Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our 2023 Annual General Meeting. My name is Warwick Negus, Chair of the Board of Directors of Dexus Funds Management Limited. On behalf of the Dexus board, I'd like to welcome you to our AGM. It's great to see some of you in person again, and to welcome you to our new Sydney office, Quay Quarter Tower. It's a fantastic asset in which the Dexus Wholesale Property Fund has an ownership stake, and where we are also responsible for managing the property. Before I start the meeting, can I ask the audience in the room to ensure your mobile phones are switched off or silenced? In the event of an emergency, the fire exits are located in the lift lobby, corridors, either side of the atrium kitchen, and the restrooms are also located by the lift lobby corridor.
I'll table my appointment as chair of today's meeting, and open the meeting. We appreciate that not all security holders can attend in person, and have provided the opportunity for everyone to participate in the meeting through our hybrid meeting format. Our online platform provides a live video feed so that security holders dialing in can view the meeting in real time, as well as vote while the meeting is underway, and submit questions. A conference call facility is also available, through which security holders can ask questions directly to the meeting. For security holders online, if you are yet to access your voting card to vote on the resolutions for the meeting, you should click the Get a Voting Card button at the top of your screen to register first, which will then enable you to submit your vote at any time during the meeting.
If you are a security holder, you will need your security holder number and postcode to register your vote. If you're a proxy holder, please enter the proxy number issued to you by Link Market Services in the Proxy Details section, and then click the Submit Details and Vote button. Online voting will close five minutes after the close of the meeting, and the results will be released to the ASX later today. If you have any questions to put to the meeting and you are not in the conference call telephone line, we suggest that you submit your questions as early as you can, specifying whether the question relates to general business or a specific resolution, and these will be addressed at the appropriate time during the meeting.
For our security holders joining us today in the room, please raise your admission card during the question time to indicate that you have a question. We'll take questions from the floor, then ask for questions on the conference call telephone line, followed by questions submitted via the online platform. We'll endeavor to answer all questions during the AGM, and for any questions that we do not have time to address, we'll ensure that we get back to those investors separately. On behalf of the board, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are presenting from today, and I pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and I would like to extend that respect to and welcome any First Nations people who are joining our meeting today.
Today, I'm joined by our independent directors, Penny Bingham-Hall, who chairs our Remuneration Committee; Paula Dwyer, who chairs our Risk Committee; Mark Ford, who chairs our Audit Committee. I have Rhoda Phillippo, who will be joining us via video. You will see her live on the screen at the front. She's actually joining us from her honeymoon, so we've allowed her not to be present physically in the room. Nicola Roxon, who chairs our ESG Committee, Elana Rubin-
Dexus's Chief Executive and Managing Director, Darren Steinberg. I would also like to welcome our company secretaries and representatives from the Group Management Committee, along with a representative from our auditors at PwC and lawyers at King & Wood Mallesons. I would also like to welcome Richard Sheppard, our past Chairman, and Stewart Ewen, our past Non-Executive Director as well. Before we start the meeting, I would like to acknowledge Patrick Allaway, who retired from the board in March this year. Patrick went to become the chief executive of a bank, and needed the time to allocate to that, to that activity, and I thank him for his contribution to this board. He was a member of the Audit Committee, the Risk Committee, and the Board Nomination Committee.
I will now commence the meeting with my address, which will provide you with an overview of our positioning and key aspects of our 2023 result. I'll then hand over to Darren, who will discuss our most recent achievements. We will then turn to the formal aspects relating to the resolutions, which were outlined in the notice of meeting and explanatory memorandum sent out in mid-September. Accordingly, I formally call for a poll on all resolutions to be put to the meeting, and I declare the polls open so that you can now start to lodge your votes. Our vision is to be globally recognized as Australia's leading real asset investment manager. Our strategy is delivered through two objectives. One is resilient income streams that are delivered through investing in high-quality assets on our balance sheet.
The other is being an investment manager of choice through our funds management business, which we continue to grow and to diversify.... This strategy enhances our ability to operate successfully through economic cycles. We have built a scalable and efficient business across a full service model, with expertise in transactions, product creation, sourcing capital, asset management, and development. All of this is underpinned by our commitment to ESG and prudent capital management. Following the AMP Capital transaction this year, we took the opportunity to review our company purpose and values. Our new purpose, Unlock potential, create tomorrow, captures our unique capability to expand what is possible and use that potential to deliver long-term value for our people, customers, investors, and communities. Our new set of values, rally to achieve together and build trust through action, describe how our people bring our evolving culture to life.
We have created a real asset platform of scale, with strong representation across all major asset subsectors, including high-quality assets from the traditional real estate sectors of office, industrial, and retail, as well as healthcare, and a substantial infrastructure business. As a result of the AMP Capital transaction, we have also bolstered our capabilities in each sector. Today, Dexus is a fully integrated real asset group with AUD 61 billion of funds under management. This includes over AUD 17 billion of investment property portfolio and our AUD 43.6 billion of funds management business. This slide shows the composition of each of these portfolios. 2023 has been a challenging environment for real estate, a tough environment, with sector valuations declining in response to higher interest rates and some transactional evidence. This has impacted our statutory result for this year.
Positively, however, Dexus maintains strong office occupancy above 95%, and our industrial portfolio is effectively full. This has ensured strong cash flows with adjusted funds from operation of AUD 555 million. Our distribution of AUD 0.516 per security for FY 2023 reflected a decline of 3% on FY 2022, but was delivered at the top end of our market guidance. In a very difficult market, we have continued to sell assets. 43 assets were sold across the platform in a year, in the year, for a total of AUD 4.1 billion. Our balance sheet is in good shape, with gearing of 27.9% and high interest rate hedging levels to insulate us against future rises of interest rates.
In our funds management business, notwithstanding difficult market conditions, we raised AUD 1.6 billion of new equity, including AUD 185 million to launch a new airport fund, which is the first new fund for the infrastructure business since it was acquired by Dexus. I would also like to address the Dexus security price. Dexus underperformed the A-REIT Index in FY 2023, with a -6.3% total security holder return. We were affected by the news flow of U.S. market negatively affecting stocks with material exposure to office property, and that's continued to affect our share price. It's worth noting, the experience we are having here in Australia in office appears to be quite different to that in the U.S.
As I've mentioned, we have continued to actively sell assets to improve the quality of our balance sheet portfolio, with AUD 1.8 billion sold from the balance sheet during the year. These divestments enhance our capital position. It provides capacity for investment in higher returning opportunities across our balance sheet investment portfolio and our funds management business. We see development as a key driver of growth and contributor to long-term returns. We invest for the long term, and our development projects will produce iconic, irreplaceable assets that are expected to deliver superior returns over the long term. Some of the key assets in our development pipeline include Waterfront Brisbane, a major redevelopment of the Eagle Street Pier and Waterfront Place precinct sites, and will make way for two office towers, creating a vibrant retail and public space.
Atlassian Central, a next-generation office building that will push the boundaries of what future of workplace looks like and how it works, adopting global leading sustainability credentials. Jandakot Airport, a large industrial site adjacent to the General Aviation Airport in Western Australia. The site is being actively built out and is attracting national customers such as Amazon and HelloFresh. We continue to be globally recognized for our leadership in ESG. During the year, we also renewed our sustainability strategy, which is supported by three priority areas where we believe we can make the most impact.... These include customer prosperity, supporting the prosperity of our customers through investment, design, development, and management of real assets. Our products and services aim to support the occupant, occupant well-being, and sustainability performance.
Climate action, focusing on climate action to accelerate the transition to a decarbonized economy, while also safeguarding and advancing our people, assets, property, and financial returns. And finally, enhancing communities. Helping the communities around our assets through inclusive and accessible design, and placemaking, and investment in infrastructure that creates social value. In conclusion, we are in a challenging period which will continue into the 2024 financial year, with inflation, rising interest rates, and the global environment all contributing to continued economic uncertainty. Based on current expectations, and barring unforeseen circumstances, Dexus expects distributions of circa AUD 0.48 per security for the 12 months ended 30 June 2024. This is below FY 2023, with the reduction mainly being driven by lower trading profits.
Pleasingly, when we exclude trading profits, our AFFO, which is our measure of cash flow or profits, is forecast to be broadly in line with that delivered in FY 2023. Despite this challenging environment, our underlying business is performing well, and we have continued to execute on our strategy, diversifying our capital sources, growing our funds business, improving our liquidity through asset sales, commencing next-generation developments, and maintaining a strong balance sheet. We are well positioned for the future. 2023 was a challenging year across the real estate industry, and a time where a lot was asked of our employees. We brought together two groups, being Dexus and AMP Capital, and began a process of integration. I would like to thank all of our employees for their efforts and the spirit in which they have undertaken our various activities.
We have been continually impressed by the strength of the Dexus culture and its people. Equally, in 2023, the board played a key role in overseeing important transactions and helping to produce outcomes for you, our security holders. I would like to thank my board colleagues for the contribution they have made, and I would also like to formally welcome our two newest directors, Paula Dwyer and Rhoda Phillippo, both of whom you will hear from shortly in relation to their formal election to the board. Finally, as announced to the ASX this morning, our Chief Executive Officer, Darren Steinberg, will step down in 2024. Darren is in his 12th year as our Chief Executive, and whilst there will be many opportunities in the coming year to formally thank him, today, I wanted to let you, our security holders, know.
I've had the privilege of working alongside Darren over the past three years. His commitment to excellence and innovation is impressive. The very high standard of governance you see in Dexus is a reflection of the attitudes of the board, the CEO, and senior management over a long time. The board has been busy in 2023 with ongoing planning for succession and internal leadership development. We approach this decision with the benefit of a great deal of planning and will revert to security holders in the coming months, post the conclusion of our formal global search, with our decision when we are ready. I will now pass over to Darren to give his address. Thank you.
Thanks, Warwick, and good afternoon, everyone. Despite the uncertain global macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, we continued positive momentum across the Group in the first quarter. On the balance sheet, we continue to progress our asset recycling program, settling on AUD 1.3 billion of divestments and providing capacity to recycle capital into higher-returning opportunities, and rent collections were strong at 99.7%. Positive momentum continues across our expanded real assets platform. Our funds management business has been actively recycling capital over the quarter, completing AUD 1 billion of transactions across a number of funds, including the acquisition of Southport Private Hospital by Dexus Healthcare Property Fund, and two residential investments in October 2023 by our opportunity fund, Dexus Real Estate Partnership One.
We've also launched a capital raising for the second Dexus Real Estate Partnership Opportunity Fund, following the successful close of the first fund in the series. In developments, we are progressing construction at our city shaping development, Waterfront Brisbane, and across a further 194,000 square meters at our industrial estates in Ravenhall, Victoria, and Jandakot, over in Perth. We also completed 88,000 square meters of development across key industrial precincts and healthcare assets. As Warwick mentioned, we continue to be recognized as a global leader in sustainability. By the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, GRESB, with our unlisted funds, Dexus Healthcare Property Fund and Dexus Wholesale Property Fund being named as sector leaders in their respective areas, and six real estate entities, including Dexus, being awarded a five-star GRESB rating.
Looking at the performance of our property portfolio, in office, we continue to see the key theme of flight to quality and flight to core, with many customers upgrading and seeking to centralize into prime grade offices in the core part of the CBDs. In industrial, continued low vacancy levels and lack of supply in the market has seen existing customers renewing their leasing deals or taking up options to stay where they are. Portfolio occupancy remains high at 94.7% for office and 99.5% for industrial, with the weighted average lease expiries continuing to be strong across both portfolios. While flexible working is entrenched, CBDs across Australia are largely back to normal in the middle of the week.
Our customers are looking to invest in their workplaces to support productivity, and quality workspaces in good locations remain in demand by companies looking to differentiate themselves in order to attract talent. Our funds business has evolved into a diverse real estate and infrastructure platform, consisting of various products and catering to many types of investors. This year, we added AUD 10 billion of infrastructure and AUD 8 billion of real estate investments via the AMP Capital transaction. Third-party funds under management now totals AUD 43.6 billion, having grown 68% from FY 2022. As Warwick mentioned, we have created a real estate platform of scale, with strong capability across all major asset subsectors in the country, making us fit for purpose to fulfill our investors' strategies. From an asset class perspective, there is a wide set of options for us to allocate third-party capital.
These include the traditional real estate sectors of office, retail, and industrial, the pure infrastructure sectors of transport and energy, and the interesting sectors of health and social that sit between the two. All of these five investment areas are benefiting from the key mega trends of urbanization and social and demographic change and reflect the themes sought after by our investors. To conclude, Dexus is well positioned to continue to deliver for our investors. We have a high-quality portfolio that remains relevant to our customers, which generates stable, core-type returns. Our balance sheet supports our capacity to invest in new initiatives alongside third-party clients. Our funds management business has access to diversified sources of capital that will organically fuel growth over the next decade.
Our current development pipeline provides embedded future value, growing by improving the quality of the portfolio while providing inventory to grow our third-party relationships. All of this is enabled by our quality people, scalable and efficient operating platform, and strong balance sheet. Having been in the role of CEO for almost 12 years, I believe it's the right time for succession. I'm proud to have led Dexus through a decade of growth and performance. We've come a long way since 2012. We've created an amazing portfolio of assets and grown the group's fund from AUD 12.5 billion to a diversified real asset platform of over AUD 60 billion today. Dexus has a team of experienced and talented people, and I will leave knowing that the business is in a strong position to continue to deliver long-term value for our investors, our customers, and our people.
Before passing back to Warwick, I would like to thank my fellow directors and the Dexus team for their commitment and contribution during my tenure at Dexus. I value the continued support of you, our investors, and look forward to working with the new CEO to ensure a smooth . Thank you.
Thanks, Darren. I'd like to pause here and ask if anyone has a question they'd like to ask regarding what we've touched on so far, before going on to the formal business of the meeting. Firstly, though, we did receive two questions prior to the meeting that have come through the registry, which I'll address now. The first question from a shareholder was: How much are directors paid? The board's fee structure and remuneration for the year are provided in the annual report, and they can be found on pages 99 through 101. Director remuneration is benchmarked according to our peer group companies, both in size and in industry, and are pretty much in line. The second question, was on infrastructure and natural extension: Can you please discuss as a percent of total?
Dexus expanded into infrastructure funds management as part of the AMP Capital acquisition. Real estate and infrastructure are highly complementary asset classes, which provide further growth opportunities for us. For example, in healthcare, where Dexus already has significant expertise and relationships to capitalize on increased government spending in the sector... At the 30th of June, we had around AUD 11 billion of infrastructure funds under management, which represent 25% of total third-party funds under management. Now, I'll ask if there are any further questions from the audience in the room before going to the phone or virtual platform. Over here.
Hello. The question, based on, the ESG report, I haven't seen any mention of the removal of disabled people from your managed properties. I understand that some people have been removed because of their disability from their, your managed properties, and there isn't a mention in either of your reports that I can see. If you could identify if it's there, as I believe it's material and important to fund managers, such as me, to be able to make an informed decision as to whether I should invest in Dexus.
So, just to clarify, you're asking whether there's, in the ESG report, any information about the removal of people with disabilities, or-
Yes
their ability to access our properties?
Both. So the removal and the banning from the properties.
I don't think there's any incidents of removal of people with disability from the properties.
I guarantee you there has been, and it's been reported to the... many times to the management, and I'm not sure why it's not in the report, and I'm not sure why it's not in the-
I'll just refer to Darren. Maybe you can answer.
We've received no reports of anyone being physically removed from assets, so I'm happy to, as soon as the meeting's over, we can address it outside, and we'll look into it straight away.
Okay, no worries. I'll-
Thank you. I have another question here.
Good afternoon, and as always, thank you for your time today and throughout the year for your, for the work that you've done. Looking forward to the development pipeline, I see that it's documented or estimated, I guess, at AUD 17.4 billion. I'd just like to explore that in a bit more detail in the, to give it some context. So what I mean by that is, what... And I see you've given some illustrations of some of the developments that you're looking at, but I, when I add that up, that doesn't add up to AUD 17.4 billion.
So if you can talk to the time horizon that you're looking for, for that development, the breakdown, to the best of your ability at the moment, like, how much of it is industrial, how much of infrastructure, and so on? How committed is that number at the moment, i.e., how much flexibility do you have if conditions change such that Development X, while being a good idea five years ago, is no longer viable?
That's a really good question. Thank you. So that's the group development pipeline. Very little of that is currently committed, and so we walked through today three of the assets, which is Waterfront, Atlassian, and the activity at Jandakot Airport, where there is committed developments, where we've broken dirt, and we're building office buildings or industrial warehouses. So to get to those decisions, to get to commitment, obviously, we've worked with future tenants, amalgamating sites, approvals, financing, et cetera. And so for the balance, there is always a broader long-term plan. There's always a broader long-term pipeline of possible developments. And so for the 17 number, very little of that has, or very little of that has actually come to board for final approval.
But we're always working on multiple possibilities to give us future development, a future development pipeline and a future access to value. So it's not more than that at this point in time. Some of it may be very minor site acquisitions or the beginning of aggregation of sites with a view, where there's a vision to build a building. But none of it has come, you know, other than some of the ones that we've mentioned, are actually come to even close to final approval. We would take... Today, we would take a very conservative view, you know, with money is expensive, debt is expensive and becoming harder to get. We have a limited capability for our balance sheet, and so we really are rationing capital to the best returns that are available.
So it wouldn't make sense to suddenly pull the trigger on AUD 17 billion worth of development. I hope that answers your question.
Yes. Thank you.
Okay. Please, sir.
I would like to take up that 17.4 billion development pipeline. What's the timescale going forward with that? I mean, is it a 10-year or is it a 15-year pipeline?
It could be either.
Right.
And if you know if demand changed quickly, if interest rates changed quickly, we may change those plans, and we may accelerate development. But you know today office is under pressure. We're a slowing economy, and we're still trying to come to a final landing on demand for office space, so it might be 10 or 15 years. It will be a long time.
The point I wanted to get to was that because it's, it's well out into the future, you'll need to get your Scope 3 e missions calculations going, because associated with development, there's a lot of concrete.
Yeah.
So far, reduction of emissions from concrete production hasn't got very far.
... It's also a good point and something that we've discussed at our ESG committee. And, you know, when we went through the feasibility for the Atlassian development, it was very, very important to the tenant as well. And so we went through a very detailed analysis of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, and how to minimize the impact on the environment through building a structure like that. So it's becoming an increasingly important component for any development decision. Thank you. Are there any other questions? No questions through you, Ro?
No questions online, Chair.
Thank you. I'll turn to the formal business of the meeting. Today's meeting has been convened in accordance with the Constitution of each trust and the Corporations Act, and I have been informed by the registry, Link Market Services, that a quorum is present to enable the formal resolutions, the subject of the meeting, to be considered and passed. I would also like to table the 2023 annual report, which includes the directors' report, financial report, and independent auditors' report for the financial year ended 30 June 2023. In accordance with the notice of meeting and voting form, for instance, where I, as Chair, have been appointed as a proxy but not directed how to vote, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of resolutions 1 -3.
The way we will run the meeting is that we will go to a poll on resolutions 1-3 and look at each of these resolutions and the proxies received individually, at which time you will have the opportunity to ask questions or make comments about each of these resolutions. Accordingly, I call for a poll on resolutions 1-3 and declare the polls open. You can vote on these resolutions and for our attendees at Quay Quarter Tower, you can hand your yellow voting card to the representatives from Link Market Services at any time during this part of the meeting. For security holders joining us online on our online meeting platform, you can access your voting card and complete your voting as we proceed through the resolutions.
You would have received a notice of meeting, which sets out the resolutions and the accompanying explanatory memorandum, which provides security holders with information to assess the merits of the resolutions. Let's turn to resolution one. Resolution one is an ordinary resolution and concerns the adoption of the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2023. Under the Corporations Act, a listed company is required at its AGM to put to its shareholders a resolution to approve its remuneration report. Consistent with our corporate governance framework, the board has determined that Dexus will be subject to this obligation even though it is a listed stapled group comprising real estate investment trusts. The vote on Resolution one is advisory only and does not bind the directors or Dexus Funds Management Limited. The proxies received are detailed on the screen and represent 77.5% of issued capital.
You will see from the proxies that we have more than 25% of votes against this resolution. As a result, this is a first strike. I'd like to make a few more comments about the resolution. In 2023, all but one of the proxy advisors recommended voting in favor of all resolutions, including this one. Last year, all proxy advisors recommended voting in favor of all resolutions, and we got a very strong endorsement from shareholders of well into the 90%. Between last year and this year, our remuneration framework is unchanged. What we took to last year's annual meeting was a reweighting of remuneration for our key management personnel, KMP, where we increased the weighting to long-term incentives and decreased the weighting to short-term incentives to further increase the alignment between remuneration outcomes for executives and the returns of our shareholders.
This year, so nothing has changed between last year and this year, and yet one proxy advisor, ISS, has recommended voting against it. 70% of shareholders, a strong majority, have actually voted in favor of this resolution. ISS, the ISS report, which is an influential company and is a number of large international shareholders, simply follow those recommendations. It was a report that was full of factual errors and a sloppy report about our remuneration. We received corrections last night, too late for shareholders to change their voting on this resolution. For example, they pointed to the statutory loss that was incurred by Dexus in this financial year. The statutory loss or statutory gain has never been a factor in remuneration. It's a non-cash item, and is generally influenced by the movement in valuation of our balance sheet assets.
30% have voted no, and for the past two or three weeks, we have attempted to go and talk to a number of these shareholders. We were able to talk to convince some of those shareholders to change their vote. Most of them will tell you that they make their own minds up, but the reality is they follow the ISS recommendation. The irony of this is that we made it much more difficult for our executives to earn a bonus in the last financial year. Our executive bonuses were down 40%-50%. They suffer when the share price is declining through their long-term incentives, so the alignment is strong.
As you can see, we're reasonably annoyed by the outcome on this resolution, and again, as we did two years ago, we'll go back and engage with the proxy advisors and shareholders and try to understand, again, what it is that they would prefer to see in remuneration. Are there any questions on this resolution?
Pamela Murray- Jones from the Australian Shareholders Association. Well, we found the remuneration report quite easy to read, and that, I think, is, is a plus. The only thing that we would prefer is that the, the STIs held over 50% of the STIs held over for two years. I think that we've brought this to your attention in any case. But apart from that, we accepted that it was pretty much the same as last year. So it, it, it is unusual that ISS has taken that position. Thank you.
Thank you, Pamela. We'll take that into consideration as we look at it for FY 2024 and beyond. Thank you. Please, sir.
Thank you. Look, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask this question, so if I might-
Give it a go. We'll see.
Please say so. So when you add those numbers up, that adds up to 100%. You have open votes that aren't included there. Is that true?
I do, yeah.
Okay, and as a percentage of the total securities you hold of the order of how many percent?
I'm holding proxies for about 230,000 shares, so it will be, I will vote those in favor of the resolution. It won't change the outcome.
Okay, so that will be the outcome. The percentages will move, but that's the outcome.
29.8 or 29, it's still gonna be a strike.
Whatever.
Yeah.
That, that is gonna be the outcome?
Yes.
Okay, so your actions then, as you've said, will be to-
Back to them.
That's the-- to go back to the proxy people and-
We'll engage with them again. The difficulty is that a heavy majority of our shareholders have said, "You're doing the right thing." The outcomes on REM are satisfactory given the year that we've just had. And so you have to, you have to take advice from the majority as well and not be changed just by a small minority or one proxy advisor. So we will engage with them. We'll, we will, we will correct further the mistakes that still remain within their report, and we will attempt to come up with something that, that speaks to all shareholders.
Okay, so in summary, you... There's a piece of work to do, and you've got twelve months to do it before this time next year.
That's right
- in the next vote.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Acknowledging that we're nearly halfway through this financial year as well. Changing the remuneration framework that has already been advised to executives is not an easy thing to do or to accept.
Thank you.
Are there any further questions?
No questions online.
I'm sorry?
There are no questions online, Chair.
Okay. I will move then to resolution two. Resolution two is an ordinary resolution, and it relates to the grant of FY24 long-term incentive performance rights to our Chief Executive Officer. We're not required to seek holder approval for the grant of performance rights, as we buy the securities on market. However, for transparency and good governance, the board is determined to seek security holder approval for the grant to be satisfied. These performance rights are subject to meeting board-approved hurdles over three and four-year periods. The proxies received are detailed on the screen and represent just over 77% of issued capital. Are there any questions in relation to resolution two? I don't see any questions. I don't believe there are any questions online. Getting the nod from Ro at the back.
No questions online.
Thank you. I will now turn to resolution three. 3.1. 3.1 is an ordinary resolution and seeks the initial appointment of Paula Dwyer as an independent director. The proxies received are detailed on screen and again, represent over 77% of issued capital.... Before we turn to questions relating to this resolution, I will ask Paula to present to the meeting. I'll leave that there.
Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, fellow security holders. I'm in my first year as a director of Dexus, and I'm seeking your support for my election today. As a director, I contribute my skills and experience at the board level, and in my role as the Chair of the Dexus Audit Committee, Dexus Risk Committee, and as a member of the Audit Committee and the Nomination Committee. My executive career was in financial and corporate advisory services, in mergers and acquisitions, financial markets, corporate finance, strategy, and investments. My over 20-year career as a chairman and non-executive director spans banking and finance, investment, insurance, healthcare, gambling and entertainment, fast-moving consumer goods, property and construction, and retailing in both listed and unlisted companies. As Chair of the Risk Committee, I meet with the risk team, our internal audit team, and our external auditors.
I also stay up to date on matters relevant to Dexus through regular participation in external sessions and frequent engagement with industry peers. In addition to my role at Dexus, I am also the Chair of Allianz Australia and Blackmores Limited. I also serve as a director of Lion and AMCIL. I'm careful to manage my overall workload and believe my other roles as a chair and a director are useful in informing my work with Dexus. The board operates well under Warwick's leadership. Our discussions are informed, inclusive, and when needed, robust. This supports a strong and positive culture at your company. In conclusion, I am proud to be associated with Dexus during this time of transition and to contribute to its strategy and to its success. With your support, I look forward to working hard on your behalf for the future of Dexus. Thank you.
Thanks, Paula. Are there any questions in relation to resolution 3.1? I have one over here.
Just a question for Paula: How will you help facilitate the integration of all these acquisitions that have come through with different cultures that don't seem to align with the Dexus good culture and then bringing in some poor cultures?
Maybe I'll start that, and if Paula has something to add. I assume you're talking about the last acquisition that was made by Dexus, the AMP Capital transaction. So, it was a different culture. It is a different culture. They were not the same companies, and integration after acquisition is not an easy thing to do. We had a long time to plan for it, and I think it's been a relatively smooth integration. And now we have a lot of former AMP employees who are proud to say that they're employees of Dexus. They're not easy processes and takes a lot of planning, and we spent a lot of time as a board talking about how to make that smooth.
Fortunately, because the transaction took a longer period than we thought it was going to take, we had extra time to plan for it. Whether that was how we were going to integrate teams in alongside the Dexus team, how we were gonna support the AMP teams to do, to continue to do the things that they do. I wouldn't say that the culture of the AMP Capital group was a bad culture at all. It was just a different culture. And they were, I think they're now largely excited about the future and able to get on with things. Was there anything you wanted to add to that, Paula?
Thanks for the question. I am fairly recent to the board, so I joined in February, at the time when the acquisition of the AMP Capital business was virtually completed. I suppose from my perspective, the only thing I'd add would be that we, as a board, measure the success of the cultural integration, and through a number of metrics and indicators, we're able to see how successful it is and then adjust what we're getting the management team to do as a consequence. So I think that there's a strong sense of accountability at the board level for the whole culture of the organization. Thanks.
Thank you. Are there any further questions on the resolution? We will now move to resolution 3.2. Resolution 3.2 is an ordinary resolution and seeks the initial approval of Independent Director, Rhoda Phillippo. Proxies received are detailed on the screen and represent around 77.5% of issued capital. Before we turn to questions relating to this resolution, I will ask Rhoda, on honeymoon, to present to the meeting, and there she just appears by magic. Welcome, Rhoda. Over to you.
Thank you. Thanks, Warwick. Thanks, everybody. Good afternoon. I'm honored to offer myself for the election at this Annual General Meeting today, and thank you for your consideration. Like Paula, I've been on the Dexus board since February, and I serve on both the audit and risk committees. I believe that governance is really important in today's world and that Dexus has both a chair and fellow directors with the diversity of skills and backgrounds to enable us to support the Dexus leadership team.... holding Australian, Kiwi, and U.K. passports. I've lived in Australia for the last 10 years, and my executive career of some 35 years was in the telecommunications, energy, IT, and infrastructure sectors. The last 22 years have been in New Zealand and Australia.
I hold a master's in Telecommunications Business and Engineering from the University of London, and worked in commercial engineering, operations, and customer service leadership roles in managing the Southeast of England for British Telecom. My executive experience in infrastructure includes significant M&A in New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., and Europe. And my time with HRL Morrison included managing the transition of the New Zealand Shell business into private ownership, Z Energy, for Infratil and the New Zealand Super Fund. As managing director, leading the strategy to sell Lumo Energy, the then fourth largest energy retailer, to Snowy Hydro, and on behalf of the Future Fund, managing their mandate for Perth Airport.
My global board experience spans the last decade, and in addition to the Dexus board, I'm currently a non-executive director on the board of APA, and I chair Kinetic IT, an Australian privately owned IT provider to government agencies and major corporates. I'm also a non-executive director on the board of Waveconn. I'm passionate about the opportunities in infrastructure and property, and through my experience, I've gained some deep insights into both the challenges and the opportunities that we're going to face. Dexus has a tremendous portfolio of people, capability, and assets, and is well placed to deliver on its strategy and vision. Outside of work, I'm a proud mum and grandmum. I just had my third grandchild a couple of weeks ago, and I have family who live all over the world, including a son who's currently working with the UN in the Ukraine.
I'm a keen runner and triathlete, having completed 33 marathons and three Ironman events to date. I confirm that I've got sufficient time to dedicate to the Dexus board role, and I'm really looking forward to working more with this great team, hopefully adding value as we execute our strategic choices. Thank you.
Thank you, Rhoda, and thank you for putting us all to shame with your athletic achievements. Are there any questions in relation to resolution 3.2? Thank you. Before we end the formal part of the meeting, I would like to invite discussion on any of the resolutions put forward today. Are there any further questions? The answer is no. There are no further questions. I will call on the representatives from Link Market Services to circulate the ballot boxes and collect your completed voting cards. For our security holders voting online, I ask that you complete your voting now if you haven't done so already, and I remind you that the voting system will close five minutes after I formally close the meeting. Okay, I can see the ballot boxes coming around in a uniform way. Ladies and gentlemen, that ends the formal part of today's meeting.
I would like to thank you, our security holders, for your continued support and for attending the meeting today. For those of you attending in person, I invite you to join me and my fellow directors and the executives of Dexus for team refreshments outside. I formally close the meeting. Thank you.