PM-08 — Distribution
A return of capital or gain from a fund (PM-01) to its LPs — the cash-in side of the private-markets relationship.
Specialises: E-05 Transaction (transaction_type = distribution), with a Cash Flow Event (E-06) as its cash consequence. PM-08 adds the private-markets structure — distribution typing, recallability, the relationship to the waterfall.
Purpose
As a fund realises investments, it distributes proceeds to its LPs. Distributions are the cash-in leg of the J-curve and of every money-weighted return. The distribution type matters: a return of capital, investment income, and a realised gain are economically and often for tax purposes distinct, and performance measurement depends on classifying them correctly. The distribution sequence drives DPI and feeds cash-flow forecasting.
Attribute schema
| Column | Type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
dist_id | varchar | Primary key. |
fund_id | varchar (FK → PM-01) | The fund making the distribution. |
commitment_id | varchar (FK → PM-06) | The commitment the distribution is paid against. |
dist_date | date | The date of the distribution. |
amount_usd | decimal | The amount distributed. |
dist_type | varchar | return_of_capital / income / gain. |
recallable | boolean | Whether the fund may recall this distribution as future callable capital. |
source | varchar | The source document the distribution was captured from. |
Notes
- Distributions are immutable events. Corrections are new records.
- A
recallabledistribution restores callable capacity to the related commitment (PM-06) — relevant to unfunded-commitment liquidity modelling. dist_typeclassification is consumed by tax processing (SD-17.4) as well as performance.
Out of scope
- The generic transaction record a distribution specialises — that is E-05 Transaction of
transaction_type = distribution, with a core E-06 Cash Flow Event as its cash consequence. - The drawdown of capital in the other direction — that is PM-07 Capital Call; PM-08 is the cash-in leg only.
- The commitment the distribution is paid against — that is PM-06 LP Commitment, referenced through
commitment_id. - The distribution waterfall — how a gross distribution splits between LP return, preferred return, catch-up and carry — that is governed by PM-10 Fund Terms and is an open extension.
Owned and consumed by
- Owned by: SD-12.8 Capital Call & Distribution Processing.
- Consumed by: SD-09.1 Performance Measurement (the cash-in leg of IRR and DPI), SD-09.7 Private-Markets Cash-Flow Forecasting, SD-12.7 Income & Distribution Processing, SD-17.4 Investment & Portfolio Tax, SD-05.6 Liquidity-Aware Portfolio Management.
Open extensions
- The distribution waterfall — how a gross distribution splits between LP return, preferred return, GP catch-up and carried interest (see PM-10 Fund Terms).
- In-kind distributions (securities rather than cash) and their valuation.