For landowners, investors and partners
Investment that starts with the real estate.
We invest in and develop real estate around the needs of people, businesses and industry. Our investment and partnership work starts with the property itself: the land, the requirement and the development that could serve it.
Development-led investment
There are two broad ways to invest in real estate. One is to buy finished property and hold it for income or growth. The other is to invest in development: bringing land into use, building what is needed and creating an asset that did not exist before. The second involves more work and different risks, and it is the kind of investment WBI makes.
Development-led investment starts from the real estate rather than a financial product, and the questions are practical: whether the land is right for the use, whether occupiers want the space, whether the building can be delivered at a sensible cost, and who is best placed to carry each part of the work. Sound answers are what make an investment, and no amount of structuring can make up for weak ones.
That is why conversations with landowners, investors and partners look alike at the start. Whatever someone brings, whether land, capital, a requirement or development capability, the first task is to understand the opportunity underneath it.
Three ways in
Development opportunities
Specific developments on specific sites that need land, capital, an occupier or a partner to move forward, in workforce accommodation, industrial and commercial property, and residential and specialised buildings.
Strategic partnerships
Longer relationships with landowners, investors, operators or occupiers, where several developments follow from a shared objective, such as housing a growing workforce or bringing a land holding into use over time.
Long-term property investment
Holding developed assets for the long term, with income from occupiers and value that depends on how well the property was planned and how well it is run. Assets meant to be held are designed with running costs, durability and adaptability in mind.
How an opportunity is assessed
The site
Location, access, permitted use, services and ground: what the land can support and what it would take to prepare it.
The demand
Who needs the space, on what terms and for how long, with evidence rather than assumption wherever possible.
The development
What it will cost and how long it will take to deliver, and where the main risks lie.
The structure
Who contributes what, who decides what, and how value and risk are shared between the parties.
What makes a development investment sound
Secure land
Ownership or development rights that are clear, registered and long enough for the development to pay back.
Evidenced demand
Occupiers, residents or operators whose need for the space can be shown, ideally through commitments rather than forecasts.
A clear approvals path
A permitted use that matches the plan, or a realistic route to changing it, with the approvals mapped out in advance.
Tested costs
Construction and infrastructure costs checked against real benchmarks, with contingency for what the site may reveal.
Aligned parties
A structure in which each party's reward depends on the development succeeding, not merely on its part being done.
A realistic exit
A credible way to realise the investment, whether through sale, refinancing or long-term income, agreed from the outset.
Partnerships that last
A strategic partnership is worth forming when the parties share an objective that will outlast a single project: an employer whose workforce will keep growing, a landowner with several sites to bring forward over time, or an investor looking for a steady flow of development opportunities in one sector.
Such partnerships run on trust built through the first project, clear rules for how later opportunities are offered and assessed, and a willingness on every side to walk away from a project that does not meet the standard, even when the relationship would make it easy to proceed.
Partnerships of this kind also need a regular look back at what has been achieved, so that each new opportunity is judged on the results of the last rather than on impressions of it.
By role
Landowners, investors and development partners each bring something different to real estate. Each has a page.
For landowners
For owners weighing a sale, a joint development, a musataha or other long-term arrangement, or developing and holding the asset.
For investors
For investors considering development-stage real estate in the UAE, with land, approval, construction and leasing risk understood before capital is committed.
Joint developments
Joint developments and joint ventures that combine land, capital, development capability and demand under clear roles and governance.
Information before commitment
Investment decisions need information rather than assurances. For any opportunity, the relevant facts are the land position, the approvals in place and still needed, the estimated costs and programme, the evidence of demand and the main risks. For a development that may be sold before completion, that includes its project escrow position, explained in our guide to Abu Dhabi project escrow and the off-plan sale trigger. Those are what we put in front of the people deciding, and what we ask of the parties we work with. Where information is missing, the useful response is to say so and plan how it will be found, rather than filling the gap with an assumption nobody tests.
Projected returns belong to a specific opportunity and are discussed with its facts on the table.
Investment across the development areas
Each area we develop offers a different kind of investment. Labour and staff accommodation rests on demand from employers who need to house people near their operations. Land and urban development creates value by bringing land into use. Commercial property and build-to-suit facilities can be underpinned by an occupier's commitment before construction. Residential and specialised buildings are long-term assets whose value depends on how well they are planned and run.
Many opportunities combine more than one of these, for example accommodation and industrial land planned together, or a commercial scheme on land contributed by its owner. The partnership structure follows from the combination.
Where to start
Landowners usually start with the site: where it is, how large it is and what is known about its permitted use. Investors start with the kind of real estate and the stage of development that interests them. Partners start with the project and what they would bring to it. In each case a short description is enough to begin, and the gaps can be filled in later.
Read more for landowners, for investors or about joint developments, or see how we approach development as a whole.
Bring WBI a site, a requirement or a partnership.
Start with the basics: the land you own, the development you want to invest in or the project that needs a partner.
Start a conversation