Good morning, everyone. I'm going to start off with a safety announcement. First, I'd like to welcome you to the 2018 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Before we start, there's a few safety items that I'd like to address. If for any reason we must evacuate, instructions will be given via the public address system. Once the announcement is made, please exit following the directions of the manager of the Vancouver Convention Center. Her name is Janine Key, and she'll be in charge of the evacuation procedure. We'll proceed to the muster station, which is located across the road between the Waterfront Center office building and the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, where convention center staff will be positioned. Please remain at this location until convention center staff advise that it's safe to return to this facility.
I would now like to turn over the meeting to the chairman of the board, Tom Hamilton.
Thank you, Kevin. The meeting will now come to order. My name is, as Kevin said, Tom Hamilton, chairman of the board of Methanex Corporation. In accordance with the company's bylaws, I will preside at this annual general meeting. I wish everyone here a very good morning, and a warm welcome to the 2018 general meeting of shareholders. I would also like to welcome those of you who are listening to the meeting through our webcast. As a courtesy to all who are in attendance and listening on the webcast, I would ask that all phones be turned off at this time. Mr. Kevin Price, the corporate secretary of the company, is present, and in accordance with the bylaws, will act as secretary and record the minutes. The minutes of last year's annual meeting are available, and any shareholder wishing to inspect them should contact Kevin.
Mr. Van Bott, who's standing in the rear of AST Trust Company, will act as scrutineer for this meeting and will assist in the tabulation of proxies and ballots. If there is any shareholder or proxy holder who is not registered with the scrutineer, would you please do so now. The secretary has in his possession the affidavit of mailing from AST Trust Company as to due mailing of the notice calling this annual general meeting, the form of the proxy, and the information circular dated March 2nd, 2018. These documents were mailed to those who were shareholders of the company as of February 26th, 2018, which is the record date. I direct a copy of the affidavit of mailing to be kept by the secretary with the records of this meeting.
The company's bylaws provide that the quorum necessary for the transaction of business at a meeting of shareholders is two shareholders, present in person or by proxy, and representing not less than 25% of the votes entitled to be cast at such meeting. I now request Mr. Bott to report the number of shareholders present at the meeting in person and by proxy, and the number of shares represented both in person and by proxy.
There are 169 shareholders holding 70,682,821 common shares represented in person or by proxy at this meeting. This represents 84.4% of the 83,783,704 issued and outstanding common shares.
Thank you, Van. Based on that information, I find that a quorum of shareholders is present, therefore declare that this meeting is properly called, duly constituted, and able to proceed to the transaction of business. I would also like to express my appreciation to those shareholders who are present and those who have turned in their proxies. The first item of business is the adoption of the minutes of the last annual and special meeting of the company held on April 27th, 2017. I will now call for a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the annual and special meeting of the company held on April 27th, 2017, that they be approved and adopted. Do I have a motion? Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you, Kevin. Thank you both. All in favor, please raise your hand. Contrary, if any? That's carried.
The next item of business is the receipt of the consolidated financial statement of the company for the year ended December 31st, 2017, and the auditor's report thereon. This material was contained in our annual report, which was mailed to registered shareholders and those beneficial shareholders who requested it. Unless someone specifically requests, the auditor's report will not be read at this meeting. If any shareholder has any questions concerning the financial statements, you may ask them now. I now declare that the financial statements and the auditor's report thereon have been received by the shareholders as submitted to this meeting. Now to the item of election of directors. The company proposes to elect 11 directors. They are Bruce Aitken, formerly president and CEO of Methanex Corporation. Doug Arnell, president and CEO of Helm Energy Advisors, Inc.
Howard Balloch, formerly Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Asia Limited and former Canadian ambassador to the People's Republic of China. Phil Cook, formerly corporate vice president of The Dow Chemical Company. John Floren, President and CEO of Methanex Corporation. Bob Kostelnik, principal of GlenRock Recovery Partners and formerly vice president of refining for CITGO Petroleum Corporation. Doug Mahaffey, formerly Chairman of McLean Budden Limited. Janice Rennie, formerly Senior Vice President of EPCOR Utilities. Margaret Walker, formerly Vice President of Engineering and Technology at The Dow Chemical Company. Benita Warmbold, formerly Senior Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. As mentioned before, I am Tom Hamilton, formerly Chairman, President, and CEO of Methanex Corporation, and I too am standing for re-election to the Methanex board. I would like to acknowledge that Terry Poole has decided to retire from the board and will not be standing for re-election.
On behalf of the board of directors and everyone at Methanex, I want to sincerely thank Terry for his valuable service to the company and wish him well in his retirement. Nominations for directors must be received 30 days in advance of the meeting. Given that no such additional nominations have been received by the company, I now declare the nominations closed. I will now call for a motion to nominate those persons listed as nominees in the information circular dated March 2nd, 2018, for election as directors of the company to hold office for a term expiring not later than the close of the next annual general meeting of the company. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Brad. Do I have a second? Dr. Mike. All in favor, please signify by raising your hands. Abstentions, if any? That's carried.
The next item of business is the reappointment of KPMG as auditor of the company and to authorize the board of directors to determine the amount of the auditor's remuneration. I will now call for a motion that KPMG Chartered Professional Accountants be reappointed auditors of the company to hold office until the termination of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until a successor is appointed, and the board of directors be authorized to fix the amount of the auditor's remuneration. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Thank you. All in favor, signify by raising your hand. Abstentions, if any? That's carried. The next matter for consideration is the advisory resolution with respect to Methanex approach to executive compensation, the so-called say-on-pay vote.
I will now call for a motion to approve the resolution set out under advisory say-on-pay vote on approach to executive compensation in the information circular dated March 2nd, 2018. Do I have a motion? Yes. Do I have a seconder? I have a seconder. All in favor, signify by raising your hand. Contrary, if any? That's carried. I might also add that over 96% of the votes that were cast voted in favor of this resolution. That means that 96% of the votes cast accept the approach the company has taken to executive compensation. As there is no further business to be brought before this meeting, I shall now call for a motion to terminate the meeting. Do I have a motion? Everyone wants to stay here. I have a motion. Is there a seconder? I have a second. Thank you.
All in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Contrary? Carried. The meeting is now completed and is terminated. Thank you very much for your participation. I would once again like to express my sincere appreciation to those shareholders who are in attendance, as well as those who submitted their votes by proxy. Have a good day. Thank you.