Good day, and welcome to the Black Hills Corporation special meeting. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Steve Mills. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Katie. Good morning. I'm Steve Mills, Chairman of Black Hills Corporation's Board of Directors. I would like to welcome all of you to this live webcast of our special shareholders meeting. We are holding this meeting virtually in lieu of an in-person gathering to provide a convenient and secure way for our shareholders to participate from any location. We very much appreciate your attendance. In accordance with the notice of meeting, I call to order this special meeting of shareholders of Black Hills Corporation. The polls for voting on all matters are open. All shareholders entitled to vote at this special meeting have the ability to do so online. If you are a shareholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so via the special meeting portal.
Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. After voting has been completed on all matters on this agenda, we will close the polls, and the Inspector of Elections will provide a preliminary report. We will conduct this meeting in accordance with the agenda and the rules of conduct for this meeting, which can be found under the meeting materials section in the special meeting portal. In fairness to all shareholders and to conduct an orderly meeting, we intend to adhere to these rules. In accordance with South Dakota law, only business within the purposes described in the meeting notice may be conducted at this meeting. Now on to today's business. Black Hills Corporation shareholders of record at the close of business on January 28, 2026 are entitled to vote on matters coming before this meeting.
I have an affidavit of mailing from Broadridge Financial Solutions certifying that all shareholders as of that date were mailed the special meeting documents, which included a notice of meeting, a joint prospectus, proxy statement, and a proxy card. At the close of business on January 28, 2026, the company had approximately 75.5 million shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote. A preliminary report by our Inspector of Elections on the number of shares represented at this meeting indicates we have more than the necessary 50% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote at this special meeting and constitutes a quorum. On behalf of the board of directors and management, we would like to express our appreciation to all shareholders who have voted or returned their proxies.
All shareholders of the company eligible to vote at this meeting have been furnished a proxy, a proxy statement dated February 6, 2026. Six specific proposals are set forth in this proxy statement. Proposal one is to consider the issuance of shares of our common stock pursuant to the terms of the agreement and plan of merger dated as of August 18, 2025, by and among the company, River Merger Sub Inc., and NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. Our second proposal is to consider amending our restated articles of incorporation to increase the authorized shares from 100 million shares to 300 million shares. The third proposal is to consider amending our restated articles of incorporation to change the name of Black Hills Corporation to Bright Horizon Energy Corporation upon consummation of the merger with NorthWestern.
Our fourth proposal is to consider increasing our authorized indebtedness from $8 billion to $20 billion. The fifth proposal is to receive an advisory vote on the merger related compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. Our sixth and final proposal is to consider any motion to adjourn this special meeting if necessary. If there are any shareholders in attendance who have not previously voted or any shareholders who wish to change their vote, please do so at this time via the special meeting portal. I'll give a short bit of time to get that done. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare the polls for this special shareholder meeting closed. I'd ask Darren Nakata, Black Hills' Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer, to announce the preliminary voting results.
Thank you, Steve. American Election Services, LLC is our Inspector of Elections and has been tasked with tabulating the shareholder votes. They've delivered their preliminary report indicating that all six proposals have received more than the required number of votes to pass. Because there were sufficient votes to approve proposals one, two, three, four, and five, there is no need to adjourn this special meeting to permit the further solicitation of additional votes or proxies. We will include the final report from our Inspector of Elections with the records of this special meeting. Our final vote results will be reported on a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days.
Thank you, Darren. As there is no further business, I would now like to adjourn this special meeting of shareholders of Black Hills Corporation. Before I do so, I would like to thank everyone who is involved in preparing for and putting on this meeting and for the continued work toward completion of our value-creating merger with NorthWestern. We are adjourned.
Thank you. That will conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation.