Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dorothea Wenzel. I herewith open the extraordinary general meeting of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA, and take the chair at this meeting. Dr. Dieter Schenk, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, is not able to chair this meeting for personal reasons. As member of the Supervisory Board of the company, I was asked by Dr. Schenk, in his function as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and chair of the meeting, according to the Articles of Association, to take the chair of this EGM in accordance with Article 17, Section 1, Sentence 1 of the Articles of Association. I would like to warmly welcome you, the shareholders, shareholder representatives, the representatives of the press, and all guests on behalf of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA, as well as the management board of the general partner, Fresenius Medical Care Management AG. I would also like to welcome the viewers who are following the publicly broadcast part of the EGM on the Internet. Ladies and gentlemen, I trust on your understanding for often using the masculine form in my speech for better readability, and I would like to ask all persons of any gender to feel equally addressed. Ladies and gentlemen, let me start with the following organizational information right at the beginning. Fresenius Medical Care is a globally operating company. The management board of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG is composed of members of different nationalities. Therefore, English is the corporate language of Fresenius. Simultaneous interpreters make sure that you can follow the EGM in English or German. The receivers required for this are laid out on the seats. On channel one, you will listen to German. On channel two, you will listen to English. Please leave the receivers on your chairs after the meeting. The receivers do not work outside the attendance area and were rented especially for this event. Any missing receivers must be replaced at the company's expense. Ladies and gentlemen, this general meeting is being simultaneously translated by interpreters in order to enable all participants to follow the entire meeting in English or German. You find the necessary equipment to listen to the translation on your chairs. Please turn the receivers to channel two to listen to the English translation. Channel one provides the German version. Please leave the receivers on your chairs after the meeting. The receivers do not work outside these rooms and were rented especially for this meeting. Missing receivers have to be replaced at the company's expense. I would like to extend a warm welcome to the members of the Management Board and of the Supervisory Board. The General Partner is represented here today by all the members of the Management Board. Let me introduce them personally. Mrs. Helen Giza, the Chairwoman of the Management Board and also acting Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Franklin W. Maddux, the Global Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsäß is Member of the Management Board, responsible for the business segment Care Enablement, where Fresenius Medical Care combines its product business under the Global Meditech umbrella. Mr. William Valle, Member of the Management Board, responsible for the business segment Care Delivery, which combines the global healthcare services business. From the Supervisory Board of our company, I would like to welcome the Deputy Chairman, Mr. Rolf Classon, as well as the further members, Mr. Gregory Sorensen, and Mrs. Pascale Witz. Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd. As mentioned before, Dr. Dieter Schenk, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, apologizes for being absent and not being able to attend the EGM. However, he has sent a video message in the run-up to the EGM, which we would now like to play for you. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, today I am not speaking to you on stage as chairman of the annual general meeting, as is customary for the chairman of the supervisory board. I had to undergo orthopedic surgery a few days ago, and on medical advice, I'm unable to be with you today. I very much regret this for several reasons. For the first time in years, a general meeting of our company is being held as an event in person, which I have liked to chair. In addition, a resolution is to be passed today on the conversion of the company from the legal form of a partnership limited by shares into a stock corporation. This serves various purposes and will result in Fresenius Medical Care leaving the Fresenius Group. We expect various advantages from this. I myself consider this step to be right and important, and I ask you personally for your approval. I also ask for your approval of the candidates to be elected to the supervisory board of the stock corporation. Continuity and renewal was the formula used by the nomination committee, and subsequently by the supervisory board, in selecting the candidates. Dr. Dorothea Wenzel is no longer a member of the new supervisory board. In recent years, as lead independent director, she has, in particular, represented the interest of the free float Fresenius shareholders. Thank you for all you have done for our company. Rolf Classon is not standing for re-election after 12 years on the supervisory board. He has provided a valuable service as a member, and for several years as Chairman of the Audit Committee. He has done outstanding work and built bridges between continents. Thank you, Rolf. Professor Gregor Zünd contributed his medical knowledge and experience in the organization and efficient management of a large university hospital, especially in times of pandemic, in a very helpful way. On behalf of the supervisory board and the management board, I would like to thank you all very much for your work. I myself will also no longer be a member of this new supervisory board. For 27 years, since the formation of Fresenius Medical Care, through the merger of Fresenius' products business with National Medical Care business in 1996, I've had the honor of serving this company, first as deputy chairman, then as chairman of the supervisory board. I would like to thank you, dear shareholders, for your many years of trust and support. At the same time, I ask you to place your trust in the new supervisory board as well. I am confident that Fresenius Medical Care will continue to thrive in the future and further advance the provision of the highest standard of health care for people with kidney disease worldwide. I wish all participants every success for today's extraordinary general meeting. Thank you for your attention. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it is also in your interest, if I herewith wish Dr. Schenk all the best for a speedy and good recovery. Ladies and gentlemen, I also would like to welcome the notaries, Dr. Carsten Angersbach and Jochen Rothmann. Dr. Angersbach, two seats to my right, is responsible for taking the minutes of this EGM. Mr. Rothman has been commissioned with recording any statements, written questions, motions, or nominations. Please note that questions, motions, or election proposals submitted in writing, can only be considered if they are presented again orally at the EGM. Mr. Rothman is located at the Request to Speak desk at the front right of this room, as seen from you. Just to my right, I would like to welcome Dr. Lawrence Wineke, the lawyer, who will support and advise me today in my function as the chair of the meeting, if necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, as already announced at the annual general meeting on 16th May of this year, the company's management intends to ask you, dear shareholders, at this extraordinary general meeting, to approve the change of the company's legal form from a partnership limited by shares to a stock corporation. Before we proceed to the agenda, I would like to address some necessary formalities. In the interest of an appropriate streamlining of the general meeting, I will limit myself to announcing the essential regulations and the organizational information. For more details, please refer to the information sheet you received at the interest registration desk when you presented your entrance tickets. Copies of the information sheet are also available at the information booth. I state that the convening of today's general meeting was published in due form and time in the Federal Gazette on 5th June, 2023. A reference copy of the publication of the notice in the Federal Gazette of June 5th, 2023, has been submitted to the notary public and will be attached by him to the minutes. Supporting documents can be inspected at the speaker's registration desk and the information booth. The speaker's registration desk is located here in the meeting room on the front right, as seen from you. The information booth is located in the foyer on the floor of this meeting room. Since the convening on June 5th, 2023, all prescribed documents and information could be accessed on the company's website. Today, these documents are also available for inspection during the general meeting at the speaker's registration desk and the information booth. The documents made accessible and displayed include, in particular, for agenda item one, the conversion report of the general partner, as well as the articles of association of the legal entity with a new legal form of Fresenius Medical Care AG. For agenda item two, an overview of the proposed composition of the Supervisory Board of the Fresenius Medical Care AG, as well as the CVs of Mr. Shervin Korangy, Dr. Marcus Kuhnert, Mr. Gregory Sorensen, and Mrs. Pascale Witz, who are proposed today for election to the Supervisory Board under agenda item two. As well as the CVs of Mr. Michael Sen and Mrs. Sara Lisa Hennicken, who are to be appointed by Fresenius SE & Co KGaA for the new Supervisory Board as additional shareholder representatives. I may therefore assume that these documents are known. The company also published the notifications on the convening of the meeting in due time, in accordance with Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act. I therefore state that General Meeting has been duly convened in accordance with the law and the articles of association. The company has not received any counter motions or election proposals to make accessible with regard to any of the items on the agenda. The attendance list of today's General Meeting remains to be finalized. At the latest before the first vote, I will read out the first attendance. I will then hand over a copy of the attendance list to the notary. A copy of the attendance list will be available for inspection at the speaker's registration desk. Changes to the attendance list will be documented as supplements and attached to the attendance list. They will also be handed over to the notary and will be available for inspection at the speaker's registration desk. In addition, you can also view an updated version of the attendance list at the digital attendance terminal next to the information desk in the foyer. I designate only this large room, that is the room Harmonie, as the meeting room. The attendance area of this general meeting, in the meaning of the Stock Corporation Act, comprises the entire C2 upper floor of the Congress Center, Messe Frankfurt, delimited by the access control on the first floor and the C0 foyer on the first floor, including the side rooms accessible to the shareholders. The general meeting is also transmitted acoustically to these rooms. Furthermore, in this area, you can also follow the simultaneous interpretation via the receivers. This acoustic transmission is a voluntary service, so that you can follow the general meeting at any time without being present in the meeting room. However, the company does not guarantee that the acoustic transmission outside the meeting room will always function faultlessly. Please also note that the transmission range of the receivers does not cover all adjoining rooms. If you are outside the meeting room and notice any interference with the broadcast, please return to the meeting room in your own interest. I would like to point out that voting on the items of the agenda will only be carried out in this meeting room, and that votes can only be cast in this room. Requests to speak and motions are also only possible in this room. For the votes, I will therefore ask you again later, separately, to come back from the adjoining rooms here to this room. You are leaving the attendance area and thus the general meeting when you pass the registration desk. At the registration desk, your entrance tickets have been recorded to determine attendance. The part of the entrance ticket returned to you at the registration desk serves as a voting card. If you are in possession of several entrance tickets and have not presented all of them, please do so at the registration desk in good time before voting starts. Only this way, the entire shareholding represented by you can be included in the attendance list and taken into account in the voting. If you wish to leave the meeting early, please sign out at the registration desk. This applies to the entire course of the general meeting, that is also after the votes have been cast, and until such time when I expressly close this general meeting. If you leave the attendance area without signing out at the registration desk, you will still be listed as present. Even if you are only leaving the general meeting temporarily, please report to the registration desk so that attendance can be correctly determined by scanning your voting cards and deregistering your votes. When you return, your voting cards will then be re-read so that your votes are recorded as present again. If you wish to authorize a third party, you can use the proxy form available at the registration desk. You may also grant another proxy in text form. Please hand over the voting cards to the proxy. Please present the proxy at the registration desk. The company offers its shareholders the opportunity to be represented by proxies appointed by the company. The proxies appointed by the company are Mrs. Mara Sinsel and Dr. Ulrich Martin Wolf. They exercise voting rights exclusively in accordance with the instructions given to them. Without clear instructions, the proxies appointed by the company cannot act on your behalf. To issue a proxy to the company-appointed proxies, please use the section, Vollmacht Weisungen an die Mehrheitsvertreter der Gesellschaft, proxy instruction to company-appointed proxies on your voting card. You will find a yes box, a no box, and an extension box for each item on the agenda, so that you can give your instructions. You can also use the global ticking option if you wish to issue your instructions uniformly in line with the resolutions proposals of the management. If you do not tick a box or do not tick clearly when voting on an agenda item, the proxies appointed by the company will not exercise the voting right for the relevant voting items. Please hand in the voting card with your instructions at the registration desk. Please note that the possibility of issuing proxies and instructions to the proxies appointed by the company ends with the start of voting on the first items on the agenda. Our staff at the registration desk will be happy to assist you with any questions you may have regarding registration, as well as issuing proxies and giving instructions. If you wish to leave the general meeting and do not wish to appoint a proxy, please present your voting cards at a registration desk so that the attendance list can be updated. The company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depositary Receipts or ADRs. The holders of the ADRs were able to give instructions to the depository, the Bank of New York Mellon, for the exercise of voting rights from the shares underlying the ADRs. I would like to ask those shareholders or shareholder representatives who wish to speak, to complete and submit a request-to-speak form as early as possible. The forms are available at the speaker's registration desk. For a smooth and orderly running of the EGM, I will give the floor only to those shareholders and shareholder representatives who have filled a request-to-speak form and handed it over to the speaker's registration desk. Even if you have already submitted questions, motions, or election proposals in writing in advance, you must please present them again orally. If you wish to raise procedural motions and thus motions for the rules of procedure, please note on the request-to-speak form an appropriate keyword relating to the subject of your motion. This makes it easier for me to check how to proceed with the motion, in particular, whether the person submitting the motion should be given preference to speak, if necessary. During the debate on the agenda, I will ask the ladies and gentlemen who have submitted a request to speak to make their comments at the lectern. The lectern is here, is at the front left of the podium, as seen from you. In the interest of all shareholders and to enable today's general meeting to be conducted swiftly, I would like to point out that only statements relating to today's agenda are permitted. Please bear this in mind when requesting to speak. I would like to point out also that although the statements made during this EGM are translated into English, German is the binding language. If you wish to speak, you must do so in German. English language statements cannot be included in the minutes either. For the sake of good order, I would also like to point out that with the exception of my introductory remarks and Mrs. Giza's speech, as well as the remarks of those who will introduce themselves today after Mrs. Giza's speech, we generally do not electronically record the spoken word. The cameras set up are used for transmission to the screen and to the back office. Respective speaker will therefore be shown in large format on the screen during the speech. If you, as a speaker, do not wish to be fully shown on the screen, please let us know. My introductory remarks, Mrs. Giza's speech, and the statements of the persons who will introduce themselves to you today, following Mrs. Giza's speech, will be broadcast simultaneously on the Internet in order to provide appropriate information to the broader public as well. Furthermore, a photographer commissioned by us will take photographs during the General Meeting for documentation and communication purposes. Your personal rights will be fully protected. No stenographic minutes will be taken. Only for the recording of questions and motions put at the General Meeting will our staff be assisted by stenographers where necessary. I ask for your understanding that participants in the General Meeting are not permitted to make video or audio recordings. This also applies to camera and sound recordings with the mobile phones. On this occasion, I would like to ask that mobile phones be muted while here in the meeting room. Please note also that smoking is not permitted in this building. These were my organizational remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now move on to the items on the agenda. The agenda has been made available on the company's website since the General Meeting was convened. You also received the information on this via your custodian banks. The agenda is available for inspection at the speaker's registration desk and the information booth. Here, therefore, I assume that the agenda is known. We start with item one of the agenda, where agenda item one refers to the resolution on the conversion of the company into the legal form of a stock corporation. The objective of the conversion of the company into a stock corporation is to separate the FME Group from the Fresenius Group, and thereby, to simplify the company's corporate governance. The general partner and the supervisory board of the company are of the opinion that the company's conversion into a stock corporation is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. A detailed description of the legal economic effects of the conversion and the future participation of the shareholders in the company with the new legal form of a stock corporation, is given in the conversion report of the general partner. Report has been available for inspection at the company's offices since the convening of the General Meeting, and a copy was sent to each shareholder upon request, free of charge. It was also available on the company's website, and is also available here today at the speaker's registration desk and the information booth. The proposed new articles of association for Fresenius Medical Care AG are contained in the invitation to this General Meeting and printed after the agenda. We'll also find the draft articles of association attached to the conversion report. It was also available on the company's website, and is also available here today at the speaker's registration desk and the information booth. The notary, Dr. Angersbach, has received one copy each. I would now like to ask Mrs. Helen Giza, on behalf of the management board of the general partner, to explain to you once again the draft resolution proposed for adoption on the change of legal form of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA into a stock corporation. Good morning, everyone. A warm welcome to this extraordinary General Meeting. I am delighted to address our shareholders on what is truly a historic day for our company. Today, you will have the ability to make an important decision that will impact the course of our company. By voting yes, you will ensure that we have a different, simpler, better, and more agile corporate structure to operate, changing the legal form to a German stock corporation, resulting in the deconsolidation of Fresenius Medical Care from Fresenius SE. Under agenda item one, we are asking you to approve the conversion of the company from a partnership limited by shares into a German stock corporation under the company name Fresenius Medical Care AG. I will now provide you with a detailed context explaining the background of this change of legal form. The general partner and the supervisory board of the company decided to propose the conversion to you because it is in the best overall interests of the company and all its shareholders. The objective of the conversion is to deconsolidate Fresenius Medical Care Group from the Fresenius Group. Currently, Fresenius Medical Care forms a subgroup within the Fresenius Group. The existing group structure of the Fresenius Group and the associated corporate governance of the company are complex. Fresenius can exercise de facto management control over the company through its ownership of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, the company's general partner. As a result, Fresenius Medical Care is fully consolidated in the financial statements of Fresenius Group.... and the two groups are considered to be intertwined from a financial perspective, which may not provide optimal transparency for investors. At the end of 2022, we, together with Fresenius, thoroughly analyzed the feasibility and options to deconsolidate Fresenius Medical Care from the Fresenius Group, and the implications of such an action. As a result of this analysis, we concluded that the deconsolidation by way of the conversion presents the best option for the further development of Fresenius Medical Care. The conversion will simplify our governance structure, improve our decision-making processes, strengthen the rights of shareholders in their entirety, and improve the independent determination of our financing strategy. The proposed conversion is an important step in the process to deconsolidate Fresenius Medical Care from Fresenius. With your approval, the conversion is implemented by way of a change of legal form, in accordance with the provisions of the German Transformation Act. Our team has been hard at work, we plan to complete the change in legal form by the end of this year. It will become effective upon its registration with the commercial register. After the conversion, the company will continue to exist in the new legal form of an AG and will still have its registered office in Hof. The conversion will neither result in the liquidation of the company, nor in the formation of a new legal entity. Pursuant to German law, a transfer of the company's assets will not take place. The company will receive a new legal name and new articles of association. The existing authorized capital and the existing conditional capital shall continue to exist following the conversion, as stated in the new articles of association. The resolutions of the general meeting of the KGAA, to the extent they still apply by the time the conversion goes into effect, will continue to apply in the new legal form, taking into account the changed corporate body structure as a consequence of the conversion and the withdrawal of the general partner. The conversion will have no effect on your individual shareholding in the company. If you are a shareholder of the company at the time the conversion becomes effective, you will automatically become a shareholder of Fresenius Medical Care AG. You will hold an interest in the share capital of Fresenius Medical Care AG to the same extent and with the same number of shares as you did in the company before the effectiveness of the conversion, and your shareholder rights will be strengthened, and I will address this important aspect later in my speech. How does the new structure compare to the old? The most significant change is that there will no longer be a general partner directing the operations of the company. Upon effectiveness of the conversion, Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, the company's general partner, will exit the company by operation of law. As a result, Fresenius will no longer control the company, and Fresenius Medical Care will no longer be fully consolidated in the financial statements of Fresenius Group. The general partner, with its management and supervisory boards, will no longer be part of the company's corporate governance. Instead, the company will have the three corporate bodies of a stock corporation under German law: a management board, which is responsible for the management of the company, a supervisory board that oversees and advises the management board, and the general meeting. Following the conversion, the management board of Fresenius Medical Care AG, whose members are appointed by the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG, will manage the business of the company at its own responsibility. The current members of the management board, Franklin Maddox, MD, Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsäß, William Valle, and I, will be members of the management board of Fresenius Medical Care AG. We will be joined by Martin Fischer, our new CFO. This continuity of personnel will ensure that the company will also be properly managed after the conversion. The composition of the supervisory board will change through the conversion. We will exceed the threshold for the application of the German Codetermination Act, since the employees of Fresenius Medical Care Group will no longer be attributed to Fresenius. As a result, our future supervisory board will be composed on a parity basis of six members, representing the shareholders, and six members representing the employees. The chairman of the supervisory board will have a casting vote. Since the composition of the supervisory board will be different in the future, the offices of the current supervisory board members will be terminated by law when the conversion takes effect. All shareholder representatives of the supervisory board must therefore be newly appointed.... The proposed articles of association of Fresenius Medical Care AG grant Fresenius, which currently holds approximately 32.2% of our share capital, the right to appoint up to two shareholder representatives to the supervisory board. This right depends on the relative shareholding of Fresenius in the company. For as long as Fresenius holds 30% or more of the company's share capital, it is entitled to appoint two of the six shareholder representatives. For as long as it holds at least 15%, but less than 30% of the company's share capital, it is entitled to appoint one of the six shareholder representatives. The appointment right is appropriate with a view to the significant stake of Fresenius in the company, providing a good reason to claim adequate representation on the supervisory board. The appointment right is also an expression of the close relationship of Fresenius with the company and its continued commitment to fostering the company's business as its largest shareholder. Against this background, four of the six shareholder representatives of the future supervisory board are proposed for election by this extraordinary general meeting under agenda item two. Two shareholder representatives, Mr. Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius SE, who is expected to become the Chair of the future Supervisory Board, and Ms. Sara Hennicken, CFO of Fresenius SE, will be appointed by Fresenius SE in accordance with its appointment right. They will introduce themselves to you later in the meeting. Prior to the election of the employee representatives on the Supervisory Board of Fresenius Medical Care AG, a status procedure, as described in the German Stock Corporation Act, will have to be conducted. After the conclusion of the status procedure, the election of the employee representatives on the Supervisory Board will be initiated. Additionally, a court application will be made to appoint the employee representatives on the Supervisory Board judicially for the period after the end of the status procedure until the conclusion of the employee representative elections. As soon as the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG is composed, in accordance with the provisions of the German Codetermination Act, the role of a labor director will be assumed by a member of the management board. The labor director will be mainly responsible for future social and personnel matters. The conversion will not impact the employment relationships and working conditions of our employees, in particular, the employees in Germany. All individual and collective rights will be maintained or continued as before. For more details on the effects of the conversion on employees and their representative bodies, please refer to the conversion report of the general partner, which is available for review at this extraordinary general meeting and is also available on our website. The conversion and the deconsolidation resulting from the conversion will have certain operational and financial effects on Fresenius Medical Care that are described in the conversion report in more detail. Specifically, the conversion will result in the need to change the label of certain products. We estimate the cost for these label changes to be in the mid-double digits of millions of euros. Overall, we expect to incur about EUR 50 million-EUR 100 million of one-time costs associated with the conversion. Certain central functions previously performed in full or in part by Fresenius will have to be provided by ourselves. Together with other increases in recurring cost items, we expect the additional costs to only have an immaterial EBIT impact. Recurring costs are expected to be significantly below EUR 50 million per annum. The conversion will also have certain rating effects. We expect that we will maintain our remaining investment grade ratings with Moody's and S&P. Following the announcement of the conversion, Fitch has indicated that it expects to downgrade the rating by no more than one notch if the conversion takes effect. In our decision to propose the conversion, we carefully considered the described effects of the conversion on Fresenius Medical Care. In particular, we evaluated the costs associated with the conversion from an administrative and a carve-out perspective. The most significant amount of these costs are of one-time nature, while the benefits from the conversion would be permanent. In summary, we concluded that the future advantages associated with the conversion significantly outweigh its potential disadvantages. On that basis, we decided to propose this conversion of form at this extraordinary general meeting. We believe this conversion is in the best interest of the company for the following reasons: First, the conversion will result in the simplification of our corporate governance.... The complex structure of a KGaA, with its several corporate bodies, will be replaced by the standard German two-tier system that is the common corporate form for German-listed companies. This will vastly reduce organizational complexity and improve speed, agility, and efficiency of decision-making. Secondly, we currently spend a significant amount of time and resources aligning decisions with the interest of the Fresenius Group. The conversion will reduce these alignment needs and free up significant management resources. It will also free up more of my time as CEO, as I will be leaving the Fresenius Management Board upon effectiveness of the conversion. This way, I can focus solely on Fresenius Medical Care. We expect that the deconsolidation from Fresenius will provide us overall with more operational flexibility, in particular, with regard to the examination and orientation of our future business policy and the perception of market opportunities. Thirdly, while these changes are important, the most significant difference is more influence and rights for you as free flow shareholders. The new structure increases your influence on governance and creates clear accountability for both the supervisory board and the management board. As stated previously, following the conversion, all shareholders will elect at least four of the six shareholder representatives of the company's supervisory board. The supervisory board of a stock corporation has materially more rights compared to the supervisory board of the KGaA. The future supervisory board of the company will appoint and dismiss the management board members, determine their remuneration, and make certain decisions of the management board, subject to its approval. Therefore, your rights as shareholders will be significantly strengthened. Finally, the new structure provides an independent setting of financial policies and broadens strategic options for the future. This will mean a clear path toward realizing our full potential. For example, in the past, we did not access the equity capital markets as the issuance of new shares, in particular, in the context of capital increases without subscription rights, would have diluted the interests of Fresenius in the company. Moreover, depending on the size of the issuance, this could even have led to an exit of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG as general partner under our Articles of Association, and subsequently to a potential change of control, as defined in the stipulation of our material financing agreements. As you can see, the conversion is truly an elegant solution in many ways, and it benefits all stakeholders. We have dealt extensively with potential alternatives to the conversion and carefully assessed their advantages and disadvantages. As a result of this assessment, there are no alternatives that will serve the interests of the company and its shareholders in a comparable manner. Changing the legal form is the best of all available options to realize the targeted deconsolidation for Fresenius SE. Of vital importance is the need to avoid triggering change of control events that would have been prohibitive for financing risks and costs. Based on the benefits offered by the conversion, we have made the principal assessment that the conversion is in the best interest of the company and all its shareholders. The conversion enables us to better pursue our long-term growth objectives and strategies, and it allows us to maintain and improve our position as the world's leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal disease. This is an important building block of our foundation to unlock value as the leading kidney care company. I'd like to take the opportunity today to speak about another very important building block, the FME25 transformation program, and the resulting implementation of our new operating model, which went live on the 1st of January, 2023. This foundation enabled us to operate in an entirely new way. Since becoming CEO, I have set clear priorities for the organization with increased transparency, clear accountability, new and more meaningful KPIs that we track and review monthly, and enable us to initiate countermeasures early where needed. We have started the implementation of several other important building blocks to support our turnaround and to achieve our strategic aspirations, and we have seen the very promising positive impacts of our turnaround measures already in the first months of this year. The better-than-expected operational performance in the first quarter confirms that we are not only on the right track, but that we are executing successfully against our plan towards achieving our 2025 target margin bands. We have instituted a disciplined financial policy, which is strongly focused on improving the company's return on invested capital, with a clear target to double it by 2025. Since January, we are operating in our new operating model as just outlined. We continue executing on the strategic priorities that we have set ourselves in each of the two operating segments. Care Delivery focuses on our world-class patient care. We have more than 345,000 dialysis patients in over 4,100 centers worldwide. We are creating and expanding home dialysis in the U.S. with more than half of all home hemodialysis patients in our care. We are the clear market leader for value-based care in the renal space. We have served more than 600,000 patients since the start of our value-based care journey, and realized in 2022, around 20% fewer all-cause hospitalization than the U.S. average. Care Enablement focuses on our innovative research and product development. Half of the world's dialysis patients receive their care by a Fresenius Medical Care machine in 153 countries. We are the clear number one for both in-center hemodialysis machines and home hemodialysis machines. Our ability to harness the power of big data from both segments, take the best ideas, invest in their development, and introduce them at scale through our unmatched global network, is what makes us the industry's true leader. This vertical integration allows us to move quickly to address market demands, and now the proposed streamlined governance structure, resulting from the change in legal form, will grant us a new level of speed in decision-making. A positive winning culture starts emerging in our company, while we are strictly following through and progressing on our operational turnaround. We are committed to creating an accountable, sustainable, diverse, and inclusive culture, of which you will hear more from me shortly. The six supervisory board candidates representing you, the shareholders, will introduce themselves later. I am excited to work with each of them and to benefit from their diverse backgrounds and their broad and international experiences. While they do not stand for re-election today, I also would like to sincerely thank Dr. Dieter Schenk, Rolf Classon, Dr. Dorothea Wenzel, and Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd for their support, the great collaboration, and their contribution in the last years. Over the last months, we have made significant progress to further upgrade the strength and capabilities of our leadership teams to have the right talent in place for this exciting new chapter of our company's history. At the beginning of this week, we announced that Martin Fischer has been appointed the new CFO for our company, starting on the 1st of October. Martin brings in broad finance expertise with deep background in managing transformations. You will hear more from him later today, and I'm really looking forward to working with Martin. As CEO, I've made it a priority to spend time with our team members across all levels of the organization. Seeing our teams in action, listening and learning from them, helps validate our direction and the cultural shift we also need to make. At our manufacturing plant in Schweinfurt, I met with team members on the lines. I reviewed our pipeline and innovation. I had a roundtable meeting with the team and heard firsthand from our employees. I put on my scrubs and worked as a member of the patient care team at our Chatham Dialysis Clinic near Chicago. I heard directly from our employees and patients what they appreciate most about Fresenius Medical Care. On our regular global all-employee town hall meetings, we not only transparently communicate about the progress we are making and the future of our company, but we have an open dialogue with very active question and answer sessions. The thing I consistently hear most from our people, is that they, too, are also ready for the next chapter in our company's history. They understand and buy in to our clear strategy. Our employees are excited about how the two operating segments are working together to push the envelope of innovation and kidney care. They're excited about the clear accountability and focus the new governing structure will bring. They see that we care and are ready for the new cultural shift to an even greater focus on people and their development, and on the guiding principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Fresenius Medical Care is where they can realize their full potential. Since the start of FME25 in 2021, we have achieved important milestones of our transformation program and are poised to continue on our path of unlocking value and returning to sustainable, profitable growth. The underlying fundamentals of our business are strong. The effectiveness of our turnaround measures have started to become visible in our operational performance. Since the beginning of the year, we have seen a significant improvement in patient mortality as we move from the pandemic to endemic stage of our response to COVID-19, and a stabilization of the broader macroeconomic challenges, particularly labor and inflation. Additionally, delivering on our strategy to simplify and focus on core assets resulted in a series of divestments and market exits as part of our portfolio optimization efforts. In sub-Saharan Africa, Fresenius Medical Care has entrusted a leading international healthcare organization and South Africa's second-largest hospital group to take over 51 of its renal dialysis clinics, supporting more than 2,400 hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. This transaction is currently under regulatory review. In Hungary, Fresenius Medical Care closed the transaction to sell its local dialysis service provider business, including Fresenius Medical Care Dialysis Center Health, an operator of private clinics and other medical facilities in Hungary. As previously announced, the divestiture proceeds will be used for further deleveraging as part of our financial framework. We are thrilled to have found reputable and well-established partners in several markets who can continue the legacy started by Fresenius Medical Care. It was also of vital importance that both the patients who entrust us with their care and our valued employees are well looked after in these changes and can transition to the new owners in a thoughtful, socially responsible manner. In Care Enablement, we also made important steps in optimizing our products portfolio. In the first quarter, we terminated the development of Versa PD, a U.S.-specific peritoneal dialysis cycler. This decision was as a result of strategically aligning on a global offering. I'd like to mention an important opportunity that demonstrates our company's position as one of the world's most forward-thinking kidney care companies. The groundbreaking CONVINCE research study, published just last month, demonstrates that the mortality rate among kidney failure patients can be significantly reduced through the utilization of high-dose hemodiafiltration technology. The study findings reveal that patients treated with high-dose hemodiafiltration experienced a remarkable 23% decrease in mortality rates compared to those treated with a more commonly used high-flux hemodialysis. Fresenius Medical Care is the global leader in hemodiafiltration technology, and we continue to lead the way in membrane and med tech technologies for kidney care. Our 5008 and 5008S dialysis machines are examples of our pioneering work in hemodiafiltration, and we will continue to explore broader adoption of this therapy. The achievements we have made so far are because of our people. Our people are, and always have been, one of our greatest assets. We have the most highly caring staff on the front lines of patient care, the world's top physicians and scientists, expert engineers and researchers imagining new therapies, devices, and products to treat kidney disease. Over the last few months, we have said that 2023 will be the time we made the important decisions to build a new foundation for Fresenius Medical Care. The votes you have before you today are some of those important decisions. Your approval of the change of legal form and of the new shareholder representatives on our future supervisory board will set the course for our company's future. Today is the day when this new chapter can start. While we are on a clear path to deliver industry-leading returns, we will continue to set the standard for kidney care with patient-centered products and services that deliver the highest quality patient outcomes to create a future worth living for patients worldwide, every day. Thank you. Ms. Giza, thank you very much for your comprehensive remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, I had already mentioned that Ms. Giza is currently not only the Chairwoman of the Management Board, but also the acting Chief Financial Officer of the general partner of the company. As Ms. Giza already mentioned in her speech, the supervisory board of the general partner has decided to appoint Mr. Martin Fischer as the new Chief Financial Officer, with effect from the 1st of October, 2023. This will eliminate the double burden of Ms. Giza in the future. I would like to welcome Mr. Fischer to the general meeting and ask him to briefly introduce himself to the shareholders. Mr. Fischer, please, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Dr. Wenzel. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I'm very pleased to introduce myself to you today as the future Chief Financial Officer of Fresenius Medical Care, and to become part of the company as of the 1st of October. My name is Martin Fischer. I was born in Hohenlohe, a district in the northern part of Baden-Württemberg, which is a federal state, which is known for its very strong entrepreneurial culture. I have spent the majority of my professional career with the Siemens Group, including a number of management positions in the finance division of Siemens Healthineers. I have extensive experience in European and American healthcare markets, and was responsible for sales for the German business, as well as Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East and Africa. I was directly involved in the IPO of Siemens Healthineers in March 2018, and I was given the opportunity to actively shape the independent organization after the IPO. Currently, as Global Head of Finance, I am responsible for the diagnostics segment of Siemens Healthineers, based in New York. Like Fresenius Medical Care, this business is currently undergoing a far-reaching transformation process. I will bring the experience I have gained in this, as well as numerous other change processes over the past years, to my new role as CFO of Fresenius Medical Care. I've made a very conscious decision to join Fresenius Medical Care, a global player with German roots, a great tradition, and enormous future potential. It is a company with a convincing and compelling vision: to make the future worth living for patients worldwide, every day. I would like to make my contribution to this, and I want to play my part as this great company will write the next chapter in its history. You, our shareholders, will set the course for this today at this extraordinary shareholders meeting. As CFO, I see myself as a strong team player, who together with Helen Giza, the management team, the 125,000 employees, as well as the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, will help to leverage the company's future potential and manage risks effectively. In my future role, I will work with Helen Giza and the team to drive forward the successful turnaround of the company. Particular attention will be paid to ensuring sustainable, profitable growth. A prerequisite for this is the continuous implementation of the FME25 transformation program, as well as a stringent and targeted allocation of funds and capital. Doubling the return on capital by 2025 is one of my priorities, as is a clear commitment to manage the debt ratio within the target range I have set myself of 3- 3.5 times net debt to EBITDA, which usually corresponds to an investment grade rating. You can already see that transparent capital market communication is also a particular concern of mine. As a pragmatic optimist, integrity, reliability, and commitment, as well as clarity and a sense of responsibility, are personally very important to me. I consistently strive to exemplify these values, and I like to be measured against my values and goals. After the American summer holidays, my family and I will be moving here to Germany, and we are already very much looking forward to Fresenius Medical Care, as well as to living in Bad Homburg. Thank you very much for your attention. I look forward to seeing you again soon in a new role. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Fischer. I would like to wish you all the very best for your new task at Fresenius Medical Care. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the general debate, therefore, the discussion of all of the items on the agenda, I would also like to call up the other two agenda items of today's general meeting. Let us first move to agenda item two, which concerns the election of the members of the supervisory board of the future Fresenius Medical Care AG. Upon the change of legal form of the company into the legal form of a stock corporation, to be resolved under agenda item one taking effect, the office of the members of the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA ends in each case. The supervisory board of the future Fresenius Medical Care AG will have a total of 12 members, and will be composed on a parity basis of six shareholder representatives and six employee representatives. In the event of an affirmative resolution on agenda item one, Fresenius SE & Co KGaA will have the right, under the articles of association of the company, to appoint two of the total of six shareholder representatives to the supervisory board of the company. Fresenius SE & Co KGaA intends to exercise this right, and to appoint Mr. Michael Sen and Ms. Sara Lisa Hennicken to the supervisory board of the company. I would like to welcome Mr. Sen and Ms. Hennicken, and I would like to ask them to please introduce themselves to the shareholders. Mr. Sen, please, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, dear Ms. Wenzel. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, today, the future is in your hands. You will be voting on the change of Fresenius Medical Care's legal form to a stock corporation. That sounds like just a formality, but it is indeed much more than the mere conversion from a partnership limited by shares into a stock corporation. It is indeed a major step for you as shareholders and for Fresenius Medical Care as a whole. The company will become more independent. In the future, it will have the room for maneuver it needs to achieve the operational turnaround and to make the best possible use of its opportunities in the market. The company and you will benefit from the proposed new legal form, as it simplifies the governance structure and enables even more focused, faster, and agile decision-making processes. It will also free up management capacity and avoid potential conflicts of interest. The new structure will give Fresenius Medical Care better access to the capital markets for financing purposes and ensure more flexible decisions on financial and dividend policy. Fresenius SE will retain a significant stake in the company as the largest shareholder, with its current 32% shareholding. I can assure you, we will indeed play an active and supportive role, both as a shareholder and on the supervisory board. As Fresenius Medical Care's largest shareholder, we have the greatest interest in the company's successful future development. Today, you will also be voting on the composition of the supervisory board of the future Fresenius Medical Care AG. In the stock corporation, the supervisory board has more competencies than in the current legal form. In particular, the supervisory board will have the task of appointing and dismissing members of the management board and determining their compensation. The supervisory board can also make important decisions of the management board, subject to its approval. You, the shareholders, will therefore be able to exert a decisive influence on your company through the annual general meeting and the election of supervisory board members. Four of the six shareholder representatives on the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG are up for election today. Unfortunately, as we've already heard, Dr. Schenk cannot be here with us in person today, and I do wish him a good and speedy recovery. After more than 25 years as a member of the company's supervisory board, he has decided not to stand for election to the new supervisory board. I would like to thank him today for his many years of work as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA, address these words of thanks indeed directly to him. Dear Dr. Schenk, you have played a decisive role in shaping the company since its foundation through the merger of Fresenius' product business with the services business of W.R. Grace back in 1996. You have guided Fresenius Medical Care through many, many changes with true expertise and great dedication. During the COVID-19 pandemic, which sadly affected dialysis patients in particular, you demonstrated sound judgment and intuition. In recent months, you have provided constructive and committed support for the turnaround of the company. You always had an open ear and supported the management team with your advice and assistance. I would like to thank you very much for the close and excellent cooperation. Let me wish you all the very best for the future. Rolf Classon, Dr. Dorothea Wenzel, and Professor Gregor Zünd have also decided not to stand as candidates for the new supervisory board. On behalf of Fresenius and Fresenius Medical Care, I would also like to thank them for their commitment, their energy, and their ideas. Standing for re-election today, we have Dr. Gregory Sorensen, as well as Pascale Witz. Both have a high level of industry expertise and international experience, which they have already successfully shown and contributed to the supervisory board's work. Shervin J. Korangy and Dr. Marcus Kuhnert are to join the supervisory board as new members. Shervin Korangy has been CEO of the US Ophthalmology specialist BVI Medical since 2017. Prior to that, his professional positions included Novartis and Blackstone. Marcus Kuhnert is a member of the Management Board of the general partner of Merck KGaA, where he has been a member of the Executive Management and Chief Financial Officer of Merck since 2014. Prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer of the Laundry and Home Care division at Henkel. With regard to the two additional shareholder seats on the Supervisory Board, Fresenius SE is granted a right of appointment in the Articles of Association of Fresenius Medical Care AG. On this basis, Fresenius SE has decided to appoint my colleague, Sara Hennicken, and me to the Supervisory Board. Ms. Hennicken will also introduce herself to you in person in a moment. I very much appreciate working with Ms. Hennicken. As an experienced financial expert from our own ranks, she has provided many new impulses in recent months. We will accompany and support the transformation of Fresenius Medical Care on the part of Fresenius SE. The newly elected board will decide independently on its chairperson. You have already seen from the invitation that I will be standing for election as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. For this reason, allow me to introduce myself briefly. I have been Chairman of the Management Board of Fresenius SE since the 1st of October, 2022. As you might know, I spent many years of my professional life at Siemens. After a Siemens headquarter apprenticeship as a commercial assistant, followed by a degree in business administration at the Technische Universität Berlin, and stays abroad in the U.S., I spent many years in various leading positions in different industry sectors at Siemens. At the beginning of my career, I also painfully experienced at Siemens how the telecommunications business went downhill in the 2000s, because one let things just run their course for too long, because they hadn't set the course for the future in time. Over the years at Siemens, I had been closely associated with the healthcare sector because I've always been fascinated by this industry with its high social relevance. Before joining E.ON in 2015, I spent several years as CFO of the Siemens healthcare sector. This was a period of a number of groundbreaking decisions regarding the strategic realignment and the turnaround of the business. In 2017, I returned from E.ON to Siemens and among other things, took over responsibility for the healthcare business in the management board, and I prepared the successful IPO of Siemens Healthineers. At that time, too, the aim was to give the company a much-needed perspective for the future and to closely support this as chairman of the supervisory board. On the supervisory board of Siemens Healthineers, a good balance between continuity and new perspectives and new competencies always prove its worth. I am convinced that such a balance, also on the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, will serve the company well. Ladies and gentlemen, today's annual general meeting shows the great progress Fresenius Medical Care has already made in recent months. Patients are at the center of everything the company does. Providing them with the best possible support and care is what it is all about. Fresenius Medical Care has already taken decisive countermeasures in the face of a significant drop in earnings last year, with a new simplified operating model comprising two global segments. Care Delivery, the healthcare services business, and Care Enablement, the products business. This structure provides for greater transparency and enables direct comparison with other companies. It also enables targeted improvements in business performance. As a result, Fresenius Medical Care has now become much more efficient, dynamic, and competitive, and this has already been acknowledged. Since the end of October last year, the share price has increased by more than 60%. The change of legal form proposed today is indeed the next important milestone on the way to a significantly improved and much more efficient structure of Fresenius Medical Care. Over the past months, we have been in intensive discussions to examine various options for simplifying the joint group structure. The deconsolidation from Fresenius SE has proven to be the best option for Fresenius Medical Care, as well as for you, dear shareholders. Currently, Fresenius Medical Care is managed and represented by the general partner, Fresenius Medical Care Management AG. As a result, there is a complex dual structure with two supervisory boards with different responsibilities. As a result of the change of legal form, this structure will be replaced by a much simpler and far more common two-tier corporate governance system of a German stock corporation, of an AG. Consequently, the time and capacity of the top management team will be freed up for the company's real objectives. The new structure will also allow Fresenius Medical Care to decide more flexibly on its investment policy, financing strategy, as well as dividend policy, without having to take into account the special interests or financing needs of Fresenius SE. This new flexibility and autonomy will put Fresenius Medical Care in a stronger position to pursue the company's long-term growth targets as well as strategies. The new corporate structure will make Fresenius more transparent. Decisions will be made by fewer bodies and much faster, therefore. In the future, both companies will be able to fully focus on their respective business. Ladies and gentlemen, we are all aware of the historic significance of this step, because, of course, both companies, Fresenius and Fresenius Medical Care, have always been perceived by many as a single entity. This step is the best step for both companies. From now on, Fresenius will reduce its complexity, but will not reduce its substance. On the contrary, we are freeing ourselves from structures that have recently prevented both companies from bringing out the best in themselves. Fresenius Medical Care's management will have more freedom in the future, but it will also bear the responsibility for putting the company back on the road to success. I am sure that the management team, led by Helen Giza, will take advantage of this new room for maneuver and flexibility, because Fresenius Medical Care still has a unique position in the market. It has a strong business with first-class market access and convincing technologies. Around 345,000 patients worldwide, more than 4,100 dialysis centers. By 2035, the world's population over the age of 65 will increase from 750 million at present, to around 1.2 billion people, so the need for kidney treatments will increase sharply. The number of dialysis patients is expected to rise to more than 7 million over the same period of time, thus almost doubling. Providing the best healthcare for these patients, this is the task of Fresenius Medical Care. To achieve this, a competitive cost structure and efficient processes are indispensable. Fresenius Medical Care's management is working hard to achieve exactly this. The FME25 transformation program is making important progress. In fiscal year 2022, Fresenius Medical Care achieved sustainable savings of more than EUR 131 million. This was more than could originally be expected. The scope of the program is now being expanded. The Care Enablement segment, in particular, still faces major challenges in view of the ongoing inflationary pressure. Cost discipline is a high priority for the entire company. The aim is to operate more profitably and to significantly reduce debt. Investments must be well thought out and fit precisely. Organic growth is the method of choice. It is above all the people who work at Fresenius Medical Care, who make the company successful. This makes it all the more important to have a corporate culture that promotes responsibility, sustainability, diversity, and integration. A strong corporate culture is a key element when it comes to major changes. Ladies and gentlemen, the day Siemens Healthineers went public, will be remembered by me personally, as the result of an extraordinary team effort. Well, today is another day that I, and probably also you, will remember as yet another extraordinary team effort. The 14th of July, 2023, is the day when a new chapter will be written for Fresenius Medical Care and for Fresenius. In recent months, we have made important decisions at a critical moment for the company. For Fresenius, for Fresenius Medical Care, for our patients, for our associates, for our employees, today you will decide. I am counting on your support. Let us continue together on the transformation course Fresenius Medical Care has embarked on. Everyone involved will benefit considerably from this. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much, Mr. Sen. Ms. Hennicken, the floor is yours. Thank you so much, dear Ms. Wenzel. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, my name is Sara Hennicken. I have been Chief Financial Officer of Fresenius for quite a while. I started my professional career in the financial sector. I worked in investment banking for 14 years. After studying economics in Giessen, in Germany, and earning a master's degree in economics in the US, I started working in London at Citigroup Global Markets. In 2010, I moved to Deutsche Bank. There, I advised international clients and DAX companies on large M&A and capital markets transactions. Since 2019, I have been at Fresenius. The focus on patients and their well-being is a great motivation for me in my daily work and in striving to become better and better at what we do. Initially, I was responsible for corporate finance and global treasury. In this role, I was responsible not only for Fresenius, but also for Fresenius Medical Care. This gave me deep insights into Fresenius Medical Care's business model. Since September last year, I've been Chief Financial Officer at Fresenius. I am responsible not only for all financial areas, but also for internal audit, real estate, cybersecurity, and IT. Since then, I have also been on the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG. At Fresenius Medical Care, we are concerned with what is perhaps the most important thing, providing healthcare for people. Our mission is shaping a future worth living for patients around the world, every day. That is a high identification factor for me. It is this common DNA that unites Fresenius and Fresenius Medical Care. Today will not change this. For the benefit of our patients, we will combine high medical quality with economic efficiency. Our ambition to do this in the best possible way distinguishes both companies in equal measure. With your decision to change the legal form and thus to deconsolidate, you, dear shareholders, are releasing further forces. Let me tell you what is special about me. I'm a team player, so cooperation and knowledge sharing in diverse teams are very important to me. In addition, I have an inner motivation to shape things, to create, to adapt business models and organizations to changing conditions, and the goal to me is to constantly improve. Ladies and gentlemen, just as I did as Chief Financial Officer of Fresenius, I will also contribute my expertise as a member of the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, and my great sympathy for this great company, which is very close to my heart and whose future development we will continue to actively follow. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much, Ms. Hennicken. Ladies and gentlemen, the remaining four of the total of six shareholder representatives on the supervisory board of the future Fresenius Medical Care AG are to be elected today by the general meeting. The supervisory board of the company proposes that you elect the following persons. First, Mr. Shervin J. Korangy, President and Chief Executive Officer of BVI Medical, Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts, US, residing in New York City, New York, USA. Second, Dr. Marcus Kuhnert, member of the Executive Board of E. Merck KG, Darmstadt, residing in Königstein, Germany. Third, Mr. Gregory Sorensen, MD, Chief Executive Officer of DeepHealth Inc, Cambridge Massachusetts, USA, and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMRIS, Deerfield Imaging Inc, Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA, residing in Belmont, Massachusetts, USA. Fourth, Ms. Pascale Witz, President of PWH Advisors LLC, New York City, New York, USA, residing in Paris, France. The election is proposed in each case for the period until the end of the general meeting that will resolve on the ratification of actions of the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2026. Mr. Sorensen and Ms. Witz are already known to you as shareholder representatives of the incumbent Supervisory Board. Mr. Korangy and Dr. Kuhnert are standing for election to the Supervisory Board of the company for the first time. I had already welcomed Mr. Sorensen and Ms. Witz. I would also like to welcome Mr. Korangy and Dr. Kuhnert, and ask all of the new candidates, as well as those already in office who are standing for election today, to briefly introduce themselves. Mr. Korangy, please, the floor is yours. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you all today. Today feels like a really wonderful step forward for Fresenius Medical Care. As one of the great companies in healthcare, the business has such a positive impact on the world through its vision in treating patients. I wanted to provide you with a brief background on myself. I am Shervin Korangy. I currently serve as a board member, President, and Chief Executive Officer of BVI Medical. BVI are one of the fastest growing, diversified medical technology companies focused on surgical ophthalmology. Headquartered in the United States, we manufacture and market products used in over 90 countries to treat conditions such as cataracts, retinal disease, and refractive disorder. We're privately held, we're controlled by one of the largest private equity firms in the world, TPG Capital. I've been with the business for about six years. Prior to this, for over seven years, I was a senior executive at the Swiss-headquartered Novartis Group, serving in various capacities, including being the Global Head of Corporate Finance based in Basel, Switzerland. I also held several country and regional commercial roles based out of Paris and London. Prior to Novartis, I spent more than 14 years with The Blackstone Group, most recently as a managing director of the firm. I spent time in the restructuring business, working on turnarounds, as well as the private equity business, investing in companies. During my tenure, Blackstone expanded into the world's largest alternative asset manager. They currently manage over $900 billion of assets under management. In 2011, in parallel to some of the roles that I mentioned, I was also a co-founder of Sight Sciences. Sight Sciences is a medical technology company seeking to address innovative approaches to the target the underlying causes of glaucoma and dry eye. The business was privately held for 10 years. We subsequently took it public via an initial public offering in 2021. In addition to my operational roles mentioned, I also currently serve on the board of directors of Hain Celestial, a U.S. publicly traded consumer packaged goods company, and Modus GI, a U.S. publicly traded medical device company. Over the years, I've had experience on several other corporate boards, either private or publicly traded. In addition, I'm a member of the Wharton Leadership Advisory Board, established by the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania. I graduated with honors from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, where I received a Bachelor's of Economics with a dual concentration in management and finance. As with a role like this, I've ensured that I have the requisite time to fulfill my role as a potential supervisory board member. I believe that I would bring to Fresenius a unique and balanced experience, both as an investor, thinking like a shareholder, and a corporate executive with a deep experience in the healthcare sector. These, in addition to corporate governance and capital allocation experiences, would help complement the balance of the board being considered today. I appreciate your consideration, and thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Korangy. Dr. Kuhnert, the floor is yours. Thank you, Dorothea. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking you for the opportunity to speak to you today. It is a privilege for me to have been nominated for the role as a member of the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, and I would like to thank the supervisory board and you, the shareholders, for this. Let me now explain to you how my experience over the past years, and the knowledge and skills I have acquired, will help me to fill this role well and appropriately. First of all, I am convinced that financial expertise is an important cornerstone of effective governance. This is especially true in an industry as dynamic and complex as the pharmaceutical and life science industries. With more than 20 years of experience in finance leadership positions at two large German DAX-listed companies, I bring extensive experience in the areas of financial governance, financial reporting preparation, but also in initiating value-enhancing group initiatives, and the companies were Henkel and Merck. Furthermore, in addition to the preparation of financial reporting, I'm also well-versed in its analysis, in the assessment of the financial benefits of investment decisions, and in ensuring the financial flexibility and capital market access of companies. This is achieved and supported through regular dialogue and cooperation with the strategically important relationship banks and major rating agencies, but also through permanent and constructive interaction with analysts and investors. This extensive experience enables me to accompany and support a company on its path to profitable growth while creating value for its shareholders at the same time. The second point I would like to make is more industry specific. I do know from my experience of working for nine years as CFO at Merck, that the pharmaceutical and life science industries are a very highly regulated industry. Interacting with regulators, for example, in the approval of new drugs, has given me a good understanding of how these bodies operate, but at the same time has emphasized the importance of putting ethical business practices at the heart of entrepreneurial activity. That is why I believe that adherence to values, the highest governance standards, as well as transparency, are the cornerstones on which trust is built. Trust by shareholders, but also within the organization in order to ensure its sustainable existence. Beyond financial and regulatory issues, I am a strong advocate of digitalization and of leveraging its transformational potential. From personalized medicine to AI-assisted identification of promising drug candidates, there are countless examples of challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry, for which digital technologies can provide true innovative solutions. For Fresenius Medical Care as well, digital technologies such as telemedicine or remote patient monitoring, are the key to revolutionizing interaction with patients, improving operational efficiency, and ultimately opening up new opportunities to generate profitable growth in the future. My experience from navigating the complexities of digital transformation at Merck by leading the IT function, which has been part of my functional portfolio as CFO, always allows me to provide Fresenius Medical Care with some valuable insights and strategic impulses that may be useful for FMC's digital transformation. In addition to digitalization, there's an urgent need for sustainable business of companies and society at large, driven by the increasingly visible effects of climate change, but also by dwindling resources and the emphasis on corporate social responsibility. The pharmaceutical and life science industries are uniquely positioned to play a significant role in this context and to create added value for society. Their products form the basis for health and thus for global prosperity. The COVID-19 pandemic has just shown us how closely health and prosperity are linked. Through clean production and supply chains, securing access to medicines or handling patient data responsibly, we can make a big impact on people and our planet through our actions. As CFO, I have played an important role in anchoring the topic of sustainability in Merck's corporate strategy, but also in its operational processes. For my role on the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, I bring a deep understanding of the framework conditions, the introduction of sustainability aspects into corporate management, but also of relevant reporting standards and requirements, as well as of the so-called stakeholder engagement. For example, when discussing sustainability aspects with investors and rating agencies. Going forward, my top priority will be to work with Fresenius Medical Care's management team in an open, constructive, and professional manner, while also keeping other key stakeholders, especially the shareholders, in mind. I do believe in open dialogue, in active listening, and most importantly, in plain speaking, and in a constructive and solution-oriented approach to addressing issues and challenges. All of this, I believe, is essential to creating a collaborative and effective working environment on the supervisory board. In summary, let me say that I would be very grateful and motivated to be able to offer my expertise to the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care, if you chose to elect me today to the supervisory board. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much, Dr. Kuhnert. Mr. Sorensen, you have the floor. Thank you. It's an honor to have the opportunity to introduce myself today as a potential member of the future Fresenius Medical Care AG Supervisory Board. Please let me provide a short summary of my background. I currently live with my family in the Boston area, in Massachusetts, and I've been fortunate to have a range of experiences that I believe are of relevance. As a full professor at Harvard Medical School and as a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, I've been able to witness firsthand how valuable the technologies and services that Fresenius Medical Care brings to patients can truly be. Later, through my service as President and CEO of Siemens Healthcare for North America, I led an organization of thousands of people and saw up close how a global team can successfully and sustainably deliver healthcare and innovations across a variety of settings. As the founder and CEO of DeepHealth, I have led the development of modern artificial intelligence techniques and seen their positive impact in the lives of millions of women undergoing breast cancer screening, with these techniques identifying hundreds of cancers earlier than they would have otherwise been detected just in the last few years. I now hope to bring this experience and this range of expertise and join with my colleagues at Fresenius Medical Care to build a brighter future for patients around the world. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much, Mr. Sorensen. Last but not least, there's Ms. Witz. The floor is yours. Thank you very much, Ms. Wenzel. Dear shareholders of Fresenius Medical Care, my name is Pascale Witz. First of all, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the trust that you have placed in me. For the past seven years, I have been privileged to represent your interests on the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA for seven years. This has given me the opportunity, together with my colleagues on the supervisory board, to closely accompany and help shape the transformation of our company in this phase, which is both far-reaching and forward-looking. I'm therefore all the more pleased to stand before you today as a candidate for the future supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG. A few words about myself. I have been working in the healthcare industry for 34 years. During this time, I have held positions including President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Pharmaceutical Diagnostics and Executive Vice President at Sanofi. In various management positions, I have led teams around the world, living and working myself in the U.S., the U.K., and France. During my career, I have gained extensive experience in leading and transforming large global organizations. I would like to continue to use this knowledge in the future to support Fresenius Medical Care with strategic impulses on its growth path. Since 2016, I have been a member of the supervisory board of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA, and currently chair the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee. I am also a member of the supervisory board of the general partner, Fresenius Medical Care Management AG. In addition to my supervisory board activities, I act as an advisor to investment companies and companies in the healthcare and life science tech sectors. Should you, dear shareholders of Fresenius Medical Care, once again place your trust in me, I will continue to put my extensive knowledge of Fresenius Medical Care and its business, as well as my expertise in the areas of accounting, auditing, digitalization, and sustainability, to full use in the service of our company. Once again, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms. Witz. Ladies and gentlemen, details of the candidates who are to be appointed to the supervisory board today, or who are to be elected to the supervisory board by the general meeting, can also be found in the CVs, which are printed after the agenda in the convening of this general meeting, and which are also available for inspection here today at the request table and at the information stand. Ladies and gentlemen, let us now move to agenda item three. Agenda item three concerns the resolution on the confirmation of the election of the auditor of the annual financial statements and the auditor of the consolidated financial statements for the future of Fresenius Medical Care AG. The supervisory board proposes, based on the recommendation of its Audit and Corporate Governance Committee, that the resolution adopted under agenda item five of the annual general meeting of the company on the 16th of May, 2023, regarding the election of PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, as auditor and group auditor for fiscal year 2023, as auditor for the potential review of the half-year financial report and other interim financial information for fiscal year 2023, prepared after the annual general meeting 2023, as well as auditor for the potential review of interim financial information for fiscal year 2024, prepared prior to the annual general meeting 2024, is confirmed so that it continues to apply unchanged for Fresenius Medical Care AG. The full text of the agenda, as well as of the administration's proposed resolutions on the three agenda items, can be found in the convening of the general meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to enter the general debate. I would therefore now like to say goodbye to those who have been following the general meeting online. Let me thank you for your interest in the company and wish you all the best. Goodbye.