Good morning or good afternoon, everyone. Now, I'd like to call this meeting to order. Welcome to the meeting of Sun Residential Real Estate Investment Trust. All callers have been muted, and please have your audio muted unless you are speaking. The annual meeting of unit holders of Sun Residential Real Estate Investment Trust will now come to order. I am Dan Argiros, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Sun. Let me introduce the other members of our board who are here with us virtually. We have Gordon Vollmer here, a Trustee of the Board w e have Bob Wetenhall, a Trustee and our CEO. I believe that's all the directors that are present. We have Farouk and Jeffrey. Jeffrey's our CFO, and Farouk is part of our finance team. W elcome to everyone, and thank you everyone for calling in a nd Rob Goodall. Another trustee of the board has just joined us R ob, welcome. Thank you. Okay, I'll preside as chair of the meeting, and Jeffrey Sherman, our CFO and corporate secretary of Sun, will act as secretary of the meeting. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for joining us today. I would like to remind all those present that this is a meeting of unit holders of Sun. And that although other persons are present whom we are pleased to welcome, only unit holders present in person or by proxy are entitled to participate in the business of the meeting. After the formal business of the meeting, there'll be a presentation by management and an opportunity for questions and comments. With the consent of the meeting, Dale Lyle of Computershare, Sun's transfer agent and registrar, will act as scrutineers of this meeting. To report on the number of unit holders present in person. The number of securities represented by proxy at this meeting. To compute the votes cast by ballot, should any ballots be conducted at this meeting, and to report to me on these matters. Prior to commencement of this meeting, the scrutineer filed a preliminary report on attendance. The secretary has confirmed that there is a quorum present. I've asked the scrutineer to deliver a formal report on attendance to the secretary as soon as possible. The notice calling this meeting and the accompanying material have been mailed to all unit holders, and the secretary of the meeting has provided me with proof of service of such material. Accordingly, the reading of the notice of meeting will be dispensed with. While the scrutineer is preparing a report on attendance, we will proceed with the business of the meeting. The financial statements of Sun Residential Real Estate Investment Trust for the fiscal year ended 31 December, 2023, together with the report of auditors thereon, have been mailed to the unitholders. With the consent of this meeting, the reading of the auditors' report will be dispensed with, and these audited financial statements shall be received. Our amended and restated declaration of trust provides that any meeting of unitholders, two holders present in person or represented by proxy of at least 10% of our outstanding units entitled to be voted at the meeting constitutes a quorum. I will now ask the secretary to read the scrutineer's report on attendance to the meeting. Mr. Chair, the scrutineer has advised me that 86,007,110 units are represented at this meeting. Representing 42.3% of the outstanding units. Thank you, Jeffrey. I declare that a quorum of unit holders is present and that this meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business. I direct that the scrutineer's report on attendance be attached to the minutes of this meeting. Before we begin, I would like to comment on the voting procedures today. Each unit holder is entitled to one vote for each unit held by them. I'm advised by the scrutineer that, with respect to the resolutions in connection with each item on the agenda of the meeting, the total number of votes attached to the units represented at the meeting by proxy required to be withheld or voted against with each such resolution is less than 5% of all the votes that might be cast in such case. Accordingly, in order to expedite the voting on such matters, I propose to conduct the vote on these matters by way of a show of hands. Please note, however, that each proxy holder present in person at this meeting has the right to demand the ballot be conducted on any resolution, either before the show of hands vote or following that vote. For a ballot conduct on any resolution, Jeffrey Sherman or Bob Wetenhall will vote all proxies submitted. Appointment of auditors. The first item of business is the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, and Licensed Public Accountant as our independent auditors and authorizing the trustees to fix the remuneration. In order to be approved, the resolution must be passed by a majority of the votes cast. May I have a motion for the approval of this resolution? Mr. Chairman, this is Bob Wetenhall. I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers be appointed as the independent auditors of the trust to hold office until the close of the next annual general meeting of unitholders. Or until their successors are appointed and the trustees be authorized to fix their remuneration. Mr. Chair, I second the motion. All those in favor of the resolution, please so signify by raising your hands. Contrary, if any. I declare the resolution carried. Election of trustees. We will now proceed with the election of trustees. And now declare the meeting open for nominations for trustees to hold office until the conclusion of Sun's next annual general meeting or until their successors are elected or appointed. The management information circular states that there are five proposed trustee candidates. May I have a motion to nominate such individuals? Mr. Chair, I nominate the following for election as trustees of Sun for the period described by the chair. Daniel Argiros, Robert C. Wetenhall Jr., Robert Goodall, Gordon Vollmer, Gordon Wiebe. Mr. Chair, I second that motion. Are there any further nominations? I declare the nominations closed. Please note the trustees are to be voted on individually rather than as a slate. May I have a motion in favor of each of the election of each of the five persons nominated? Mr. Chair, I move that each of the persons nominated be individually elected as trustees of Sun Residential Real Estate Investment Trust until the next annual general meeting of unitholders or until his successor is duly elected or appointed or he otherwise ceases to hold office. Subject to Sun's policy with respect to the election of trustees. Mr. Chair, I second that motion. The meeting will now vote on the election of trustees individually. Will those in favor of the election of a trustee please so signify by raising your hands after his name is called. In favor of Daniel Argiros. Contrary, if any. In favor of Robert C. Wetenhall Jr. Contrary, if any. In favor of Robert Goodall. Contrary, if any. In favor of Gordon Vollmer. Contrary, if any. In favor of Gordon Wiebe. Contrary, if any. I declare each motion carried with each individual nominee having been elected as a trustee of Sun for the term described or until his successor is elected or appointed. Thank you, everyone. Before terminating the formal portion of this meeting, I would ask if there is any further business. As there is no further business, I declare the formal portion of this meeting terminated and thank you all for attending. I now introduce Bob Wetenhall, our CEO, who will be prepared to answer any questions that unit holders may have. Bob? Thank you, Dan. I'd like to introduce Jeffrey Sherman, our CFO, who will give a brief overview of financial results. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Bob. Let me start off with the usual disclaimer. Certain statements will be made during this call, which may be forward-looking statements. Although Sun believes that such statements are based upon reasonable assumptions. Actual results may differ materially. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates, and opinions of Sun's management on the date the statements are made. Sun undertakes no obligation to update those statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates, or opinions or other factors change. We'll also be presenting some non-GAAP information. For the full disclaimer related to future-oriented information and complete definitions of non-GAAP financial information. Please refer to our regulatory filings on our website and on SEDAR+ a nd unless we state otherwise, all dollars we refer to in this meeting are US dollars. Our website also has an investor presentation that has most of the slides I'll be presenting here along with some additional background on our REIT. We continue to have a 51% interest in the Evergreen Garden Apartments. You may recall our objective is to build a large Canadian listed REIT focusing on quality multifamily residences in the U.S. Sunbelt. We own a majority interest in a Tallahassee, Florida property through a joint venture with Westdale. We've also acquired an abandoned apartment building in Cape Coral, Florida last year, which is in the process of renovation. Bob will be talking more about that later. We have strong institutional connections to Dynamic Funds and also Arch F unds. Almost 30% institutional ownership. A s far as the first quarter of 2024 goes, our revenue for the three months ended 31 March, 2024 was $1.4 million. Actually, $1.45 million. It's the little yellow dot surrounded by a red circle on this slide. That's an increase of 3.8% compared to the same period in the prior year. Net rental income in the quarter was $1.1 million, increase of 10.5%. And net income and comprehensive income for the three months was $657,000, up 25% from the year before. When you look at our revenue quarter by quarter, you can see every year we've had a consistent increase. 2021 is the blue line on the bottom. The orange line is 2022. The green line is 2023. As I mentioned, Q1 of this year is that yellow dot with a black circle around it. When you look at GAAP results for the last three years, you can see net rental income increasing steadily year-over-year. 4.6% up from 2021- 2022. 1.7% up from 2022 - 2023. T he GAAP results are a little bit muddied because of appraisal increases in 2021 and 2022, which are partially reversed in 2023. But net net, the property is currently appraised at $59.1 million compared to an appraisal when we acquired it at $52.5 million. W e've still had an increase over the year. A gain, quarter by quarter, the best way to appraise our operations is looking at funds from operations and adjusted funds from operations near the bottom of this schedule. And this schedule would, of course, in our MD&A reconciles GAAP income to funds from operations and adjusted funds from operations. You can see the continuing upward trend. Looking just at funds from operations. From $600,000, $601,000 in 2022, $725,000 in 2023, and Q1, $200,000 for the Q1 of 2024. AFFO, which essentially is a similar number, less CapEx, again, showing a nice increase year-on-year and also good results in Q1. O ur net asset value shown at the bottom of this page has remained at about CAD 0.114, both at the end of fiscal 2023 and the end of the last quarter. Starting last year, we paid a distribution of CAD 0.38. That's a yield of 7.6%-8.4%. Actually, based on yesterday's trading, that's a yield of 8.4% on the current trading price. Finally, our balance sheet remains very strong. Debt total assets ratio of 48.8%. We have $4.1 million cash on hand available to complete the renovation of our new property and potentially other accretive acquisitions. Bob? Thanks, Jeffrey. That was a fantastic overview. I just want to first thank everybody for your continued support with the property and our company as we continue to develop on the other side of COVID. Three quick points from my perspective worth emphasizing. The first one is Evergreen at Tallahassee has been extremely robust in terms of its financial performance, as Jeffrey highlighted. We expect that to continue. It's probably the best positioned asset in the Tallahassee market. We had some softness in Q4 but that's self-corrected. W e're mid-90s occupancy right now. We're doing some cosmetic improvements. We think that position that position of the asset in the market's excellent. W e'll continue to generate substantial free cash flow to cover the distribution. That's our flagship asset. We think we've done a good job with it, and we expect it to perform well during the balance of the year. Second, our new acquisition that Jeffrey touched upon in Cape Coral, Florida, where I am today, and it's 92 degrees. I just met with our contractors and our project manager i 'm going to be here another day as well. We're making good progress w e hope to open up between the end of the Q2 and the start of the Q 3. We're very consistent with our original expectations in terms of cost. We're slightly longer due to some administrative delays, but we're getting there and we're doing the work, and we think the project will also be successful and accretive to cash flow and earnings as well. Third, the distribution is a key reason to be here w e understand that it's difficult to access the capital markets at the current time. That being said, we do want to ensure everyone that you are getting paid to wait, and we continue to emphasize the importance of the significant distribution and expect to continue. With that, I'll wrap it up and thank you once again for your support and like to hear if there are any questions. I have a few questions. Hello? Yes, Martin, go ahead. Thank you so much and congratulations on the nice year. My first question relates to the acquisition. I was just wondering? who's going to be managing that property? Is it going to be Westdale or what's the plan? I have a local property management company in Cape Coral, which has been active since 2010. T hat's going to be managing the property on behalf of Sun Residential REIT. M y second question relates to what's your plan in terms of developing the company for the future? Like how you want to proceed with expansion? Do you have any like how is it going on the private market versus what we're seeing on the public market? Interesting data point from Marcus & Millichap, 78% of their commercial real estate brokers in multifamily did not complete a single transaction in 2023. The reason for that is the large spike in interest rates has made many properties unaffordable, and sellers also want to achieve top dollar in a transaction. The reality is there's very limited activity right now in the US in the multifamily market relative to the prior years. We don't expect that to continue. Right now we're continuing to emphasize operational excellence in all aspects of the company. That starts with our flagship property, Evergreen at Southwood, which continues to perform. Jeffrey and I did a financial and operational review in mid-December. We're continuing to reinvest in the property to strengthen its position as the leading asset in multifamily in Tallahassee. We just got some pictures today of the work that's been done, and I'm very pleased with that. The second piece is the growth opportunity. We want to demonstrate to investors that we can take a project in rough shape that's distressed and revitalized and reinvigorated. Our renovation project's underway. We've had some administrative delays in processing, which is happening across the state due to lack of capacity to process on the government side. We feel like this will start to provide a track record that we can use if we want to go back to the capital markets in 2025 or at a different point in the future to raise additional capital to show that we can both manage existing stabilized assets and develop new opportunities that provide attractive risk-adjusted returns. thank you. My last question relates to the current relationship that you have with Westdale. Is there any appetite for them to do an additional deal? or is there any appetite to maybe get additional interest in the current property to up maybe the 51%? First off, we really wouldn't be able to comment on that in a public forum. It would be inappropriate i t's not suitable. Second off, I would say the relationship with Westdale is excellent w e appreciate their stewardship of the asset t hey've done a great job managing it, and they continue to be an excellent partner for Sun REIT. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Martin, for your questions. Are there any other questions? Keith, you're muted, though. You'll have to unmute yourself. Sorry, Keith, you're muted. Am I muted now? There you go. Okay. All right. Thank you. In view of the location of the Cape Coral development, I was wondering if you could describe any adventures you've had so far or you envisage in getting a reasonable amount of insurance at reasonable cost? It's a very active insurance market i also own 250 apartments in Lee County, which encompasses Cape Coral and Fort Myers. The reality is there is a fluid and deep insurance market. The issue is not whether you can get insurance quoted. It's actually getting it at a great cost. It's been very difficult. We saw an intense spike of 20%-30% year-over-year in 2023 t hat's begun to level off and even in some cases soften a little bit by low single-digit amounts. There is insurance t here is coverage r ight now we have a builder's risk policy. We'll transition that to a normal coverage policy after we get the certificate of occupancy for the property. That's down the road. The reality is insurance is something everybody needs w e're going to pay for it, and we're going to do the right thing with it. Thanks. Thank you, Keith. Any other questions? Okay. With that, thank you, Bob, for that presentation t hank you, Jeffrey, for the presentation. And thank you to the entire team for putting together a great package and an annual information package and the annual report and everything else that comes with it. W ith that, we're going to conclude the informal part of our meeting as well. Thanks to everyone who called in for your support, and thanks to all our investors for your support. And we look forward to continuing to share in our success in the coming year. As always, if you have any questions, thoughts, compliments, feel free to reach out to any of us. Thanks, everyone, and have a great day. Take care. Bye-bye. Thank you.
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