Good evening, everybody. I see it's 9:30 P.M., so we'll get underway. Let me welcome you to the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Omni Bridgeway Limited. My name is Michael Kay, and I'm the non-executive chairman of the company. We have a quorum present, and I hereby declare the meeting open. Voting at today's meeting will be by a poll, which is now open. Persons entitled to vote on the poll are all shareholders, representatives, and attorneys of shareholders, and proxy holders who are here in the room and have been issued a handheld voting device or have registered via the Lumi software platform.
Before we commence with the formal business of this meeting, I'd like to take the opportunity to introduce you to my fellow directors: Andrew Saker, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Karen Phin, Non-Executive Director, Christine Feldmanis, Non-Executive Director, Michael Green, Non-Executive Director, and Raymond van Hulst, Executive Director and Managing Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer of EMEA. Our Global Chief Financial Officer, Guillaume Leger, and our Company Secretary, Global General Counsel, Jeremy Sambrook, are both in attendance. The company's auditor is BDO, and Mr. Glyn O'Brien and Mr. Kim O'Brien from BDO are in attendance in person and will be available to answer questions concerning the company's financial statements. Representatives from the company's share registry, Computershare, who are overseeing the registration process and are responsible for the recording of all voting with respect to the meeting, are also in attendance.
Today's meeting is being physically held in Sydney for those wishing to attend in person and virtually through an online platform hosted by Lumi. This allows all shareholders and proxy holders to attend the meeting and provides the ability to ask questions and submit votes either on the floor, in person, or online. Should we experience any technical issues, we may need to seek a short recess or an adjournment, and if this should occur, we will, of course, advise you accordingly. Please note, the meeting is being recorded. Before we move to the formal matters in the notice of meeting, Andrew Saker, our outgoing CEO, and Raymond van Hulst, our incoming CEO, will address the meeting, and I'll now deliver my address. I want to begin by acknowledging a matter of concern to all Omni Bridgeway shareholders and stakeholders.
As is indicated by some of the voting on the adoption of our remuneration report, the recent performance of the share price has been extremely disappointing for all of us. We believe that it does not in any way reflect the intrinsic value of our platform and the current book of business. And I note that the analysts who cover our stock agree. The current consensus price target is AUD 3.56, which is more than double the current share price. This is incredibly frustrating for all of us, and it's clearly an unacceptable situation for shareholders and the company. We've canvassed shareholder views as to the share price, and notwithstanding the general share market weakness, particularly in the small cap sector, whilst there's no unanimity of view, there are certainly some core themes.
First, the retirement of Andrew Saker surprised and disappointed some shareholders. I would point out that Andrew has given nine years of diligent service to the company, and that is a very significant tenure for a CEO, and that included moving away from his broader family to New York for almost three years. But notwithstanding the understandable disappointment at Andrew's decision, all shareholders that I've had the opportunity to speak with since have strongly endorsed Raymond as Andrew's replacement, and I'll say more on this later. The second issue has been our inability to accurately predict completions and consequent cash flows, which, together with COVID-19, has delayed expected returns to shareholders. This has led to a perception by some that we may need to raise equity or that returns to shareholders will continue to be delayed.
The third issue, which is related to the second, is the gap between cost coverage in the funds and the current cost base of our operations and other commitments. In responding to the second and third issues, it is our view that there is clearly, and shareholders will know this, an inherent trade-off between the investment necessary to source high-quality legal assets and the lengthy cycle time of those assets to maturity. There is a resulting mismatch between expenditure on the origination platform and the eventual cash flows from the investments. The waterfall structures of the early funds and COVID-19 exacerbated this mismatch. In a business such as ours, with long cycle times, that mismatch is not only material, but is actually exacerbated by growth, and growth has been our strategy, as shareholders know.
That said, we believe the investment in the platform is the very thing that has generated the extraordinary growth we've achieved and has created significant embedded value and future cash flows. Our confidence derives from the fact that the merged businesses have cumulatively, successfully negotiated over 60 years of investing in legal assets. This is an unrivaled record. Some shareholders have grown concerned at our inability to generate sufficient management fees to cover our cost base, particularly in view of the volatility of earnings that is a natural consequence of all the uncertainties in the legal system. To mitigate this duration risk, we have three levers at our disposal. The first is disciplined management of costs. The second is the drive to improve our cost coverage entitlements as the older funds roll off and greater competition emerges for participation in our newer funds.
And the third lever, which I think we've demonstrated over the past couple of years, is the management of our liquidity and duration through prudent asset sales into the secondary market. With these levers, we believe we can manage, with a margin of safety, the trade-off between the strategic imperative of growing to cement our place at the head of a global industry, while also generating and accelerating sustainable shareholder returns. Incoming CEO, Raymond van Hulst, will provide more details in his address, outlining the initiatives we are putting in place to ensure the value that has been created is better reflected in the share price. Moving now to my review of the financial year to 30 June 2023.
Well, notwithstanding the share price, FY 2023 was actually a year of significant growth for Omni Bridgeway, marked by the successful execution of key initiatives that have solidified our position as the industry's leading manager of legal assets. We achieved a number of key goals we set ourselves. We expanded into new locations and key jurisdictions within the United States and Europe. We developed advanced modeling capabilities, and specialized functions have been deployed to improve the sophistication of risk assessment and pricing. We completed an integration across all back-office operations and regional hubs, and our board and management have been strengthened. Andrew will take you through the operational and corporate achievements in more detail. However, I do want to call out our pricing and modeling capabilities, which use sophisticated probability analytics to achieve greater risk-adjusted returns from positive case outcomes.
Now, this includes a focus not on just downside risk, but also the risk of undervaluing the upside. We are exploring, as I think Raymond will mention, the use of fair value reporting to enhance peer comparisons, some of our peers use that type of reporting, and better demonstrate the embedded value in our assets. Additionally, we are considering launching two new funds, one of which may focus on investments with positive ESG profile. Now, the current macro environment has, as everyone will know, been destabilized by geopolitical disruption, wars in Europe and the Middle East, stressed financial markets, and high inflation. Omni Bridgeway, as an alternative asset manager and investor in litigation and enforcement assets, offers investors a model that is typically uncorrelated with economic cycles and macro events, and we are well positioned to navigate these challenges.
Demand for our capital actually increases as other capital sources become more restricted. The number of insolvencies and general commercial disputes are also likely to increase. Omni Bridgeway has a pricing model that provides a natural hedge against inflation. Typically, investment costs are passed on to the client and reimbursed on a successful completion of the investment. Further, returns are structured as a multiple of costs that covers inflation or as a percentage of the damages, including interest, that typically ameliorates the impact of inflation. We are also increasingly protected against our duration risk as our contracted returns now reflect the time value of money. Importantly, the structure of the industry is actually now moving in our favor.
The emerging global market for legal finance continues to mature, and competition is actually now contracting as capital becomes constricted and previous competitors can't get access to capital and have now put their books into run-off. This augurs well for our pricing and our margin opportunities into the future. Our diversified model will continue to be a critical comparative advantage, and we've consistently grown, innovated, and strengthened our platform and business offering, in contrast to others in the asset class. In terms of capital management, the board will continue to make risk-adjusted capital allocation decisions, and as such, with the growth, the board decided not to pay a dividend for the FY 2023 year. Shareholders will know we initiated a share buyback program in August 2022, which lapsed in September 2023.
Our decision to prioritize investments in the platform over share buybacks reflects our confidence in the long-term value of the investments. We believe this approach will yield strong returns and support our commitment to growth, enhance our strategic position globally, and thereby increasing the asset base. But we do understand and have had feedback from some shareholders that they have differing views, but a lot of shareholders also agree with the position that we have adopted. Regarding board and management renewal, today, Andrew Saker retires as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer after nine years of diligent service, and I want to express our gratitude, Andrew, for your leadership, your commitment, and for your achievements during that quite long tenure.
Andrew has taken us, as shareholders will know, from a small Australian-based operation, focused on a small number of cases, mostly class actions, to now having a truly global platform, with operations in Australia, the United States, Asia, Canada, the U.K., continental Europe, and the Middle East. The group has transformed from a balance sheet funder to co-investor and manager of non-recourse financing, investing in legal assets across unique fund structures, and now manages around $2.5 billion. This has allowed Omni Bridgeway to scale rapidly at lower risk, and as the funds mature, at a higher risk-adjusted return. During Andrew's tenure, estimated portfolio value has grown extraordinarily from $1.8 billion to $30.5 billion today. Andrew, on behalf of everyone at Omni Bridgeway, I wish you the very best for your future and record our thanks and appreciation for your accomplishments.
Now, Raymond van Hulst will be appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer upon Andrew's retirement, and that succession will take place at the conclusion of this meeting. As shareholders will know, Raymond previously held a wide range of senior roles, having been a key member of the legacy Omni Bridgeway team for in excess of 20 years. As such, he brings a breadth of experience of legal finance and legal asset management. Since the merger with Omni Bridgeway Holding B.V. in 2019, Raymond has focused on the globalization of the enforcement investment strategy and the integration of the two businesses. His experience will ensure continuity and stability during this transition. Raymond has a very rare and unusual set of skills. There's not many people who have the skills to run a company like this, anywhere in the world.
We've also made important leadership appointments, further strengthening our team, including Guillaume Leger as Global Chief Financial Officer in September 2022, Hannah van Roessel as Co-Chief Investment Officer in EMEA in February 2023, and Ian Munro as Global Head of People and Culture in May 2023. After 21 years of service, Michael Bowen stepped down as non-executive director in November 2022. Following this, and in line with our stated objective of board renewal, in April 2023, we appointed Michael Green as non-executive director based in the United Kingdom. Michael's 30+ years in the international financial services sector, including as a CEO, including asset management, insurance, reinsurance, product and risk management, and business development and transformation, adds considerable experience to the board.
Michael is currently the chair and independent trustee of Lloyd's of London Pension Scheme, and an independent non-executive member of the Investment Oversight Committee at London LGPS CIV Limited, which manages London local government pension scheme assets. We're very lucky to have you, Michael, and we welcome you to the board. We also intend to appoint another Northern Hemisphere-based director during the course of this financial year. This will bring us closer to our most significant legal asset markets, and of course, to the rich capital markets of the U.K., the U.S., and Europe. It'll also provide us with further refreshment and renewal of the board, as well as succession optionality. During the year, we also welcome four new investment committee members, which adds a depth of expertise and an outside-in perspective to our investment decisions and our risk assessment process.
In summary, with the exception of the share price, FY 2023 has been a year of achievement. The board and I are confident that Raymond is exactly the right person to take the global platform that Andrew has built to the next level. On behalf of the board, I thank shareholders for their continued support through this year, and we will ensure that your patience is rewarded. I thank management and the global Omni Bridgeway team for a year of achievement and innovation, and I also express my thanks to my colleagues on the board for their counsel and advice during the year. It's now my pleasure to introduce outgoing CEO, Andrew Saker, to address the meeting.
Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of the management team and staff, welcome to the Annual General Meeting for Omni Bridgeway Limited for the financial year ended 30 June 2023. I would like to start by also acknowledging the impact of the challenges we have faced with our share price. Despite our efforts to address this and the strong performance of our business, the share price has remained weak. This has been difficult for all stakeholders, including insiders and myself. The market's perception of our business doesn't align with our view of the strength of our operations. I believe that any criticism should not be directed at the hardworking team that has built what we consider the world's leading legal risk management platform.
Our team will continue to refine how we present Omni Bridgeway to the market, with a focus on improving the clarity and quality of our materials for our key capital markets. While we've made progress in this area, feedback from the market suggests a desire for further simplification and a reduction in noise in our messaging. This challenge now falls to our new leadership team, and I have full confidence in their ability to address it. The underlying business is strong and growing. We're improving our cash flow, where it benefits Omni Bridgeway and our fund investors, through judicious use of the secondary market to mitigate the vagaries of legal dispute timelines. Shareholders should not lose sight of the positive achievements of our business this year and in prior years.
Of note, we have delivered total gross income and revenue to a record level of over AUD 330 million, up 51% on last year. This was derived from diversified sources, comprising both completions of investments and secondary market sales. We have materially grown annual commitments to a new record of close to approximately AUD 550 million for the financial year, meeting the target that we set in May of 2022, a growth of 17% in the year. Following on the growth in commitments, and notwithstanding the record number of completions and secondary market sales in the year, and after impairments, our estimated portfolio value, or EPV, increased to a new record of over AUD 30 billion, up 12% in the year.
This progress stands in comparison to the $1.8 billion in EPV that we had at 31 December 2014, when I joined what was then known as IMF Bentham. The growth in EPV has translated into a rise in the implied embedded value of our funds, marking a 9% growth over the year to $3.9 billion. Whilst attaining these milestones, we continue to have industry-leading performance metrics, with a return on invested capital of 1.1x and an internal rate of return of 77%. We ended the year with a strong capital position, with over $360 million in combined cash and receivables on a consolidated basis.
Of that, the Omni Bridgeway balance sheet held around AUD 130 million in cash and receivables, with access to over AUD 60 million in debt, which can be allocated for operational needs, fund investments, and potential expansion opportunities. While not recognized on our consolidated basis, OBL has provided cash and receivables, its proportion of capital, so that our cash and receivable position also includes approximately AUD 40 million of those liquid assets. The group realized a profit after tax before NCI, and had a notable turnaround from the second half, in the second half of approximately AUD 61 million, which was a 203% increase compared to the first half.
We achieved a 31% growth on a year-on-year basis in total income on a consolidated basis, which financed the continued growth of our platform, such that profit after tax was relatively flat between the periods. This expansion in our productive capacity delivered significant efficiency gains in key business metrics relating to our investment managers. We are leveraging our talent to produce more EPV per investment manager, up 22% to AUD 341 million during the year, with new EPV per investment manager increasing 16% in the period to AUD 138 million. This demonstrates that we can attract, retain, and develop some of the best talent in the industry globally. Furthermore, it also highlights that we have generated significant value over and above costs for the period.
During this fiscal year, we successfully completed two strategic transactions, diversifying our income sources and generating approximately $76 million in gross cash proceeds. One significant milestone was the sale of our participation in Fund 1 Assets, allowing us to recycle capital, reduce portfolio risk, and return and accelerate returns. Secondary market transactions will continue to contribute to and diversify our future income, accelerating realizations and mitigating risk across our portfolio. We saw a 31% increase in management fee income compared to FY 2022. In FY 2024, the implied cost coverage ratio is expected to increase to approximately 23%, compared to 16% in FY 2023.
We have seen the investment carrying value increase at a compounded annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 16% over the past four years to $740 million after completions, the deconsolidation of Fund 1 in May 2023, secondary market sales, and impairments. These investments are predominantly carried at cost and could see a material increase if reported on a fair value basis. The increase in the carrying value of investments was driven by approximately $270 million in deployments made by the group towards both new and existing investments in FY 2023, which secures a strong future for our shareholders. The key insight from our portfolio is that we remain focused on diversity across geographic regions, case type, and capital sources.
The sale of our participation in Fund 1 Assets, which was a U.S.-focused investment vehicle, has resulted in a rebalancing of our portfolio, making regional distribution more pronounced. Anticipating team expansion in the U.K., we expect a further moderation of our U.S. proportionate exposure in the future. It has been my privilege to lead Omni Bridgeway and establish a global funds management platform across the Americas, APAC, and EMEA. Our specialization in legal asset investments and our balanced and diversified portfolio have allowed us to scale rapidly while mitigating risks, leading to higher risk-adjusted returns. Looking forward, we are well-positioned to capitalize on sustainable growth, leveraging operational efficiencies for greater returns. On that note, this is my last annual general meeting as we transition to a new leadership era. I'm confident that the company is in capable hands, and I wish the group continued success in the future.
Our future success will be achieved through the unwavering commitment of our Omni Bridgeway team, which has demonstrated exceptional dedication to achieving our goals and providing access to justice for our clients. It's been my privilege to lead this extraordinary team, and I thank them all for their efforts. Thank you also to our investors, the board, and management, for the support that they have extended to me over the past nine years. I'd now like to hand over to Raymond van Hulst to provide an overview of the group's strategic focus areas in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. It is an honor to address today's meeting as the newly appointed CEO of this incredible company. I'm excited to take on this role, and I'm humbled to be entrusted with this responsibility by the shareholders, fund investors, and the team. I bring with me 23 years of experience in, and a deep knowledge, of the legal finance industry. This started with the legacy Omni Bridgeway business, a company that was run with and profitably invested the proprietary capital of its 5 partners, including myself, and culminated in the merger of the legacy Omni Bridgeway and IMF business back in 2019.
From this experience, as a successful private investor in the legal finance industry, I have learned that what truly matters are the fundamental principles of cost coverage, liquidity management, cash conversion, and return protection. These principles have always guided my approach to this business and are demonstrated in the structure and in the metrics of Fund 6 and in Fund 8, for which I've led the creation and the launch. I find it important to highlight that I continue to have a strong alignment with our shareholders, noting that I have a significant shareholding, and own close to 5 million shares. This alignment means that my approach is more akin to that of a business owner, with key investment metrics, prudent capital management, and cost management and optimization of operational efficiencies as primary focus.
In addition to my commitment on delivering on these, there's another aspect of the business that I want to address, which is our unique position as a leader in the legal finance sector. From my perspective, very few investment assets can deliver the exceptional and uncorrelated financial returns that legal assets can, and no other peer comes close to Omni Bridgeway's track record in this area. Our consistently high success rate, as reflected by our impressive return on invested capital of 110%, and a 77% internal rate of return over multiple decades and throughout various economic cycles, set us apart and confirm our unique value generation capability. Omni Bridgeway has been, and continues to be, at the forefront of this growing alternative asset class globally.
We are the founders of the industry in Australia and Europe, and secured first or early mover advantage in all other relevant markets, and sectors. Omni Bridgeway has become the preeminent and only truly diversified asset management platform for legal assets globally, an industry with significant barriers to entry. High investment returns not only reflect our success, but also form the basis for the trust and confidence our fund investors have placed in us. We are proud that all our high-profile institutional investors, who have deep industry and investment experience across multiple legal finance platforms, have selected Omni Bridgeway's new funds for continued investment. If we would not have been a leading and high-quality platform, or if there were any fundamental flaws in our investment approach, these experienced investors would not have reinvested in our new funds.
I am fortunate to step up to lead this company at a time when we have achieved our aspiration of becoming the global leader in legal finance. It is now time to leverage the valuable platform that we have built. I also appreciate that the value we have created is not reflected in our current share price, which I acknowledge is a source of concern for me and for the other shareholders. I will address this through the strategic updates on which I will expand later. I believe that duration risk, or slippage, as it is referred to, has been the main concern for shareholders as it has delayed the cash conversion. Duration risk, in my perspective, is the basis of our business. As is duration risk, for example, in the insurance industry.
Risk of legal loss, but more importantly, duration uncertainty, are the drivers for the exceptional investment returns that are generated by legal assets. We do not control duration, and do not consider duration uncertainty as necessarily negative, but we price for it to protect returns against delays. However, it is important that we enhance our forecasting capabilities and associated market disclosures. Duration uncertainty primarily pertains to liquidity management, rather than affecting the core value of our book. Improving cost coverage, supported by prudent secondary market transactions, will be my immediate focus to alleviate any market concerns on liquidity management. During recent periods of slippage, we have nonetheless continued to build significant value for shareholders through growing our book of investments, which has not received full recognition from the market. I will strive to better explain that value.
I aim to provide a more comprehensive update on my strategic focus areas during our half-year results presentation in February 2024. That update will cover the changes we have already achieved at such time, and will outline the further changes planned for the short and medium term. My strategic focus areas include leveraging our platform to increase cost coverage and improve cost management. With the build-out of the global platform now complete, we are turning our attention to optimizing operational efficiency, improving fund terms, and increasing funds under management. Simplifying reporting and allowing better comparison to our peers will be additional key priorities. Of immediate focus are the financial year 2024 goals. These include, 1, finalizing the establishment of Fund 8, our EUR 300 million global enforcement fund.
This was completed, as announced in September 2023, when we entered into a debt facility for EUR 135 million, representing the first tranche of the Fund 8 debt capital. 2, achieving $625 million in new commitments or equivalent value through improved pricing and attribution terms. Pleasingly, we have already secured 25% of our full year commitment targets to date. 3, accelerating realizations and mitigating risk through secondary market transactions. Current status is that we aim to close the first secondary market transaction for the year shortly, and we'll provide details upon completion. 4, increasing funds under management via Series Two of Funds 4 and Fund 5. We anticipate the first of several closings of the Series Two upsizing very shortly. 5, expanding the U.K. team to increase our presence in the second-largest litigation finance market.
This has also been completed, and importantly, was included already in the AUD 95 million dollars of cash operational expenses, as indicated for financial year 2024. 6, potential launch of new funds. 7, exploring transition to or adding fair value disclosures, and 8, continued focus on cost coverage improvement initiatives. On all of these, we are progressing well. I would now like to take a moment to acknowledge the achievements of our outgoing CEO, Andrew Saker. His vision and drive were the qualities which convinced the legacy Omni Bridgeway team to merge with IMF Bentham. It has been a privilege to work with him over the last four years to successfully realize the synergies and growth envisaged with the merger. That was no small feat.
Studies such as the Harvard Business Review have shown that post-merger integration has a general, a failure rate of between 70% and 90%. IMF Bentham and Omni Bridgeway's merger process started in early 2020, and coincided with the start of the global pandemic. Navigating the merger complexities of combining operations, cultures, and resources across all continents, regulatory environments, and many different time zones, overlaid with the COVID difficulties of long-term travel barriers and managing the existing business through the lockdowns, presented a formidable challenge. Andrew and the IMF Bentham team approached this task with a firm company-first mindset, further reflected by adopting the Omni Bridgeway name, and more recently embracing the CEO transition.
The successful integration against the statistics of the two businesses in such a difficult context is a testament to the effective and committed leadership by Andrew. I am excited about the future and the potential that lies ahead for the company and all its stakeholders. We will continue to build on the strong foundation that has been laid, and continue to expand the vision of global industry leadership and diversification. I'm confident that we will achieve new heights of success and seize the significant opportunities that lie ahead. Thank you for your commitment and support as we move forward on this journey. Thank you!
Well, thank you, Andrew and Raymond, and we will now deal with the formal business as set out in the notice of meeting. At the close of the formal business, my fellow directors and I will answer any general inquiries from the floor or via the online platform. The notice of meeting has been made available to all shareholders and all directors. The only items on the agenda are the four items set out in the notice of meeting, and I take the notice of meeting as being read. In order to participate online, please consult the online meeting guide, which has been made available to all shareholders. Proxy holders will need to register using a username and password provided by Computershare prior to the meeting.
Prior to voting on a resolution, duly registered shareholders are provided with an opportunity to ask questions that pertain to the applicable resolution. Please ensure you state your name prior to asking a question. For duly registered shareholders present in the room, please wait for a microphone before asking a question. For shareholders attending the meeting online using the Lumi platform, you may submit questions in text format or ask questions verbally. To ask a written question, select the Message tab at the top of the Lumi platform. Select the topic your question relates to from the drop-down list, and then type your question in the box towards the top of the page. Press the arrow symbol to send. A copy of your submitted questions, along with any written responses from our meeting team, can be viewed by selecting My Messages.
To ask a question verbally, click on the Request to Speak button at the bottom of the broadcast window. The audio questions interface will then display, and you will be prompted to confirm your name and enter the topic of your question. Submit your details and select Join Queue to be connected. If prompted, select Allow in the pop-up to grant access to your microphone. Please note, while you can submit questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Questions from online attendees relating to the formal items of business on today's agenda will be considered after we've received any questions from the floor. Please note that text questions received from online attendees may be moderated, and if we receive multiple questions on the same topic, these may also be amalgamated.
For good order, I request that all general questions, that i.e., not ones not pertaining to resolutions, be left until the formal part of the meeting has been concluded. The company did not receive any written questions prior to the meeting, and each resolution will be put to a poll. Once voting opens, in-room attendees who are eligible to cast a vote will see a list of today's items of business on the screen of the handheld device. To vote, simply select the item you wish to vote on using the scroll wheel and green square to select. Your selected item will then appear, and you will need to press the green square to bring up the voting options. Press one to vote for the item, two for against, and three to abstain.
Use the green square to move on to the next item, or press the red triangle to return to the full list of items. I'm sorry, it is very complicated. Proxy holders have been provided a summary of proxy votes detailing their voting instructions. By voting using their handheld device, proxy holders are deemed to have voted in accordance with those instructions. In respect of any open votes a proxy holder may be entitled to cast, they need to select a voting option for the item using their handheld device to indicate how they wish to cast their open votes. If you require any assistance during the voting process, please raise your hand. I suspect there might be a few hands raised after all of that.
If you are eligible to vote, a voting tab will appear at the top of the page after the Chair declares voting open on all items of business. If you click on that tab, a list of the items and your voting options will then appear. To vote, click on the option corresponding with how you would like to vote. There is no Enter or Send button to click. Your vote will be recorded when you click on the voting option. Once voting is opened in person and online, attendees may cast their votes at any time until the Chair declares the poll closed. They may also change their vote at any time before the poll is closed, and the Chair will give advance notice to the meeting ahead of closing the poll. The conclusion of the meeting, any votes you've placed will automatically be submitted.
If you require assistance during the meeting, please refer to the online meeting guide instructions or raise your hand for support. Proxies. Please refer to the total number of proxies received, and they are on the screen. They should be on the screen. The proxies are available for inspection. The minutes of the last annual general meeting of the company, held on 30 November 2022, are available from the Company Secretary if any shareholder wishes to inspect them. I table the financial statements of the company for the year ending 30 June 2023, together with the directors' declaration, the directors' report, and the auditors' report. Are there any questions on the financial statements, or are there any questions for the auditors in relation to the conduct of the audit?
No questions online, Mr. Chair.
If there are no questions in relation to the financial statements, I will now move on to the resolutions to be put today. Resolution 1 relates to the adoption of the remuneration report. The remuneration report relating to directors and executives' remuneration in the financial year ended 30 June 2023, must be submitted for adoption by resolution of shareholders. The remuneration report is included in the 2023 annual report, and I confirm the company has received valid proxy votes in relation to resolution 1, as displayed on the screen. All discretionary votes in favor of the chair will be voted in favor of the resolution. The directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution, and I move resolution 1 as displayed on the screen. Are there any questions in relation to resolution 1?
There are no questions online.
If there are no questions, I will now pause for a moment to allow folk to vote on the resolution. Resolution 2. Resolution 2 relates to the election of Mr. Michael Green as a director of the company. I confirm that the company has received valid proxy votes in relation to resolution 2, as displayed on the screen. All discretionary votes in favor of the chair will be voted in favor of the resolution. I confirm that the board, excluding Mr. Green, supports the election of Mr. Green and recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. I move resolution 2, as displayed on the screen. Are there any questions relating to this resolution?
There are no online questions.
If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution to a vote, and we'll pause for a moment to allow that to happen. Resolution 3. This resolution relates to the re-election of Mr. Raymond van Hulst as a director, and I confirm the company has received valid proxy votes in relation to resolution 3, as displayed on the screen. All discretionary votes in favor of the chair will be voted in favor of the resolution, and I confirm that the board, excluding Mr. van Hulst, supports the election of Mr. van Hulst and recommends that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. And I move that resolution 3, as displayed on the screen. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution?
No online questions.
If there are no questions, I will now put the resolution to a vote. Resolution 4. Resolution 4 relates to the approval of indemnified persons, deed of indemnity, insurance, and access, and I confirm that the company has received valid proxy votes in relation to resolution 4, as displayed on the screen. It doesn't seem to be displayed right now. Thank you. All discretionary votes in favor of the chair will be voted in favor of the resolution, and the directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. I move resolution 4 as displayed on the screen. Thank you. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution?
There are no questions online.
If there are no questions, I will now put this resolution to a vote. Well, that now concludes the formal items on the agenda, and can I now ask that all votes are submitted via the online platform and via the handheld devices in the room, as the poll will be closing shortly? I'll pause for a minute just to allow any further voting to occur and then close the poll. Okay, I will now close the meeting and the poll. The announcement of results of the resolutions conducted by the poll will be notified to the ASX and will be placed on the Omni Bridgeway website shortly following the close of the meeting. I now invite shareholders present or online to ask any general questions of the board and management.
I have one question.
Yes, sir.
Just related to the new CEO. Slightly off topic, but thank you. Slightly off topic, but hopefully you can indulge me. I read about the Burford Capital trade in Argentina, and I was curious as to whether this is an area that Omni Bridgeway is looking at or a sector you're looking at. And secondly, and probably more importantly, could you comment on your view on this transaction? Thanks.
It's certainly very close to the area that I actually started in the legacy Omni Bridgeway business. So, it is an area that we-
Mm-hmm.
that we are active in as well, global enforcement. And in that sense, I'm a bit reluctant to comment on something that a peer has done. The only thing I'd like to say is that it's a very large single transaction, and one of my principles is that as a diversified asset management platform, we'd like to be in a situation where no single case can affect either positively or negatively or create big swings in the outcomes of the company. So it's a, It looks to be a great success for them, if it completes, but we would take a different approach here.
Any other questions? Sorry?
No, there are no questions online, Mr. Chair.
Well, that concludes the meeting and our question time, and I thank you all for your attendance, and I think there's a cup of tea or coffee and something to eat outside. Thank you.