GrahamMac,Reading you post, I'm not so sure you understand what...

GrahamMac,

Reading you post, I'm not so sure you understand what you own.

ALZ ain't about land, mate. They're about buying land with debt, developing that land with debt, then flogging it into controlled investment trusts which have a combination of equity and...you guessed it! - debt.

And how is that debt structured? Is it discrete, such that the investment property assets are protected from the rest of the group (and the other trusts)? After all, that's the way a typical property trust works.

Here's a little extract from the Notes to Financial Statements of one of the trusts in the 2006 accounts:-

Going Concern
There is a current asset deficiency in both the consolidated entity and the Trust at 31 December 2006 of $239,254,000 (2005: $266,103,000) and $33,988,000 (2005: 338,310,000) respectively. This is due to at call interest bearing liabilities of $347,577,000 (2005: $341,587,000) owed by the consolidated entity and $193,398,000 (2005: $185,724,000) owed by the Trust, to a related entity, Australand Holdings Limited (“AHL”). The Board of AHL has provided a letter of support to the Board of Australand Property Limited that they will not call upon the loan until such time when APT is in a position to be able to repay these loans. AHL will also continue to provide funding to both the consolidated entity and the Trust in order to meet their debts as and when they fall due.

You're buying a property developer, mate - not a land bank or a property trust. Have you looked at the way the debt is structured across their various property trusts? Go have a read of the trusts' financial statements.