Investment management at AB Development means governing capital deployed in real assets and development joint ventures—with clear mandates, reporting and exit discipline. We are not a retail fund manager; we work with sophisticated partners who understand property risk.
Mandate design
Before capital is deployed we document target returns, risk limits, asset classes, geography, leverage tolerance, hold period, and decision rights. Mandates may prohibit certain activities—speculative land banking, unrelated trade finance, or development beyond agreed lot sizes.
Oversight
We monitor construction draws, leasing progress, interest coverage, and revaluation triggers. Variances require explanation and, where material, partner consent. Independent quantity surveying and valuation inputs are used when agreements require them.
Joint ventures
JV terms address capital contribution, promote/waterfall, deadlock resolution, and exit mechanisms—sale, buy-sell, or refinance. We prefer explicit formulas over informal understandings that become contentious under stress.
Reporting cadence
Monthly or quarterly reports typically include cash flow, work-in-progress, sales or leasing pipeline, and risk register updates. Translated summaries can be appended for offshore committees when agreed in advance.
Capital sources
We work with senior debt from banks, non-bank lenders, and partner equity. We do not promise access to capital; we present projects with documentation lenders expect—sensitivity tables, QS reports, pre-sales or lease evidence, and clear security proposals.
Governance mechanics
Investment committees (partner-side or joint) receive packs before drawdowns above thresholds. Covenants may cap LVR, require minimum presales, or restrict scope changes. Breach protocols define cure periods and information rights.
Exit strategies
Exits may be asset sale on market, bulk sale to institutional buyers, refinance after stabilisation, or hold for income. Each path has different tax and timing implications—partners must obtain independent tax advice. We model exits explicitly in base cases rather than assuming automatic development margin.
What we decline
We decline mandates requiring guaranteed returns, undisclosed related-party sales, or structures incompatible with Australian law. We decline when disclosure is insufficient for responsible reporting to your stakeholders.
Underwriting inputs
Lenders and equity partners expect QS-reviewed costs, independent valuations where mandated, and sales evidence from comparable transactions—not broker hype sheets. We assemble data rooms with indexed folders for title, planning, contracts, insurance, and financial model versions.
Stress testing
Models include downside cases: construction delay, interest rate uplift, slower absorption, and cost escalation bands. Partners see which covenants fail first under stress—informing reserve requirements and contingency sizing.
Hold vs develop decisions
Some assets are acquired for income hold; others for develop-and-sell. We document the decision gate that triggers pivot if planning or market conditions change materially after acquisition.
Reporting examples
Reports may include Gantt extracts, drawdown schedules, sales or leasing pipeline tables, and narrative explanation of variances. Charts are sourced from models with version numbers—not manually edited images that cannot be reconciled.
Valuation policy
Revaluations follow mandate terms—often annual or upon trigger events. We distinguish between market value, forced sale value, and going-concern value for operating assets to avoid misleading dashboards.