Future Growth Capital (FGC) has launched two diversified private markets long-term asset funds (LTAFs), a global strategy and a complementary UK strategy.

The private markets investment business, launched by Phoenix Group and Schroders in July last year, said the global and UK strategies offer actively managed, diversified private markets exposure to private equity and venture capital, real assets, and private debt.

The strategies are designed to deliver long-term performance, targeting a 10 per cent investment return after fees per annum. 

The global LTAF is focused on providing diversified, managed exposure to assets from private markets in the US, Europe and Asia, to capture the extra return potential of global private markets, in a blended strategy aimed at delivering a smoothed long-term risk and return outcome.

Meanwhile, the UK LTAF gives investors, for the first time, the opportunity to take advantage of the “strong” investment opportunities available in UK private enterprise and UK development projects.

This strategy offers investors an efficient way to balance and diversify their public market portfolios as well as offering investors the opportunity to participate in the UK’s energy transition.

Additionally, the FGC confirmed that the UK LTAF has made its first investment in line with the aims of the UK government’s Long-Term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) initiative.

The British Business Bank also invested £250m into the LTAF under this LIFTS initiative.

Commenting on the launch, FGC chief executive, Paul Forshaw, said: “We’re excited to be launching these two strategies, designed to unlock private market investments for UK pension savers, efficiently and cost-effectively.

“By offering complementary global and UK LTAFs side by side we are giving investors the option to decide exactly what their UK and global private markets exposures should be, at a time when investment allocations to the UK are increasingly in focus.”

Adding to this, FGC chief investment officer, Ped Phrompechrut, noted that private markets are “essential building blocks” to deliver better pension outcomes and it is often overlooked that UK private markets are broader and deeper than many recognise and offer a “rich” seam of investment return potential.

“The UK is a hub of innovation, the third largest venture capital market in the world, and the leading supplier of unicorn businesses in Europe,” he continued.

“There are great investment opportunities for investors, and we aim to capture these for UK pension savers, alongside providing access to a global strategy.’’

FGC intends to deploy £10-20bn over the next decade into private markets, investing globally and in the UK, in support of the government’s Mansion House objectives, to boost retirement savings for UK pension savers through higher investment returns, and to unlock long term finance to fuel UK growth.

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