Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Matt Salem, Chief Executive Officer of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust. On behalf of the company, I want to welcome you and thank you for attending our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I am joined today by other members of our management team, members of our Board of Directors, representatives from Deloitte & Touche LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions, the Inspector of Election for this meeting, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, our legal counsel. I will act as Chairman of this meeting. Patrick Mattson, our President, Chief Operating Officer, and Secretary, will act as Secretary of this meeting. John Halua, a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions, will act as the Inspector of Election for this meeting.
This meeting is now called to order and will be conducted in accordance with the company's bylaws and the meeting's rules of conduct and procedures, which are posted to the Virtual Shareholder Meeting page. The agenda for today's meeting is also posted to the Virtual Shareholder Meeting page and sets forth the proposals for stockholder consideration. We have three proposals scheduled to be voted on today, which I will introduce shortly. We will then pause for questions on the proposals before closing the polls. Once the polls are closed, we will provide the preliminary voting results based on a report from the Inspector of Election and will then adjourn the meeting. To submit a question, you may do so by typing your question into the Ask a Question box at the bottom of the Virtual Shareholder Meeting page.
In order to ensure that the business of the meeting proceeds in an orderly fashion, we ask that you please observe the meeting rules and only submit a question directly related to the business of the meeting. As described in the Notice of Annual Meeting and accompanying Proxy Statement, we are here today to consider three proposals. Proposal One, the election of directors. Proposal Two, the ratification of the appointment of the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026. Proposal Three, the non-binding vote on executive compensation of our Named Executive Officers, all of which are described in the Proxy Statement. The polls for each matter upon which stockholders will vote at this meeting opened at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time and will remain open until I announce that the polls are closed.
No ballots or proxies or revocations or changes of proxies will be accepted after the polls are closed. Near the end of the meeting, after the report on the tabulation of the voting, I will announce the voting results on the proposals. The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on February 20th, 2026, as the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting, and a list of stockholders of record is available on the Virtual Shareholder Meetings page for your review. As of the record date, there were a total of 64,275,643 shares of our common stock outstanding and entitled to vote.
The proxy materials for the annual meeting were first distributed or made available to stockholders on March 3rd, 2026, and Broadridge Financial Solutions have provided an affidavit of distribution certifying to the timely mailing of the proxy materials to all stockholders of record as of the record date. The presence in person or by proxy of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the annual meeting on any matter constitutes a quorum to transact business on all matters to be considered at this meeting. Each share of our common stock entitles a holder thereof the right to one vote.
I have been advised by the Inspector of Election that a count of shares, represented in person or by proxy, immediately prior to the commencement of this meeting indicates that a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting on each matter is present. Therefore, a quorum is present, and I declare this meeting duly constituted. The approval of Proposal One requires a plurality of the votes cast by the holders of shares of common stock. The approval of each of Proposal Two and Three requires a majority of the votes cast by the holders of common stock. If you have already voted by proxy, you need not vote again during the meeting, since the persons designated as proxies will vote for you as indicated in your proxy card.
If you haven't voted, or if you wish to change your vote, you may do so now online by following the instructions on the virtual shareholder meeting screen. Before closing the polls and proceeding with the voting results, I will now pause for any comments or questions on the proposals. Representatives from Deloitte are also available to answer appropriate questions from stockholders. Please be mindful of the meeting rules. At this time, no questions have been submitted by stockholders. Having not received any questions, we will now proceed with the voting results. I hereby declare the polls closed and ask the Inspector of Election tabulate the ballots. When the Inspector of Election has completed his preliminary tabulation of the votes cast on each proposal, I will announce the preliminary voting results.
I have been informed by the Inspector of Election that based on the preliminary tabulation of the votes, that each of the nominees listed in Proposal One has been elected as a Director of the Company, that the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as set forth in Proposal Two has been ratified, and that the advisory resolution on the compensation for our Named Executive Officers as set forth in Proposal Three has been approved. That concludes the formal business of the meeting. I want to thank you for attending today's meeting. As there is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the meeting adjourned.
This concludes today's meeting. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful rest of your day.