Good morning, good afternoon. I hereby open the Extraordinary General Meeting of QIAGEN. My name is Roland Sackers, and I will serve as Chairman of this meeting. Let me introduce the colleagues who are joining me today on this call. First, Mr. Stephen H. Rusckowski, our Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and second, Mr. Jonathan Pratt, our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kaspar Nuttigall of the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has been formally appointed as Secretary. Additionally, Mrs. Christiana Williams of the law firm Linklaters has been appointed as the proxy holder. The record date for shareholders entitled to vote was October 9, 2026. On that date, the total numbers of shares with voting rights amounted to 206,496,521 shares. According to the attendance list, I can inform you that the holders of 137,321,285 common shares are represented at this meeting and may cast the same numbers of votes.
This represents 66% of the issued share capital. Let us now move to agenda item two. This involves a proposal to discharge Mr. Thierry Bernard as a member of the Managing Board from liability for the performance of his duties during the period from January 1, 2026, until the date of his resignation on September 1, 2026. Is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. Let us now move to agenda item three. This item involves the appointment of Mr. Jonathan Pratt as a Managing Director. This appointment would be for a period beginning on the day following this meeting until the day of the Annual General Meeting in 2027.
The articles of association provide that the joint meeting of the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board has a right to make a binding nomination to fill each vacancy on the Managing Board. The joint meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for the appointment of Mr. Pratt as a new Managing Board member. More information on Mr. Pratt is included in the explanatory notes to the agenda of this meeting. Is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. We then move to agenda item four to close this meeting. Let me thank all of our shareholders who have been participated in this meeting in person or by proxy and for their continued support of QIAGEN.
We truly appreciate your support of QIAGEN and look forward to our ongoing engagement. I hereby close the meeting.