Governance & Risk
Discipline is the product
Returns attract attention; governance earns allocation. Royal Oak runs its vehicles to an institutional standard because our investors — and our own capital — demand it.
Investment Discipline
How decisions are made
Four disciplines govern every position, from screening to realisation.
Investment committee
Every transaction is approved by the investment committee before capital is committed. The committee is chaired by the founder and includes both non-executive directors, so no transaction proceeds on the chair’s view alone. It tests entry price, downside protection, structure and exit — and it says no far more often than yes.
Underwriting framework
Each opportunity is underwritten through both a debt and an equity lens: cost, program, tenant demand, sensitivity to rates and valuations, and the behaviour of the position if the base case does not arrive.
Capital preservation first
The first objective of every Royal Oak vehicle is the preservation of investor capital. Structures are engineered to protect principal ahead of upside — and the principal’s own capital sits inside the same structure.
Independent valuation
Trust assets are valued in accordance with a documented valuation policy, with independent valuations at set intervals. Unit prices are reported on a NAV basis, explained plainly in How We Price Units.
Operating Platform
The control environment
Operations are led by Justin Smith, Chief of Staff & Operations — most recently a Director, General Manager and Responsible Manager for an Australian financial services licensee, with direct accountability for AFSL compliance, fund operations and investor governance, after twelve years at PwC.
That background is deliberate. Sophisticated investors and family offices rightly demand the operational and compliance infrastructure of a much larger manager — so Royal Oak built it in.
- AFSL-grade compliance and investor-governance disciplines, led by an operations principal with Responsible Manager experience
- Documented trust constitutions, with each offer made through an Information Memorandum to wholesale investors only
- Wholesale (s708/s761G) eligibility verification before any offer material is provided
- Full-lifecycle fund operations: accounting and tax, distributions, registry, reporting and audit support
- Anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing procedures
- Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) compliant data handling — see the Privacy Policy
Authorisation
Licensing and authorisation
Royal Oak operates under the Australian financial services licensing regime as a corporate authorised representative.
- Corporate Authorised Representative
- Royal Oak Asset Management Pty Ltd — CAR No. 1297058
- Authorised Representative
- Alex Gismondi — AR No. 1297050
- Licensee
- Wholesale Securities Pty Ltd — ABN 89 601 790 470, AFSL No. 466877
Royal Oak Asset Management Pty Ltd (CAR No. 1297058) and Alex Gismondi (AR No. 1297050) are authorised representatives of Wholesale Securities Pty Ltd (ABN 89 601 790 470, AFSL No. 466877).