Hello, welcome to this 2024 AGM, the first since we became a public company. All the team of Antin and myself are very happy to meet you today for this important moment for our company, which will decide our future. I declare this AGM open. I would like to thank the independent administrators for being present in the room, as well as our statutory auditors. As the chairman and CEO, I will be the chair of this AGM. I will now name two scrutineers, and I will ask Mark Crosbie and Mélanie Biessy, both members of the AGM, and having the most shares, to please accept this role. I will now name Camille Mathieu as secretary for the AGM. We are now going to go over the legal formalities that were accomplished before this assembly was convened. Hello.
So this AGM takes place after the publication in the official publications of a notice. On the 24th, there was also a dispatch. On the 21st of May, the company shareholders and our statutory auditors were convened here. Everyone necessary has been convened. We have received no extra points to add to the agenda and no answers, and as is customary, we will dispense with reading the various reports to the meeting and the full text of resolutions. An attendance sheet has been drawn up and signed by each shareholder attending the meeting. We can already tell you that the required quorum necessary for this AGM has been met, both for ordinary and extraordinary meetings, and we will give you the final quorum at a later point. Thank you, Camille.
Now we will organize the AGM according to the agenda, which you can now see on screen. We will cover what we did in 2023, and we will share our perspectives for years to come. Then Félix Héon , our director of sustainable development, will take the floor to present our climate strategy. Patrice Schuetz, our financial director, will then intervene to talk about our financial performance. Our governance and our compensation system will be explained by Mélanie Biessy. The statutory auditors will then take the floor. After this, we will open the session for questions and answers, and then we will present and vote upon the resolutions. As during the previous years, after the meeting, we will be giving you a small gift to thank you for supporting us here.
Many significant steps, many significant thresholds have been crossed in 2023, especially when it comes to fundraising. Antin now manages EUR 41 billion in assets, EUR 20 billion receive commissions. We've closed the NextGen funding round. It is at its target size, which shows the ability of our investors to manage new strategies. We've been prudent and disciplined in our deployment of capital with four new investments, two for the Flagship Fund V and two for NextGen Fund I . The financial performance of our companies under management is still excellent, and the trajectory of all our funds is on target or above. In 2023, we have also continued our recruitment policy and our development policy in the U.S. To give you an idea, among our 27 new employees, nine work in the New York office, including six new professionals of investment.
One point to highlight in 2023 is our financial performance, which Patrice will detail for you in a few minutes. But EBITDA has grown 48%, and our net result has increased by 60% compared to 2022. This financial performance, combined into the cash we have currently on hand, allows us to give all of our recurring and net result out as dividends. We will now detail our activities for fundraising, investment, and disposals. We have managed to raise EUR 1.8 billion in 2023, EUR 1.6 billion of which are for the Flagship Fund V, and EUR 200 million for the NextGen Fund. In total, for Flagship Fund V, we have raised EUR 9 billion as of the 31st of December, so 90% of the target size for the fund.
This represents a fund which is 40% larger than its predecessor, Fund IV , and we continue to raise funds in 2024. We have closed fundraising for a NextGen at EUR 1.2 billion, which shows the ability of Antin to raise funds for new investment strategy. We've announced four new investments for 2023. An IPO for a Spanish company, Opdenergy, a renewable energy platform centered on solar energy and a ground-based wind power, which is the second investment for Flagship Fund V. We've acquired Consilium Safety. The acquisition of Consilium Safety, a leader for infrastructure management, which is the third investment for Flagship Fund V.
The NextGen Fund announced two investments in 2023: the acquisition of the smart grids company, PearlX, and a co-company with Enviro, a Swedish company supported by Michelin, to create the first global recycling group for recycling pneumatics at scale. This shows Antin's strong commitment to the circular economy and energy transition. We have made less disposals in 2023. In alignment with the rest of activity in private markets, Antin has sold the Hesley Group in Great Britain. Now we will watch a video on our recent investment in Consilium Safety. By supplying critical security and operational resilience to clients in 55 countries, Consilium Safety is a global leader for safety management. It was created in 1912 in Gothenburg, Sweden. It's now a major player on the international market. It supplies and maintains fire and gas detection devices.
It's focused on four sectors: shipping, railway, energy, and social infrastructure, complex social infrastructure, like hospitals. These are sectors where reliable detection of gas and fires is key. The total base represents 75,000 installed systems, which guarantees operational safety for clients on a daily basis.
So you might have 200 detectors. If you go onto a large vessel, you'll have over 10,000 detectors in some cases. Consilium provides detectors and the whole integrated system. The system has to be very reliable. There's limited room for false alarms. If you imagine a false alarm on a complex vessel, it's not something you want to manage if you at all can avoid it. So that's one of the reasons why it's focused on sectors where customers are prioritizing that as an important feature of the system. If you take the 50,000 or so large, most valuable vessels that are out on the seas at the moment, about 20,000 of those actually use Consilium's systems today.
Roughly 30% of the business comes from the actual installation of the systems, and the other 70% comes from the aftermarket revenues.
Consilium operates a global aftermarket network that covers 55 countries. Across all these countries, the company offers customers certified services, as well as original spare parts. What this means is that customers benefit as a result from industry-leading uptime. Consilium is one of only two providers that can install and service detection systems for large cruise vessels.
The Consilium system is installed once the vessel is being built, and stays for the life of the vessel.
Shipyards' order books are currently full, which gives us visibility over the next two to three years on the growth of Consilium's installed base.
The customer or the owner of the vessel may do a retrofit, and today about 95% of the retrofits is with Consilium.
Consilium's systems are proprietary in nature, which means that the vessels in the installed base rely on spare parts provided by Consilium.
We really liked, Philip and the team. They have a very structured approach.
We were also extremely impressed by their commitment to safety and to performance.
We are here to offer peace of mind for our customers, undisturbed operations, to ensure that if something goes down, we are there to bring that back in operation. This is something that is evident in the everyday operations of our company. We have set financial targets, broken down to clear KPIs, that will ensure we are driving our business in the right direction to get to our target state. Antin's approach to value creation, long-term view, and the partnership-oriented model that they work with motivate me and the team around myself towards our common goal.
Segments where Consilium is focused today are the key segments we see them continuing to focus on. In the marine space, energy transition and complexification of vessels supporting continued growth. We see growth in social infrastructure and hospitals. In rail, we can see them capitalize on the investment that's happening in that space. And in the energy space, we see further room for Consilium to grow. So we're very excited to back Philip and the team. They've put together a management that has the technological know-how, a passion for safety, as well as the commercial ambition to continue to grow this business forward, further investing in the footprint, which means that they're able to service their customers.
... Financial performance of the companies in our portfolio was excellent in 2023. All of our funds have been performing on target or above. This proves the strength of our investment strategy and the resilience of the asset classes we have chosen. Multiples are only stable in spite of the growth of our portfolio because of the dilution effect of increased interest rates on internal valuations. This is a temporary effect, which does not change the trajectory of our funds. These multiples have indeed increased during the first quarter of 2024. We cannot compare the multiples of different funds from one to another because they are at different stages of the value creation process. In 2023, we also saw an evolution of our direction team. Four employees were promoted to managing partner, which is a first in the history of the group.
All have been with Antin for a long time, and all are significant shareholders. I would first like to highlight that this is natural evolution, and this is a continuation of what we have been doing. Mark wanted to focus on his role at the investment committee after co-directing Antin for 15 years. He remains the second biggest shareholder of Antin, and if this AGM renews its trust to him, he will be vice president of the board. At the same time, the ExCom has been broadened with the inclusion of Stéphane Ifker, Angelika Schöchlin, and Kevin Genieser. Stéphane has been working at Antin since its creation and has led some of our most fruitful investments in digital and energy. He is the sponsor of all investments in this sector worldwide.
Angelika has joined Antin in 2010 and has led our investments in transportation and social. She is the sponsor for these sectors, also on a global scale. Kevin joined us in 2017 and created our New York office the next year, which is an office he's been leading ever since. These are 50 collaborators who have done 6 investments in North America to this day. This evolution of the leading team shows the development of human capital in our company, which favors the development of our employees and internal promotions at every level of the organization. And now, I give the floor to Félix Héon for our climate strategy. He's our director of sustainable development. Thank you, Alain.
As we said during the first part of the AGM, the goal of my intervention today is to present the climate strategy to you, which was officially announced last year during this very same meeting, and which is one of the pillars of Antin going forward. So just to remind you, at Antin, we consider taking into account sustainable development and climate change as a true vector for creating and protecting value for the companies in which we invest, and it's one of the key performance indicators for our fund and to guarantee a growth and sustainability of our investments. So these stakes have been, for a very long time now, a part of our investment strategy, influencing our investment decisions, but also being an integral part of the management process of our portfolio companies while they are being held.
We have put some numbers on this slide which allow us to understand how these points are integrated to our investment strategy. Over the last few years, we've done significant investments in the energy transition, EUR 4.5 billion invested in companies that work in the energy transition and in renewable energy, and also EUR 516 million in companies that do rail transportation. Beyond the fact that we've invested an important part of our assets under management in companies that have a strong environmental impact, we also have been integrating actively the risks and opportunity of the environment within our entire investment process. And at the end of 2023, we had raised more than EUR 4.5 billion, and these are loans where that have been indexed on the ESG performance.
We've also placed the socioeconomic development of territories at the heart of our investment, as you can see on the right of this slide, with the EUR 12 billion we've deployed at the end of 2023 throughout our funds to guarantee the transformation and growth of our companies. And we've created 1,700 net jobs in our portfolio since 2021. This is a net number. We have a robust ESG management system, which we are continuously reinforcing by using multiple tools and internal processes, and we use this data to give an account as transparent as possible of the ESG performance of our funds through several yearly reports, which are aligned with extra financial reporting frameworks, both voluntary and compulsory. As I've said at the start of this presentation, last year, we formalized and presented during this AGM our climate strategy.
It aims to limit the impact of our organization on climate change, and it aims to adapt our investment activities to the consequences of the climate change. Our strategy is based on three pillars, the first one being decarbonization of activities in line with the Paris Agreement, and more specifically, to maintain below two degrees Celsius the average temperature increase on the globe. The second is to integrate actively risks and opportunities linked to climate change throughout our investment process. And the third pillar... That was the third pillar, and the second pillar is to accelerate investment in companies enabling decarbonization.
Shown here is our total carbon footprint in 2023. Our footprint is on two major categories. We have direct, indirect emissions linked to our enterprise activities, generated through office energy consumption, professional travel of our employees, and consumption of goods and services to run our investment activities. In 2023, these emissions were just over 6 kilotons of equivalent CO2. As you can see in our slide, only represented 0.2% of our total carbon footprint. Emissions generated by firms that we finance on a pro rata of our holding. 2023, they represented 3,300 kilotons of CO2 equivalents. That's the equivalent of 3,000 French people. If we want to have a major impact as a company on climate change, of course, we must focus efforts on decarbonizing our investment portfolio.
As announced last year, we've defined the decarbonization objectives in line with the global baseline system, based by the SBTi, Science Based Targets initiative . It's an international organization that's set to define sectoral decarbonization methods in line with the Paris Agreement. In our organization, our goal is to reduce by 42% our Scopes 1 and 2 emissions between 2022 and 2030. Essentially, these are emissions linked to the energy consumed in our offices. The end of 2023, we're almost there, reduction of 36% of these emissions versus 2022, thanks primarily to transition to 100% renewable energy in our Paris and Luxembourg offices. We transitioned our Paris, New York, and Singapore offices going forward to readily reach our goal by 2030.
In our investment portfolio, our goal is by 2040, at the latest, have 100% of our capital invested in company with decarbonization goals signed off by the SBTi. In 2023, we continued to evolve positively on this pathway. At the end of the year, 12% of capital invested in companies with such goals. That's an increase of 8 percentage points over 2022 in companies formally committed. Pillar two of our climate strategy is to accelerate investment in companies promoting transition to low carbon, investing in, for example, companies in the renewable space, producing renewable, indirectly investing in companies with heat and cold networks by pooling the energy requirements, reduces the carbon content of the energy mix.
2023, reflecting our progress in the delivery of this commitment, by year-end, we had 22% of capital, Mid Cap, Flagship in companies in the renewable space on new investment in the Spanish company for wind and solar power, Opdenergy, and 12% of capital invested in district heat energy. 100% of capital invested in NextGen is invested in EV charging, smart grids, and recycling, including notably 2 investments announced early 2023. One in PearlX in the US and in the JV with Enviro and Michelin, the leading network for recycling old tires. 2023, we've continued to roll out several initiatives in favor of Pillar three of our climate strategy to embed proactively climate risks and opportunities into our investment process.
So we have notably put in place a new tool for risk analysis and climate opportunity, developed specifically for investment capital by AXA Climate, part of AXA devoted to climate and the environment. With this enabler that we use across our funds, allowed us to identify risks and opportunities, potentially material for targets that are in our portfolio, that linked to extreme climate events, linked to global warming or regular regulatory market or tech changes accompanying the economy to a low-carbon economy going forward. I'm gonna hand over now to Patrice to discuss the group's financial performance over the years. Thank you.
Thanks, Felix. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's a pleasure to present our financial results for 2023 that were outstanding, as you can see.
French isn't my mother tongue, so I'm gonna present this in English, but keep the French slides for your convenience.
2023. As you see, we've recorded strong growth across all key financial performance metrics. Our fee-paying AUM increased to more than EUR 20 billion and was up 5.8%. Our revenues grew by 32%, driven entirely by higher management fees, which are the result of strong fundraising. These management fees are long-term contracted revenues that provide significant P&L predictability. As a result of our strong revenue growth and controlled cost increases, we substantially grew our underlying EBITDA and our underlying net income. EBITDA was up 48%, with margins expanding by seven percentage points, and net income was up by more than 60% as a result of those effects. I will now talk about our cost base. You can see that we've increased our expenses in a controlled manner in 2023.
Personal expenses account for roughly two-thirds of our cost base, and they increased by 15.1% to EUR 74.2 million. This increase is driven primarily by headcount growth of 10.9%. Of course, we've done a number of key hires across the firm in investment, operations, and investor relations, and in particular, we've hired in our New York office, where we continue to grow our presence in New York, in North America, which is strategic to the firm. The remainder increase in the personal expenses is really linked to wage increases, which are driven by inflation and promotions. Now, if we move to the right-hand side of the page, you see that we've increased our operating expenses, our other operating expenses, by 6.2%.
And if you exclude periodic effects, such as placement fees and fund administration expenses that are recharged to our funds, the increase is 6.9%, so well below the growth of our employee base and inflation. If we combine our revenue growth and these controlled cost increases, we've increased our profitability substantially. So our EBITDA is up 48.2% to EUR 175 million. I've already mentioned that's a seven percentage point increase in our margin. Our underlying net income increased by 60% to EUR 128 million, resulting in an underlying earnings per share that grew to 73 cents per share, compared to 44 cents per share in the prior year.
As a result of that, we're proposing today the distribution of almost all our 2023 profit in the form of dividends. So EUR 127.2 million in total, which equates to 0.71 EUR per share, a 69% increase compared to the dividend we've paid in the prior year. Out of this, a 0.32 EUR per share dividend has already been paid as an interim dividend in November of 2023, and the balance of 0.39 EUR per share is proposed to be paid on the nineteenth of June, fairly soon. So now looking at our outlook, it has always been our stated objective since the IPO / OPA , to grow faster than the infrastructure private markets in general. We have done that for 15 years, and it continues to be our objective to do that in the future.
More specifically, and more near-term, we plan to raise at least EUR 10 billion for our Flagship Fund V, which obviously is a very substantial upsizing of that fund relative to its predecessor. And we also continue to have an objective to maintain or increase our profits. In essence, this means that for our EBITDA, we expect to be at or above EUR 175 million, which is equivalent at EUR 175 million, equivalent to where we were in 2023. And that's obviously very much driven by the outcome of fundraising for Fund V. With respect to cash distributions, it's our objective to continue to dividend out a majority of our cash profits, consistent with how we've been doing it over the past years.
With that, I will hand over to Mélanie Biessy to talk about governance and compensation. Thank you. Merci, Patrice.
Thanks, Patrice. Ladies and gentlemen, I am indeed now going to address governance and compensation. As you know, 85% of capital held by Antin, held by Antin partners and employees. This shareholding guarantees alignment of interests with the shareholders who hold the free float. The board is currently comprised of 7 members, 3 executive directors present here, and 4 independent directors, some of whom are present in the room. March 6 last, the board decided to propose today to renew the terms of Alain Rauscher, Mark Crosbie, and myself for a 3-year term, and to renew the term of Ramon de Oliveira, independent director, for a 2-year term with an eye to staggering mandates.
Russell Chambers, who's not asked for the renewal of his term, the board thanked him warmly for his contribution to the work of the board, as well as his active participation within the audit committee and the appointments and compensation committee, of which he was a member. We're actually, we're actually to running the slideshow. So subject to your approval, the board will number henceforth six members, three independent directors. That's a proportion of 50% independent directors. That is markedly higher than the minimum proportion of 33.3% recommended by the AFEP-MEDEF Code for control. Ramon de Oliveira will join the audit committee, which remain comprised of three independent members. The appointments and compensation committee will comprise two independent directors.
Lynne Shamwana will join the sustainability committee, so as to strengthen ties between the audit committee and the sustainability committee. I will now turn to compensation awarded to board members in respect of FY 2023. Only the independent directors receive compensation as Antin directors. The total, maximum total amount of said compensation that is to be divided between them was approved by the AGM, held on the twenty-fourth of November. That's EUR 210,000. Compensation items of compensation for directors shown here in respect of FY 2023 were determined by the board upon recommendation of the appointments and compensation committee in application of the compensation policy approved at the last AGM. The structure of compensation for executive officers of Antin in respect of FY 2023 was only comprised of fixed and variable compensation.
Variable compensation was subject to the attainment of five quantitative criteria that represent 70% of total variable compensation, and two qualitative criteria, representing 30% of this variable compensation, as shown on the screen. The charts here show total fixed and variable compensation of Alain Rauscher and Mark Crosbie in respect of FY 2023. As regards variable compensation, the board set the achievement rate for quantitative objectives at 100%, and the attainment rate for qualitative objectives at 92.5%. Items on which the board based itself in defining these attainment rates are detailed in our Universal Registration Document for 2023. In accordance with provisions of the Code of Commerce, the payment of this variable compensation is today put to your approval. I'm now going to present the compensation policy in respect of FY 2024.
Now, compensation policy for independent directors applied in 2024 will be renewed from 2023 to 2024, and the principles are shown here on screen. As regards compensation of the executive officer, there's no change, and the FY 2023 policy will be broadly renewed for 2024. In respect to 2024, the board proposes to preserve the current structure compensation for the CEO, comprised only of fixed and variable compensation, the latter being capped at 100% of fixed compensation, to the exclusion of any other item of compensation. That's the first point proposed by the board, and also to continue the policy of alignment of increased compensation of the CEO on the increase in compensation for Antin employees by applying to fixed compensation the same increase of 5% to that applied on average to the compensation of Antin employees.
Also, retain the structure of the variable compensation of the CEO with a quantitative component capped at 70% of fixed compensation and a qualitative component capped at 30% of fixed compensation, with an eye to being considered consistent with the KPIs disclosed to the market. This will be assessed on the basis of four criteria, no longer the five planned as part of the policy for 2023, shown here on screen. So the change involves the quantitative criteria, and we've introduced increase in EBITDA plus 5%. That's the change introduced for compensation in 2024. Thank you for your attention. I'm going to hand over to our statutory auditors for their various reports. Thanks.
Dear shareholders, I will first summarize our audit reports for the consolidated financial statements and annual financial statements on the brochure you have been given. The fundamental objective of our audit is to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are fairly presented and that they are a fair representation of financial statements, and that there are no significant anomalies. We certify, without any reservations, the consolidated financial statements and the yearly financial statements of your company. In a complex and changing environment, we report to you the key aspects of the audits regarding the risk of significant anomalies, which, in our professional judgment, were most significant for the audit of this year. The key points of the audit related to the consolidated financial statements are two: valuation of non-current assets, so fund shares held. The valuation of carried interest.
Finally, the key point of the audit relating solely to the individual financial participation, especially when it comes to AIP SAS and AIP UK. We have no matters to report regarding the fair presentation of the group's management report in conformity with the consolidated financial statement. Concerning individual accounts, we have no observations to make after the specific checkups, regulatory checkups have been done, especially concerning information given to the shareholders, especially at the report on corporate governance and management report. Concerning the format of the presentation of consolidated financial statements, annexes thereof, and the annual financial statement included on the basis of our work, we conclude that the presentation of the consolidated financial accounts, the annual accounts, and the annex are in conformity in all significant ways with the European electronic information format.
I now give the floor to Hervé, which is going to detail our special reports and our other reports. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'm going to continue with the report on regulated conventions. This report has to be presented to the AGM. Our work is not to give our opinion on their usefulness or their relevance. So before the AGM's approval, we have received no information about any convention authorized and concluded within the last year to be put before the approval of the AGM, in accordance with L-225-38 of the Code of Commerce. Concerning conventions already approved by the AGM, we inform you that we were not notified of any pre-approved convention whose execution would have continued during 2023. Now, I will tell you about the four reports... which fall under the purview of the extraordinary AGM.
First of all, the report on the reduction of capital, Resolution 14-15. It's the authorization to consent to the board, the ability to reduce equity by canceling shares within the framework of the law, L-22-1062 of the Code of Commerce. There's a limitation to a 10% of capital per 24 months, and also a delegation of power to the board for 18 months with regards to that. The conclusion of our report is, we have no observations to make on the reasons and conditions of the equity reduction, which has been planned. Now, a report on the authorization of attribution of free shares which exist. I would like to remind you, Resolution 16, authorization to consent to the board to attribute free shares which already exist or new shares. The shares that would be attributed would not represent more than 2 million shares.
The total number of shares that could be attributed within the framework of the current authorization cannot go above the global limit of 15% of existing shares of the company at the date of their attribution. The conclusion of our work is that we have no observation to make concerning the information given in the report of the board concerning this operation to allow free shares attribution. We still have two reports to cover. Report on capital increase, specifically for those who have an employee savings plan, with an 18-month delegation of power to give to the board to increase equity by creating new company shares for the shareholders who are part of the employee savings scheme. The total amount will be no more than EUR 10 million.
The conclusion is that, while we will need to monitor extra capital that will be decided, we have no comment to make on the current modalities of the power to be given to the board. The final conditions in which these new shares will be made, having not been made final, we have no opinion on these or on the proposal to remove the preferential subscription possibility. In accordance with code R225-116 of the Code of Commerce, we will give you a future report once conditions have been specified. Finally, concerning Resolution 18, an increase of a capital for beneficiaries, which will be employees of the group. Resolution 18 is to create shares without a preferential subscription rate for employees of the companies of the group, for a maximum amount of EUR 5 million, all inclusive.
This ceiling will be part of the ceiling of the eighteenth resolution and of the global ceiling of the fifth resolution voted during the AGM of 2023. This is a delegation of power for 18 months. Once conditions will have been made more precise, we have, in the meantime, no notices to make about the current delegation of power to the board. Once the final conditions are known, we will be able to give a final notice and report. In the meantime, we have no comments to make. In accordance with Article R225-116 of the Code of Commerce, we will give you a future further report, if necessary, once the board uses this power. And now it's our pleasure to open the Q&A session.
There have been no written questions given to the board, so we will directly answer the shareholders in the room. You have the floor, ladies and gentlemen. Is there a microphone or is my voice loud enough? Well... So I'm a fund manager. Yes, with a microphone, it's much better for translation. So I'm used to be present for AGMs physically, and I know companies well, but I must apologize because I don't know your company that well. And so I have a couple of questions, maybe naive questions. I wanted to thank you for your very pleasant welcome, and these presentations, which are both convincing and well-made. First of all, I have... First, I have a question-...
You talked about assets that generate commissions, which is very worrying for a minority shareholder, such as myself, which is the idea that you may manage assets that don't generate commissions. Why, why is that? It's maybe a silly question. Yes, I'll answer this question. We have EUR 31 billion in assets under management. Within these EUR 31 billion, EUR 20 billion are assets which generate commissions. That is to say, they generate revenues for the company you are a shareholder of. Beyond these EUR 20 billion, there is co-investment, which is offered to investors of our funds, and this co-investment does not generate any management commissions, which is why it's quoted in the assets under management but doesn't generate any commissions.
Then there's overvaluation of portfolios, because we are an investor that creates value, and so this, extra value, which is generation, which is generated, is, a part of these EUR 31 billion of assets under management. And so most of the revenue of our company, also comes from co-investment and value created on the assets we are invested in. Thank you. And so I have four questions. The first is Flagship Five. I understood that initially we were aiming for EUR 12 billion of fundraising on this instrument. I understand that now we're looking at ten. Could you tell us what, what led? Is it simply because the sector slowed down and investor appetite? Why, why do we have these difficulties? What is your degree of trust that we will be able to reach EUR 10 billion at Q3? That's my first question. Very well.
Concerning the target for fundraising for Flagship Five, it hasn't changed at EUR 10 billion. We've indicated that we were at EUR 9 billion at the end of 2023. What is the number today?
EUR 9.2 billion.
And the fund is still being raised, so we are very confident that we will exceed the EUR 10 billion target. The EUR 12 billion you are talking about are what we call the hard cap. It's not a target commitment, it's a maximum that we commit to raise with our investors. And our estimation today is that we will be around, somewhere around 10 and 12. The market, the what we call the private markets, was very difficult, has been very difficult over the last 12-18 months, mainly for one reason, which is that, which is what we call DPI.
That is to say, the fact that there were very few disposals which have allowed investors in funds to get cash back to reinvest in new funds, to recycle capital in new funds, so the market has slowed down a lot. We did one acquisition, but it's true that apart from a company in Great Britain, we have made no disposals, and it's the case of many of our peers. So the big institutionals who invest with us are, are all in a situation, many of them in a situation, where there's a cash limit on what they can invest.
Nonetheless, we continue to raise funds, and I can mention one public investment with an investment of the state of New Mexico, which decided to invest $250 million, so EUR 240 million, which will be added to the EUR 9.1 billion, which our friend talked about earlier. So the market is difficult for everyone, but we continue, and we will manage to exceed our target. We believe that with a lot of confidence. Well, that's a connection to my next question. So these few acquisitions, so I understand that it's a sector. Last week, we saw a first lowering of interest rates. Does this free up? Do you feel that things are moving when it comes to the ability to manage disposals, or is it still too soon for this reaction?
So I would say that interest rates on private markets on non-publicly traded, broadly speaking, there are two types of debt instruments for buyout funds. You have a debt structure, which is so-called junior, and these are very costful debts, and today we'll see debt that's 10%-15%, so very high cost. Concerning Antin and its market, which is focused on infrastructure, the cost of debt is much, much more limited. It's more expensive than it was 2.5 years ago, but we're looking at a benchmark which is much more reasonable. So we insist on the fact that banks have a greater ability to lend in our asset category, at least, than I think in 2000. In 2022, to give you an idea of scope, we financed and refinanced around EUR 10 billion.
In 2023, the amount was EUR 8 billion. It's not because we can raise as much, it's because we didn't need to, but we refinanced everything, and the maturity of debt are for almost all beyond 2025. So we are very, very confident on our ability to wait for a fall in interest rates, which is starting to move in Europe, but the Fed has not moved its rate yet this week. But for very specific reasons on the American market, because they have no joblessness, so this creates inflationary pressure. There's a specificity of the American market, but in Europe rates have already started going down. Thank you very much. My third question is something I'm worried about.
So I don't know much about your trade, but I perceived these last few years, there's been a euphoria on infrastructure. Everybody wanted infrastructure with 0% interest rates, so it was a very attractive bet. So I felt that everything that could exist was taken up, and the multiples were a bit high. And my perception, and I hope I'm wrong about this, is that when you present companies of the group, sometimes we move away from infrastructure, strictly speaking, because as far as I'm concerned, infrastructure is very long-term, it's protected from inflation, and it's on solid economic models. So when I see recharging stations for cars, it looks very long-term, very costful.
When I see your communiqué on Proxima, we have to compete with a player that's been losing money forever. So it's hard to compete with competition that loses money. I know that you're very professional, but nonetheless. But my impression is to ask myself, aren't we going beyond infrastructure? Are we going to go beyond infrastructure in spite of the fact that this may present a steeper risk profile? All right, so what we call infrastructure is not a sector, it's a risk level, and we do it with what we call the Infra Test. We look for essential assets in a community on which we have a visibility of cash flow in the long run, which allows us to protect ourselves against inflation with contracts.
This also allows us to offer a great capacity, natural barriers to entry. Not that we are always in a monopoly, but, competition, I would say, is reasonable. And because we're looking for, good profitability, we want assets that can grow to create, wealth. So when we think about a new investment, we always think in the following way, and we have four big sectors, four big companies, if you would like: transportation, energy and environment, digital telecommunications, and medical essentials. But it's not because we have an investment in a highway, for instance, that we're going to do investments on other highways. There are highways that have no potential for growth. If there's no potential for growth, it's not for us, because we can't create value there.
To pick up on the point you mentioned, I mean, it's too soon to say what's gonna happen. EV charging stations, well, we can think what you like about EVs, but there will be... There are already some on the road. Numbers are growing. Will it be 20, 30, 100%, or will it be postponed or will it never be 100%? But there will be demand for EVs on the rise, and therefore, for EV charging. We're present across four countries, through two companies in the UK, Portugal, Spain, France, and we're currently rolling out our network very pragmatically by seeking to identify the right spots to deploy the EV charging stations.
Our approach is prudent in terms of size, and it's also an approach that, I would say, does not postulate that tomorrow everyone's going to sell their internal combustion vehicle to buy an EV. So we're very cautious in the expansion. Everything remains to be done. Investment, we're talking about size of the market. Assuming, I mean, it's not our assumption that by 2030, 100% of vehicles will be electric. The number of EV charging stations is colossal in Europe, North America. We're far more prudent for our part. What we're gonna do will be a small part of the response to that.... For Proxima now.
Proxima, it's quite amusing because we have well explained to the press that we didn't want to compete head-to-head with SNCF, and that we wanted to supplement an SNCF offer on the Atlantic Arc, Paris, Bordeaux, Angers, Nantes, and Rennes. And to say a bit about what's gonna happen, we'll have the first trains in 2027. We'll have all the trains, 12 trains, to carry 10 million passengers per year. 10 million versus 320 million gives you an idea of the competition radius. The press, reflecting that to general public, is hugely irritated by the train situation currently. A lot of journalists, without us, see us as kind of a white knight who's gonna drive down prices because prices are high, et cetera. I mean, that's an interpretation.
It's quite amusing 'cause we had that comment in the press systematically. But in fact, what we're gonna do, and that's where the project's hugely interesting, we started from analysis that mobility had radically changed, evolved, had radically changed post lockdown, and remote working became the norm, and this working from home has a massive impact on where people live. And many people, for instance, living in Bordeaux and head to Paris for two days a week to work. So peak hours that were typically Friday evening and Monday evening, well, that no longer exists. Monday evening, it's full. Monday noon, it, trains are full. Monday morning, Tuesday, trains are full every day. It's true in other regions, Paris-Lille, Paris-Strasbourg, Marseille, trains are chock-a-block. So what we're doing is bringing more offering, and with that offering, an offering that's tailored to the new needs.
That is to say, the ability to, to work from, your seat on the train without disturbing the other passengers. So twelve trains sounds a lot when you're talking billions, but fundamentally, it's a drop in the ocean as compared to what I sense here French railways are doing. Thank you for those, answers. So it's really with a lot of passion. I got three more questions, but as a courtesy, if anybody else wants to ask a question, I would, yield. I see we have a gentleman over there. Bonjour, hello. If I've understood correctly, you have an independent director who did not wish to renew his term of office, and your board is not proposing the appointment of a new director. Absolutely, you've understood full well.
So the new composition of the board will be a composition of 50% independence and 50%. Okay. But what I don't understand is that the compensation policy for director, the amount remains unchanged. So am I to infer that the independent directors are going to receive an additional 33% pay? Very good question. Well, the compensation policy provides for a proportional calculation based on the number of independents. If there are more independents, then the compensation will be recalculated. Unless it's proportional, so the independent directors who are still on the board won't receive more because an independent director has not been renewed. We don't share the portion of the outgoing director with the remaining independent. Why didn't you just renew the... Reduce the package?
Because we reserve the right to increase the number of directors on the board, so we prefer to maintain the total package, so as to potentially welcome other independent directors as we progress. So it's, it's really as a convenience. It's not to share the share of that outgoing director with the remaining directors. I've understood that, but already last year, I was flabbergasted by the amount of compensation to direct, which was, what? EUR 300,000 per individual, per person. In no other company is the amount of compensation comparable to that. So how, how can you justify that compen... At LVMH, Sanofi, L'Oréal, the maximum that an independent director receives is EUR 200,000, and I'm sure they have more meetings than you do. Yes. That... Well, you have a figure in mind, which is EUR 300,000.
These are not the figures we have here. So let's perhaps—I'm taking last year's figures. Well, okay. So the figures were published in our URD. Indeed, the amounts of last year varied between EUR 260,000 and EUR 160,000, and this year the amounts have been revised downwards, as you can see on screen. You may not recall, but last year we revised the compensation policy for independent directors, so we're between 125,000 and 181,000 depending on attendance. You add up the total, it's not EUR 1.2 million. No, no. Well, no, no, EUR 1.2 million is the maximum. It's a maximum package that isn't there to be shared with the existing. But last year, it seems to me that it was higher.
It was slightly higher last year, and in the meantime, we changed the mode of calculation for the compensation of our independent directors. So today, we're in ranges that are quite in line with what you see potentially in the market. Furthermore, I deplore that in your financial presentation, balance sheet zero, P&L zero, mention was made of an increase of I don't know what. What's more, in English, you are a French company listed on Euronext France. I fail to see why you're delivering presentations in English, even if you have headsets, but with my hearing aids, well, I can't, I can't use, I can't don the hearing aid, the headset. Well, we didn't... You may not note it this year, but because the presentation's in French, but it's true, you're right that a number of words remain in English.
Irrespective of this, there's a balance sheet, a P&L. It's no income statement, non-existent, both, consolidated and statutory. It's all in the Universal Registration Document. It's all in the URD. But we prefer... We, your point is well taken, sir. I'm sure I didn't time it, but the presentation on climate was longer than the financial presentation. Yes, that's quite possible. Anyway, be that as it may, we, we take note of that and we'll improve things, ensure that things are improved for next year.
Yeah.
Bonjour, Monsieur Jean.
Monsieur Jean-Pierre, I'm an individual. So I've got two or three quick ones. Could you tell, you've bought out Opdenergy in Spain. What changes that? You're bringing them more money for rollout projects faster and for comparables. Neoen has just been bought. You bought out at the right price, Opdenergy. And I got another question on your JV on tires with Michelin. I didn't see the split, the capital. What's Michelin share in the JV? Is Michelin gonna buy out the crushed products, or they give you technical on these plants, 'cause these are recycling plants. Are you gonna roll them out across Europe or just have one recycling partner? Final question, resolution 14 share buybacks, limited to 10% of the capital. There's a budget over EUR 470 million, maximum price at EUR 20.
It means you could buy back. There's a 15% free float, just about everything. Is that possible issues? I mean, options? The share price quite low with good yield. I'll let Mélanie speak to the share buyback. Opdenergy, the transaction, and Opdenergy was previously listed company, and its listing was limited, its ability to raise debt, project debt, and this led to do a delisting. We bought all the interest from majority block, and then we put in a bid for 100% of the capital. It's a company that invests in solar and wind power, ground-based, but primarily solar power in Spain.
It's a very fine company, and the fact that it's private will give it great agility to put farm by farm, all the, the solar or panels or, or wind, farms, great, electricity production. So that was the purpose of this delisting. It's very complicated to compare prices because multiples we see vary depending on the state of maturity of the company. Neoen, in particular, that we know well, that's a fine company, was far more advanced in its development than Opdenergy. So the multiples, Opdenergy in five years' time will be very different from what it is today. I don't know if, Neoen will be very different in five years because it's already reached a great maturity rollout. So I can't really compare the prices. We were in a competitive, process. ...
We're in line with what we've done in the same sector in Germany, now with Blue Elephant, was the name of the company there, and in previous acquisitions in the past or more recently. Turning now to the JV with Enviro to recycle used Michelin tires. Well, this is an environment through our NextGen Fund. It's next generation of investments in infrastructure that aims at following and identifying and investing in new market segments, new market sectors, and need to know that tires thus far are at best burnt, at worst, abandoned. Need to be clear about that. Michelin, as you know, is really focused on the environment, put in place for long time now a network for to collect used tires. They send round trucks collecting tires in garages as to recycle them or reclaim.
Enviro is a Swedish tech company that's developed a technology to recover the carbon black, the material that's gonna be used to manufacture, tires that offer significant, resilience, qualities. So thanks to the tech and the plants we're gonna build, we're gonna save up to 80% of the carbon black used in manufacture of new, tires, so the, green benefit's huge. We're really at the heart of the circular economy, where we take a used tire, we're gonna recycle it to, up to... So 80% is considerable. In other words, 80% that don't generate further pollution, so it's a major environmental challenge. We start with a first plant, which has been set up in Sweden, which is now approved. Construction's underway.
Then we're gonna build comparable similar plants across other European geographies, Germany, France, Netherlands, UK, and, possibly other countries such as the US. So that's the plan. So the deal, we've got two types of agreement. The first is a tech agreement with Enviro, a company that doesn't have the financial wherewithal to fund, building a whole set of plants. And then we've got, agreement to access the used tires with Michelin. This agreement will be rolled out to all tire manufacturers. Everyone's faced with the same problem at Michelin. If a plant exists to recycle tires, everyone's going to contribute, so we're very confident about accessing the raw material. It's a proven technology, works very well, takes time to develop and, lots of money to, build the plants. That's what I wanted to tell you about that. On the share buyback.
Well, share buybacks, it's the renewal, the usual renewal of our traditional resolution on share buyback that allows us notably to use our liquidity contract currently in force and to renew that liquidity contract following this AGM.
Oui.
Sir, next question. I've got two more quick ones, and then I'll stop, wearing you out. Firstly, on what's currently happening, dissolution of parliament, the risk of a new government, coming to power over the next weeks and months. Have you done a kind of a stress test? That is, what is today in your fund, the percentage of assets depend on France, purely France-dependent, and exposed in some shape or form to regulatory decisions or subsidies? Maybe say a word about that. And then my second question is the share price, of course. I'd be keen to hear your sense, your views on the share price. Of course, oh, difficult to assess the share...
I mean, I look at valuation issues very, but can you help me to say, tell me, what are the KPIs, what are the industry multiples, and how you compare with, peers, your closest peers, and to indicate, to what extent there is or not a discount on the current, valuation of Antin that I really deplore? Thank you. Well, regarding exposure to the French market, the political situation in France as far as we're concerned, well, first of all, investments in France represent about 10% of our total, and 90% are outside France or not linked to France. That's the first point. Very important. We try to have a highly diversified approach. We're a fund that's both European, investing in Europe and also in North America. So with...
A deliberate quest for risk reduction through sectoral and geographic risk reduction, both investments that we currently have in France. I'm thinking of two in particular. Well, there's one, Idex, that's district heating, that half or at least manages the district heating in the La Défense business district, all the office towers in La Défense business and a lot of other thing. Well, that company's linked to the tower owners through long-term contracts. That'll continue to exist. We don't anticipate any change in that regard. In other sectors, I'm thinking in particular for markets that may have been contracts let in the region, Marseille, Nice or Lyon or other regions, that once again, we've got contracts with private or public authorities. These are very robust contracts. Don't anticipate any difficult...
We've got Babilou that manages, crèches and nurseries, and so we've got on that, as you know, there was a parliamentary investigation commission on, the crèches, and the conclusions were that today you've got a mixed, system, public, local municipal, nurseries, you've got the community crèches, and you've got the private, nurseries about, 50, 30, 20 split. Private's about 20%, and so we need the more places in kindergartens of about 100,000. So municipalities are under strong financial pressure, so the estimate at least 80% of openings of beds for, children, 80% will come from private nurseries.
So we've got a system today that's balanced, and I think that before scrapping the subsidies, well, politicians will think twice because you've got one less bed in the crèche. Well, it means a working mom can no longer work. That's what we're looking at. It's directly to the employability of women. So I think that whoever wins the elections, they'll think twice before scrapping that.
We have very few windmill assets in France. We don't have any in France, and personally, I don't like wind power at all, but we don't have any in France, so there's no exposition from that point of view. On the share price?
The KPIs that are relevant for the firm, I think the market very much looks at the growth of the company, which is AUM growth that translates into, a metric that research analysts will most... surprise you. And the peers that, you have in Europe in our listed sector are EQT, Partners Group, Bridgepoint, and now since, a short period of time, CVC as well, the four listed private market firms in Europe.
How do you compare from those firms? Because, I imagine that, they've got some multiples which are much higher than the current one at Antin.
Look, I think it really depends. I think if you take players like EQT and Partners Group, we're probably trading at a slight discount. If you take players like Bridgepoint that are in a similar size bucket, we are trading at a premium. A lot of this is probably related to size as well, but then there are obviously differences that change over time as well with fluctuations.
What is certain is that, since our IPO, the private market sectors has seen its multiples go down a lot because of exchange rates and because of inflation. This is a general trend throughout the industry. If there are no further questions, I propose that we move to the presentation of resolutions and their vote. So today, we will put before you 19 resolutions, 5 for the ordinary AGM and 4 for the extraordinary AGM. Resolutions 1 and 2 will enable you to vote on Antin's parent company and its consolidated financial statements for 2023. Resolution 3 concerns the appropriation of earnings and distribution of 0.71 EUR per share on the 19th of June. Resolution 4 allows you to take note of the statutory auditor's report on regulated agreements, which as you know, there have been none concerning Antin.
Resolutions 5-8 concern the renewal of mandates for members of the board. Resolutions 9-13, concerning compensation, are nine to thirteen, and they concern the approval of amounts paid to corporate officers and the compensation policy for 2024. All of these elements were presented to you, and you will see them in more in detail in the Universal Registration Document. Resolution 14 proposes that you renew the authorization for the share buyback program within the legal limits. At the same time, resolution 15 aims to renew authorization to the board to reduce the company's capital by canceling shares purchased under the buyback program. Resolution 16 is about attributing free shares to employees of Antin, shares that already exist or that may be created. Resolution 17 and 18 talk about capital increase for employees of Antin, as well as they subscribe to the employee savings scheme.
Then finally, the 19th resolution is for legal formalities. It will be the final resolution you will be voting on. The final quorum is 95.95% of shares, and it's now time for you to take your remote so that you may vote electronically on the resolutions. So the instructions for using the remote are on the screen. You will use the green, orange, and red buttons. Orange to abstain, green and red to vote for and against, respectively. You will see a small countdown once the vote is concluded, and the results will be displayed immediately on screen. We can now begin resolution 1: approval of consolidated accounts for 2023. Voting closed. Resolution adopted. Resolution 2: approval of consolidated account for 2023. Resolution 3: attribution of result for 2023 and 0.71 EUR dividend per share.
Voting opened. Voting closed. The motion is adopted. Resolution 4: validation of the report of the statutory auditors on our regulated conventions. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion approved. Resolution 5: renewal of Alain Rauscher's tenure as a board member. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion passed. Resolution 6: renewal of the tenure of Mark Crosbie for 3 years as an administrator. Voting closed. Motion passed. Motion 7: renewal of the tenure as a board member for Ms. Mélanie Biessy . Voting closed. Motion approved. Motion 8: renewing the tenure for Mr. Ramon de Oliveira. Voting closed. Motion has passed. Motion 9: compensation for members of the board for 2023, approval thereof. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion approved. Motion 10: approval of compensation for Mr. Alain Rauscher, Chairman and CEO, for 2023. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution approved. Resolution 11: approval of compensation for Mr.
Mark Crosbie, Deputy Chairman of the Board , for his tenure up until 2023. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion passed. Resolution 12, approval of the compensation policy for 2024 for independent administrators. Voting closed. Motion approved. Motion 13, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman CEO for 2024. Voting open. Voting closed, and the motion is approved. Motion 14, power for the board concerning the buyback of shares by Antin of its own shares. Vote closed. The motion is approved. Motion 15, power to the board to reduce capital by canceling own shares. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution approved. Resolution 16, authorization power to the board to give free shares to employees, whether these be new or existing. Voting closed. The motion is passed.
Resolution 17, power to the board to increase capital without any preferential purchasing rights for the employee savings scheme. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion is approved. Motion 18, power to the board to increase capital without a preferential subscription right for shareholders, for beneficiaries, which will be employees of the Antin Group. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion approved. Resolution 19, power for formalities. Voting open. Voting closed. Motion approved. Thank you very much. The vote is now concluded. I can see that the agenda has been exhausted and that all proposed resolutions were accepted, and I conclude this AGM. I wish you a good afternoon.
The next AGM will be on the 11th of June, 2025. We will meet there with pleasure. Thank you very much.