6 questions lodged at 2025 Dexus hybrid AGM

Q1. Wanted to submit this: "From 2012-16, I was chair of the City of Melbourne finance committee and was aware that Dexus had a highly favourable 75 year lease arrangement on the 8 storey council-owned car park at the back of the Melbourne Club on Little Collins St. The lease expires in 2037 & we were the logical buyer when City of Melbourne put it on the market earlier this year. Why on earth did we let Sydney billionaire Justin Hemmes pick it up for the bargain price of $55 million? Are we so gun shy on CBD office towers post-COVD that we won't even pick up prime sites at the Paris end of Collins St when they become available? Were Victoria's sky rocketing land tax rates a factor in our reluctance to take any more development risk in the Melbourne CBD?"

But had to hack it down to the following to accommodate Link's standard 532 character limit, which is the most constrictive of all the share registry companies: "Dexus has a highly favourable 75yr lease on the 8 storey City of Melb owned car park at the back of the Melbourne Club on Little Collins St. The lease expires in 2037 & we were the logical buyer when council put it on the market this year. Why did we let Sydney billionaire Justin Hemmes pick it up for the bargain price of just $55m? Are we so gun shy on CBD office towers post-COVD that we won't even pick up prime sites at the Paris end of Collins St? Were Victoria's sky rocketing land tax rates a factor in our reluctance?"

Answer: The CEO gave a good response explaining that they tried to buy it privately from City of Melbourne over the years, but then lost out in the competitive market process which he said delivered a full price for a site where the neighbouring Melbourne Club will limit the scale of what could be delivered above the existing building envelope. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. For what it's worth, I think IFM grossly over-reacted in the Melbourne Airport fight & are deploying sharp practices which don't reflect well on the culture within some of Australia's largest industry funds, who seem to be adopting an extreme impractical approach to secrecy & confidentiality when they should be pillars of transparency & openness in a democracy like ours. Has the shareholder fight impacted responsiveness inside the APAC boardroom on issues like the recent publicity over a Melbourne Airport construction job?

Answer: The chair said he didn't understand the construction job reference but that Dexus was going into the upcoming mediation in good faith and hoped that all the other APAC shareholders would do the same and a resolution could be reached. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. Thank you to Nicola Roxon for her 8 years of service on the board. It is always helpful for investors to have access to some exit perspectives from retiring independent directors. In her final contribution as a Dexus director, could Nicola please comment on what she regards as the best 2 decisions Dexus made during her time on the board and does she have any regrets?

Answer: The chair Warwick Negus "pushed back" on this question and suggested I contact her privately whilst referring to "home work", all of which was quite bizarre. He might not have done this if the question wrangler hadn't excluded the italicised bit (In her final contribution as a Dexus director) which is designed to discourage this type of chair block. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q4. Thank you to Paula Dwyer for her 33 months of service on the board. Paula's 3 year term wasn't due to expire until the 2026 AGM so it is unusual to have an unexplained premature exit linked to the end of this AGM, as if a 3 year term was expiring and Paula was naturally rolling off the board. Paula is indeed a seasoned professional director and chair and Warwick mentioned her "frank assessments" in his prepared remarks. In her final contribution as a Dexus director, could Paula please share some frank assessments as to why she is departing?

Answer: After chair Warwick Negus batted away the previous question on Nicola Roxon, the question wrangler said there was a similar question on Paula Dwyer so he batted that away as well without even hearing the important differences with one being a fairly standard time-based departure of a long serving director and the other being an unexpected premature departure which raises red flags. Didn't capture the brief Paula Dwyer component on video but watch video of previous exchange via Twitter and then read on to the next question for the sequel.

Q5. Please read in full unedited: I tried to ask this in general business but the chair prematurely deflected it given the proximity to the request for Nicola Roxon to offer some exit reflections. Mr chair, watch the mansplaining! Female directors should be heard, not just seen. As a fellow seasoned professional female public company director, is Elana Rubin concerned by the premature departure of Paula Dwyer from this board and could Paula please offer some frank assessments as to why she is departing after just 33 months?

Answer: Kudos to the female question wrangler for reading this in full, as requested. The chair Warwick Negus remarkably made himself actually look like a mansplainer this time when he spoke on Paula's behalf citing "overboarding issues". He wasn't mansplaining the first time, which was more just stonewalling and deflecting. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q6. Both Elana and the chair got the language technically wrong on the rem voting outcome. It was neither 93% of issued capital in favour, as the chair said, or 93% of shareholders in favour, as Elana Rubin said. The mandate is actually 93% of directed proxy votes. To this end, will you disclose how many shareholders voted for and against in the poll results announcement to the ASX, as this will show that less than 5% of shareholders bothered to vote and highlight the chronic lack of participation by retail shareholders at AGMs?

Answer: The chair blamed the script writer and was confused in his response talking about an 80% turnout by shares when I was requesting turnout data by shareholders, something which has been requested at 100+ other AGMs so should hardly be a surprise. They failed to deliver the headcount data in these poll results. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Other highlights from the meeting

Company secretary rejecting attempt by Disabled Shareholders Association to wind Dexus up

David Kingston giving the board a solid pounding on poor returns


Opening two minute response by chair Warwick Negus to David Kingston


Opening two minute response by chair Warwick Negus to a tough critique by ASA monitor Louis Gomes

Copyright © 2025 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

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