Yeah. Can you start again?
[audio distortion] .
Sorry about that. That's the problem of having hybrid meetings. It's our first time doing a hybrid meeting. Before I proceed, I would like to thank our unit holders who are able to join us in person and virtually for today's meeting. As a reminder, this meeting is being streamed live for unit holders attending virtually. We respectfully ask that background noise be kept to a minimum. Before we begin, please be aware that certain information to be presented or discussed today may be forward-looking. I refer you to the cautionary note on the presentation slide. The cautionary note applies to our presentation and discussions this afternoon. I now will pause while the note is read.
During today's meeting and in the management presentation and question period, the forward-looking information may relate to CAPREIT's future outlook and anticipated events or results. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding expected growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities. Management's estimates, beliefs, and assumptions are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, and other uncertainties and contingencies regarding future events and, as such, are subject to change. Although the forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and information that is currently available to management, including current market conditions and management's assessment of acquisition, disposition, and other opportunities that are or may become available to CAPREIT, which are subject to change, management believes these statements have been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting CAPREIT's best estimates and judgments.
However, there can be no assurance actual results, terms, or timing will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond CAPREIT's control, that may cause CAPREIT's or the industry's actual results, performance, achievements, prospects, and opportunities in future periods to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements and uncertainties are described in CAPREIT's regulatory filings, including our annual information form and management's discussion and analysis, all of which can be obtained on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Subject to applicable law, CAPREIT does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.
I will begin by introducing Mark Kenney, a member of the Board of Trustees and President and Chief Executive Officer who will be speaking today, and Stephen Co, our Chief Financial Officer. The format for today's meeting will be divided into two parts. First, I will deal with the formal aspects of the meeting, following which there will be a management presentation by Mark Kenney. At the end of that presentation, we will address questions from unit holders and proxy holders. For those attending the meeting virtually, such questions may be submitted through the message tab provided on the web portal. The unit holders also had an opportunity to submit questions via email in advance of today's meeting. Though we may not have time to answer every question, we will do our best to provide a response to as many questions as possible during the meeting.
In the unlikely event that we do not address your question during the meeting, CAPREIT will communicate with you after the meeting if you have provided your contact information. I will now begin with the formal part of the meeting. I now call the meeting to order. With the consent of the meeting, Elise Lenzer, CAPREIT's secretary, will act as secretary of the meeting, and Melody Tong and Josette Coffeyberg of Computershare Trust Company of Canada will act as scrutineers for today's meeting. The secretary has advised me that we received the applicable confirmations of mailing that the notice calling the meeting and related material were provided to unit holders of record on the record day for the meeting. With the consent of the meeting, I will dispense with the reading of the notice calling the meeting.
The secretary has advised me that a quorum is present for the meeting based on unit holders we know to be in attendance, including by proxy, and documented in the preliminary report of the scrutineers. A final report will be prepared and filed as part of the record of the meeting. On this basis, I declare the meeting to be properly constituted for the transaction of business. On behalf of the board, I thank those unit holders who have joined us today. Voting results for resolutions to be voted on today will be formally announced by press release following the meeting. For the purposes of today's meeting, voting on all matters will be conducted by electronic and paper ballot. Registered unit holders and proxy holders of record attending the meeting virtually can use the electronic ballot feature available on your screen.
Registered unit holders and proxy holders of record attending the meeting in person can use the paper ballot provided by the scrutineers to vote. You are encouraged to complete your ballot during the allotted time prior to the end of the formal portion of today's meeting. If you voted in advance of the meeting and you do not wish to revoke your previously submitted proxy, then you do not need to vote during the meeting. If during the course of the meeting we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged on, and we will resume as soon as practicable. Based on reporting by the scrutineers, the designated proxy holder for the meeting is holding proxies demonstrating voting in an abundance of favorability for all matters to be voted on. Accordingly, we will try to move through the formal meeting items quickly.
To make the best use of our time, we have designated unit holders that will move and second each of the meeting matters. The polls are now formally open for electronic voting. Voting will close once all resolutions have been formally dealt with. Once voting closes, the scrutineers will tabulate the results of the vote for each matter. The first item of business is the presentation of the consolidated financial statements of CAPREIT for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the related auditor's report. A copy of the financial statements was delivered to unit holders, and the financial statements are available electronically on CAPREIT's website and SEDAR+. Unit holders are not being asked to take any action regarding the financial statements. Before proceeding with the election of trustees, I would like to recognize Mr.
Harold Burke, who is retiring from the Board of Trustees following 15 years of service, which is the maximum term under CAPREIT's trustee term limit policy. Mr. Burke's invaluable insight, expertise, and leadership have played a key role in driving CAPREIT's success, and we would like to thank Mr. Burke for his time, effort, and dedication to helping CAPREIT achieve its goal. I would also like to introduce you to Mr. David Vesak. This past year, we were excited to have welcomed Mr. Vesak to CAPREIT's Board of Trustees. Mr. Vesak has extensive residential and development experience and knowledge of the Vancouver real estate market, which provides great value to CAPREIT. We will now proceed with the election of trustees. The management information circular sets out information for the nine nominees for election to the board.
Since I'm advised that no further nominations were received by CAPREIT prior to the advance notice deadline in CAPREIT's advance notice policy, the following are the nine trustee nominees: Lori Anne Bursley, myself, Gina Parvaneh Cody, Mark Kenney, Gervais Levasseur, Ken Silver, Jennifer Sodder, Elaine Todres, Renée Tremblay, and David Vesak. Thank you. The Toronto Stock Exchange requires trustees to be voted on individually. Consistent with this requirement, unit holders have been provided with the opportunity to vote or withhold their vote for each nominee on an individual basis. In addition, and consistent with CAPREIT's commitment to good governance practices, the board has adopted a majority voting policy. Under that policy, a trustee is required to tender his or her resignation if he or she is elected with more votes withheld than are cast in favor of his or her election.
Based on the proxies received for the election of trustees, none of the nominees will have to tender their resignation under CAPREIT's majority voting policy. I now propose we proceed with the motion to elect the nominees. May I have a motion for the election of trustees?
My name is Stephen Co. I am the Chief Financial Officer and beneficial unit holder and proxy holder of CAPREIT. I move for the election of the nine nominees as trustees.
My name is Jenny Chou. I'm the Vice President of Finance and a beneficial unit holder and proxy holder for CAPREIT. I second the motion.
Thank you. We will now vote for the election of trustees. Any registered unit holder or duly appointed proxy holder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote with respect to the election of trustees may do so now by clicking on the Vote Here button on the web portal and following the instructions. Those unit holders voting in person may vote using the paper ballots described earlier. We will now proceed with the appointment of auditors and the authorization of the board to fix their remuneration. The trustees, on the recommendation of the audit committee, propose that Ernst & Young LLP be appointed as the auditors of CAPREIT and that the trustees be authorized to fix their remuneration. May I have a motion for such appointment and authorization?
I so move.
I second the motion.
Thank you. We will now vote for appointment of auditors. Any registered unit holder or duly appointed proxy holder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote with respect to the appointment of the auditor may do so now by clicking on the Vote Here button on the web portal and following the instructions. Those unit holders voting in person may vote using the paper ballots described earlier. The next item of business is to hold a non-binding advisory vote on CAPREIT's approach to executive compensation. The advisory resolution is set forth in the management information circular. Since the vote is advisory, it will not be binding on the board, but the board will take into account the results of the vote when considering future compensation policies and decisions.
I would now ask for a motion to be made to approve the resolution to hold a non-binding advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation as set out in the management information circular.
I so move.
I second the motion.
Thank you. We will now vote on the non-binding advisory vote on CAPREIT's approach to executive compensation. Any registered unit holder or duly appointed proxy holder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote with respect to the resolution to hold a non-binding advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation may do so now by clicking on the Vote Here button on the web portal and following the instructions. Those unit holders voting in person may vote using the paper ballots described. The next item of business is the ordinary resolution reinforcing CAPREIT's unit holders' rights plan agreement to remain in effect until CAPREIT's 2028 annual meeting, as more particularly described in the management information circular. The text of the resolution reinforcing the unit holders' rights plan agreement and the summary of the principal terms thereof are set forth in the management information circular.
If the ordinary resolution reconfirming the unit holders' rights plan is not passed, the rights plan will terminate on the day of this meeting. I would now ask for a motion to be made to approve the resolution confirming CAPREIT's unit holders' rights plan agreement as set out in the management information circular.
I so move.
I second the motion.
Thank you. We will now vote on the resolution reconfirming CAPREIT's unit holders' rights plan agreement. Any registered unit holder or duly appointed proxy holder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote with respect to the resolution to reconfirm CAPREIT's unit holders' rights plan agreement may do so now by clicking on the Vote Here button on the web portal and following the instructions. Those unit holders voting in person may vote using the paper ballots described earlier. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls closed. Based on the preliminary voting results received from the scrutineers, the voting results for each item of business show an abundance of favorability. Accordingly, each of the motions are carried.
Therefore, I declare Lori Anne Bursley, myself, Gina Cody, Mark Kenney, Gervais Levasseur, Ken Silver, Jennifer Sodder, Elaine Todres, Renée Tremblay, and David Vesak duly elected as trustees of CAPREIT to hold office until the next annual meeting of unit holders or until successors are duly elected or appointed. I declare that Ernst & Young LLP are appointed as the auditor of CAPREIT and that the trustees are authorized to fix their remuneration. I declare that the non-binding advisory resolution on the approach to the executive compensation as set out in the management information circular is approved. I declare that the resolution reconfirming CAPREIT's unit holders' rights plan agreement as set out in the management information circular is approved. Thank you, everyone. We have now completed the formal part of the meeting. If there is no further business, I will ask for a motion to terminate the meeting.
I so move.
I second the motion.
I declare the motion carried and the annual and the special meeting of unit holders of CAPREIT adjourned. On behalf of management and the board, I would like to thank you all for attending today. This concludes the formal part of the meeting. With that, I will now ask Mark to provide his remarks.
Thank you, Gina. Thank you, Elise. And a warm welcome to everyone. Let's start by taking a look back at some of our achievements in 2024, a transformative year in which we were proud to have completed an unprecedented level of transaction activity. In 2024, we sold $ 385 million of non-core apartments in Canada, $ 715 million in manufactured home community sites, and $ 1.4 billion of properties in Europe. These non-core and ancillary property dispositions generated a combined $ 2.5 billion in gross proceeds. On top of that, we fully exited from our investment in Ireland by selling $ 138 million worth of equity in [I REIT]. We used part of the capital generated to pay down $ 401 million in total credit facility debt, which strengthened our balance sheet.
We also reinvested $670 million into the acquisition of strategically aligned purpose-built rental properties in Canada and a further $327 million into our value-enhancing NCIB program. [I'm hoping that's not a] fire alarm. It's a fire alarm. I'll continue until we're notified. In the case of our property dispositions, we've been selling at prices that are at or above previously reported fair value at the time of negotiation.
[audio distortion] . The fire department has been notified. The alarm is being investigated. Please stand by for further instructions.
[Chris.]
Attention. Attention, please. We have an alarm condition in the building. The fire department has been notified. The alarm is being investigated. Please stand by for further instructions.
Okay. In the case of our property dispositions, we've been selling at prices that are at or above previously reported fair value at the time of negotiation, which validates our IFRS NAV. We have then been buying recently constructed rental buildings at strong pricing per sq ft that is significantly below replacement cost. Just continue?
[Yeah.]
Let's take a look at the $385 million worth of non-core legacy dispositions that we completed in Canada in 2024. As stated in the earlier video, we are pleased to have transferred $124 million of these rental apartments into the hands of several nonprofit organizations that can maintain the affordability of these homes in perpetuity. We are [newer] purpose-built rental properties. Let's now go over, at a high level, our results for the year ended December 31. On the same Canadian property portfolio, occupancies were 97.5% at year end, with strong AMR growth of [percent] across all occupied suites. Moving on to an update for 2025. As of the release of our Q1 2025 earnings, we completed $265 million in non-core Canadian dispositions. Turning to our first quarter Canadian apartment repositioning.
In terms of our acquisition and disposition activity in the first quarter, we expanded our presence into Western Canada with the purchase of two newly constructed rental apartment properties.
[It's not affected the tower.]
[That's reassuring]. Can't catch a break.
There you go.
Carrying on to our strategic portfolio repositioning. [audio distortion] . We now have 16% of our portfolio that is being represented by recently constructed properties, which provide access to market rents alongside the benefits of very low CapEx requirements. Skip to the next slide. I will briefly run through our most recently reported financial position. As you can see by the slide, our debt ladder is extremely well balanced and reoccurring at appropriate intervals. Our interest rate is averaged at 3.2% as of March 31, 2021. Skipping to the next slide. Another key priority CAPREIT is the continuous enhancement of our environmental, social, and governance performance. As a responsible provider of housing, we recognize that all the benefits that come with embracing ESG principles are fully embodied in the CAPREIT ecosystem. In 2024, many of those achievements were highlighted in the video at the beginning of today's AGM.
They're also outlined in our latest 2024 ESG report. Following on that, we've been working hard to build a better platform for tomorrow to enhance the long-term performance of our portfolio and organization. We're proud of what we've accomplished so far in this transition. Although this has resulted in some short-term turbulence in our operational and financial results, we remain committed to the portfolio and excited about what lies ahead. That said, the pillars of our business remain strong and the long-term fundamentals of the residential rental industry in Canada are robust. With that, I would like to thank you for your time and this fire alarm presentation. I'd now be pleased to take any questions that you may have.
We'll now move to the question and answer portion of the meeting. For those registered unit holders or duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting virtually, if you have not yet submitted a question but wish to do so, please do so now by submitting your question through the message tab provided on the web portal. As a reminder, only registered unit holders or duly appointed proxy holders in attendance at the meeting will be able to ask questions at this time.
Hey, Mark. It's Derek Lovo. I'd like you to comment on the potential privatization of InterRent. So what's sort of going on behind it? What do you think are the motivations? And how will it affect CAPREIT?
That's a great question. InterRent, like all the apartment REITs and actually many of the REITs in Canada, have been suffering from real discounts to NAV. In other words, the value of the real estate is far greater than what the stocks are currently trading at. The decision at InterRent was actually for management to take private with a partner, the organization, at NAV values or slightly close to NAV values. The thinking was repatriate money at full value to the unit holders, privatize the company. The effect for CAPREIT has actually been quite positive, as well as the other apartment REITs. We've seen inflows of cash from investors that were in InterRent coming into the CAPREIT name and actually having quite a positive effect on our stock in the last couple of weeks.
The final point on InterRent, it really is validation that the companies are worth NAV or more. And CAPREIT is in absolutely no different position than InterRent in terms of what the true value of the portfolio is and what the actual trading value of the equities are.
The fact that Singapore bought in Canada, how important is that to you guys?
It just speaks to the whole world wants to invest in Canadian housing. There is capital from around the world that sees Canadian housing as having the most sound geopolitical background, for one, and the most sound fundamentals due to our housing crisis.
Thank you.
Thank you.
If there are no more comments or questions to be addressed, I'll now turn the meeting back to Mr. Kenney.
Thank you, everyone, for attending this very unique meeting and voting. We look forward to welcoming you again to next year's quiet and controlled annual meeting. Thank you again and goodbye.
Thank you, everyone.