$12B man on the prowl for good deals.

Abe Wallach, former head of acquisitions to Donald Trump, quickly found out retirement wasn't for him.

"Two years ago, I thought 10-plus years of excitement (with Trump) was enough and I thought I would retire--which was a total, total mistake," he said.

Now the man who's raised more than $900 million in equity is back to working 12-hour days.

"I'm a deal junkie," Wallach said from his Manhattan office Thursday.

Wallach recently was appointed director of investments and joint venture relationships for Carlton Strategic Ventures, a division of Carlton Advisory Services.

Carlton Chairman Howard L. Michaels lauded Wallach's arrival.

"The appointment of Abe Wallach continues the market leadership tradition we have established at Carlton and our ability to offer unique and specialized services to our clients," Michaels said. "Abe is a wonderful addition to our team and brings a wealth of proven experience and professional contacts to Carlton."

In launching the new venture, Carlton pledged to work closely to build effective business relationships with its clients.

"With CSV, Carlton is now directly in the real estate principal business, side by side with its clients," the company said in a statement. "CSV will primarily have two areas of focus: 1) arranging effectively 100 percent of the debt and equity capital for real estate principal opportunities brought to Carlton by its clients and 2) on Carlton originated principal opportunities, the arrangement of joint ventures between Carlton and its clients, with CSV providing most of the debt and equity capital through CSV's captive proprietary sources."

Highlights of Wallach's years with Trump included acquiring partial ownership of the General Motors building, the restoration of 40 Wall Street and arranging the Nike lease in Trump Tower.

Wallach also speaks fondly of his 1997 trip to Hong Kong where he made arrangements with partners for the acquisition of Trump Place, 75 acres stretching from 65th to 72nd Street on Manhattan's Riverside Drive--the heart of the Upper West Side.

Wallach, who since his retirement, had been doing consulting work for clients such as Trump and Harry Macklowe, said he was anxious to make some good deals.

"We're looking to buy undervalued property in places people generally don't look for property, where rates are better than New York City," Wallach said. The company seeks to make double-digit returns off of properties that are "less obvious," Wallach said.

Carlton will be investing its own capital as well as capital from high net worth investors, using its own connections as well as Wallach's.

"Howard (Michaels) has more sources of debt than you could ever care to have," Wallach said. "I think we have an edge up on some people because of our ability to have equity and debt available to us on very short notice."

He added, "We're very aggressive. We move and move quickly, as my background indicates. We bought the General Motors building in a week."

It took only one more week for the lawyers to finalize the transaction, he said.

According to a news release, since 1988, Carlton has arranged more than $12 billion in transactions.