Investing in UK private markets can play an important role in building a better Britain, according to Future Growth Capital CIO, Ped Phrompechrut.

Speaking at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Investment Conference 2025 on boosting British pensions, Phrompechrut said three themes need to be considered when building a private market portfolio.

The first theme, he explained, was the opportunity in innovation, suggesting that the UK was a great place to capture this.

In particular, he highlighted that the UK has a high quality of institutions including globally recognised top universities and “excellent” research centres, which he acknowledged was “real intellectual property waiting to be commercialised”.

Phrompechrut said the second theme to consider is investing in energy transition, which he called an environment that is “collaborative, connectable and deliverable”.

“Long-term financing requires a long-term mindset and long-term capital and that is not just to generate returns but to build a more environmentally stable economy,” he noted.  

The final theme was investing in “critical” infrastructure, as he suggested that pension savers are not just investors, but consumers and live the reality every day.

“More capital being invested in the areas we all have defined as being a need is a good thing,” he continued.

“We think there is an investment opportunity and specifically we hope private market investors play a role.”

Future Growth Capital chief executive officer, Paul Forshaw, emphasised that these global themes can be effectively pursued within the UK, given the country's “broad and deep” market opportunities.

Forshaw suggested that constructing well-diversified UK private market portfolios at scale can enhance returns, reduce volatility, and “significantly” improve retirement income outcomes, and in turn, close the pension gap.

He also said these portfolios could diversify away from private equity exposures at the time when they are producing new types of risk and compounding returns for 10/20/30 years.  

“You can give your members the satisfaction and pride of knowing they are using their pension savings to create prosperity in the UK, which let’s face it is the place they are going to retire in 10/20/30 years’ time,” he added.

However, despite enthusiasm for private market investments, as shown in a poll earlier in the session where 83 per cent of pension professionals felt excited to invest in private markets to boost member returns, challenges persist.

In particular, Phrompechrut highlighted the lack of appropriate access as a key barrier to private market investment by pension funds.

“It needs a lot of effort by managers, by regulators, by service providers, the whole system has to come about to enable this greater access in order to deliver insurance, comfort, and confidence to its decision makers who rightly would be worried for their members outcomes,” he said.

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