusted for certain lease incentives, accrued rents, and prepaid rents. Typically, our borrowing rate is used to determine the present value of lease payments because the implicit rate is not readily determinable. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease. These options are factored into our present value calculations when it is reasonably certain that such options will be exercised. Operating lease expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Recent Accounting Developments

For a discussion of recently issued accounting developments and their impact or potential impact on our consolidated financial statements, see Note 3—Recent Accounting Pronouncements, of the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10‑K.

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Item 7A.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Quantitative and Qualitative disclosures about market risk are set forth above in “Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Market Risk and Credit Risk.”

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Item 8.    Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

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MANAGEMENT’S REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Management of Moelis & Company and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision of the Company’s principal executive and principal financial officers to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the Company’s financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

Management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013). Based on management’s assessment and those criteria, management believes that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm has issued its written attestation report on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, as included below.  

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

Moelis & Company

New York, New York

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Moelis & Company and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes and schedule, of the Company, and our report dated February 24, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.  

Basis for Opinion  

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

New York, New York

February 24, 2021

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

Moelis & Company

New York, New York

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition of Moelis & Company and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes and schedule (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on the criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 24, 2021, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Revenue — Refer to Note 2 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company recognizes revenues from transaction fees as obligations are fulfilled and collection is reasonably assured. However, the recognition of transaction fees is constrained until substantially all services have been provided, specified conditions have been met and it is probable that a revenue reversal will not occur in a future period.  In certain instances, transaction fees may meet the criteria for recognition during a given reporting period although the transaction closed subsequent to the reporting period.  The accounting for these instances involves significant management

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judgment, particularly as it relates to assessing whether or not (1) all conditions to recognize revenue have been met prior to the transaction actually closing and (2) it is probable a significant revenue reversal will not occur in a future period.

Given the judgments necessary to assess whether or not (1) all conditions to recognize revenue have been met prior to the transaction actually closing and (2) it is probable a significant revenue reversal will not occur in a future period, auditing such estimates involved especially subjective judgment.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to assessing the period in which transaction fees were recognized for certain transactions which closed subsequent to a reporting period included the following, among others:

/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

New York, New York

February 24, 2021

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2008.

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Moelis & Company

Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition

(dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

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Moelis & Company

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

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Moelis & Company

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

(dollars in thousands)

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

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Moelis & Company

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(dollars in thousands)

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

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Moelis & Company

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity

(dollars in thousands, except share amounts)