People’s Partnership, provider of The People’s Pension, has said that it is moving towards investing in private markets, including UK-based assets, after growing its scale and in-house capabilities as needed.

In its response to the call for evidence ahead of the government’s pension investment review, People’s Partnership said that it was now reaching the necessary scale, as well as developing the in-house capabilities that are needed, to invest in assets such as infrastructure and real estate.

The trustee said that investing in such assets in a way that leaves maximum value in the hands of members is also part of a long-term plan for the future of the business, revealing that The People’s Pension already invests 14 per cent of its main investment fund in both UK listed companies and government debt.

“As trustees, we firmly believe in diversified investment opportunities that present good, consistent returns for our members over the long term,” The People’s Pension trustee board chair, Mark Condron, said.

“We have been looking at private markets for some time and we are now approaching the scale where we believe we will be able to invest in them effectively. Investing in such assets has always been dependent on schemes such as ours reaching scale.

“The business is building a team of specialists that will enable us to overcome some of the hurdles we have faced with accessing private markets in a way that maximises value for members.

“We remain committed to the fund having a positive impact both on our members as well as the UK economy.”

People’s Partnership chief investment officer, Dan Mikulskis, also encouraged policymakers and the industry to look closely at the Australian and Canadian models, as these countries deliver the outcomes the UK government is looking for.

“The People’s Pension is fast approaching having £30bn in assets under management and has built the scale to start seriously considering investing in private markets,” Mikulskis continued.

“We are currently in the process of hiring the investment team members who will make this possible.

“We are also advancing work both with commercial asset managers as well as asset owner peers, with a view to putting top-class proposals in front of our trustees to allocate a portion of our assets to private markets.”

This also follows the news that Nest has agreed a £1bn build to rent partnership with Legal & General (L&G) and PGGM, which Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, highlighted as evidence of the opportunities for the pensions sector to contribute to UK communities and grow the economy.

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