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Our Approach

Investment Philosophy

How holdings are selected, valued and sized.

Risk ManagementAbout Us

The portfolio is managed as a single balance sheet. Holdings are selected for durable earnings, real balance sheets and a clear margin of safety. The office does not use leverage, derivatives or thematic exposures.

Desk with notebook and fountain pen

Concentrated quality

The book holds a small number of businesses with durable earnings and strong balance sheets.

Margin of safety

A holding is bought when the price sits below the office's estimate of intrinsic value.

Cash is a position

Cash and short-duration instruments are sized against obligations. There is no requirement to be fully invested.

No leverage, no derivatives

The book rises and falls with the underlying assets. The office does not borrow to invest and does not use derivatives.

Real assets

Direct property, credit, infrastructure and private family businesses sit alongside listed equities.

The Screen

What a holding must clear before purchase

Describable in one paragraph. A structure that cannot be explained simply is not held.

Visible current cash flow. The asset is underwritten on what it produces today.

A balance sheet that does not depend on capital markets. A business that must return to capital markets to fund itself is not held.

A price below our estimate of intrinsic value. The purchase price must sit below the estimated range.

An exit that exists in a downturn. Durable businesses, prime property and investment-grade credit retain buyers across cycles.

Applied Philosophy

Portfolio

Four of the six holdings on the balance sheet.

Australian Quality Equities Portfolio
Equities

Australian Quality Equities Portfolio

A concentrated book of listed Australian businesses selected on durable earnings and balance sheet strength.

Core holding since 2023View →
Family-Business Partnership
Private

Family-Business Partnership

A direct partnership with a Melbourne family manufacturer, structured for continuity rather than for exit.

Established 2024View →
Fixed Income & Liquidity Reserve
Credit

Fixed Income & Liquidity Reserve

Short-dated government and bank paper sized to fund twelve months of obligations without forced selling.

Rolling mandateView →
Melbourne Inner-East Office Portfolio
Real Assets

Melbourne Inner-East Office Portfolio

Four commercial properties across Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew, anchored by long-standing professional services tenants.

Acquired 2023–2024View →
Philosophy in Detail

How holdings are selected

How the office values, why the book is concentrated, and what triggers a sale.

Three tests. The business must have produced positive free cash flow through at least one full cycle, not only in benign conditions. Revenue must be repeat rather than project-based, so that a lost contract does not reset the year.

The balance sheet must fund the business without recourse to capital markets.

We estimate intrinsic value from discounted cash flow, cross-check it against replacement cost and against what a disciplined private buyer would pay for the same asset, and require a discount to that range before buying.

The range is wide by design. The office does not rely on the precision of the model.

An index holds businesses the office would not own outright. Every holding on the balance sheet clears the same threshold, which keeps the number of positions small.

Where an asset does not meet the threshold, the capital stays in cash.

Both give a lender or counterparty the right to end a position before the thesis plays out.

Holdings are sized to fall materially in value and still be held.

Positions are bought on the assumption they will be held for a decade or longer and are reviewed annually against the written thesis.

The assumption allows the office to underwrite cash flows that a shorter-term owner would discount.

Three conditions: the thesis no longer holds; the price has moved above the office's estimate of intrinsic value and the capital can be deployed elsewhere; or a better-understood opportunity requires the position.

A change in price alone is not a reason to sell.