L&G’s Private Markets Access Fund (PMAF) has reached £1.3bn in assets in its first year, as the provider now looks to also offer this fund to DB clients.
The fund was launched in July last year, specifically for the providers’ 5.6m DC members, to offer exposure to a diversified range of private markets investment opportunities.
This fund launch coincided with L&G new default, its Lifetime Advantage Funds (LAF) – a target date fund default that offers access to private markets via this fund. Since launch LAF has seen inflows of over £11bin from DC clients including L&G’s own employee plan, using it as their primary default strategy for L&G employees.
The PMAF includes exposure to L&G’s £57bn private markets platform and leading third party strategies, across real estate, infrastructure, private credit and private equity. This include investments into a number of sustainable investment areas including affordable housing, clean energy and natural resources.
As a founder signatory to the Mansion House Accord, L&G has expressed its ambition to achieve a minimum 10 per cent allocation of DC default funds into private markets by 2030, with at least 5 per cent of the total UK DC default funds allocated to UK private markets.
L&G say the significant growth in both PMAF and LAF in their first year demonstrates strong momentum among DC schemes to increase their exposure to private markets, including opportunities to fuel the domestic economy in line with the UK’s growth agenda
As a result of the positive momentum fin the DC market, L&G has now expanded the PMAF’s availability to DB clients looking to gain access to the potential benefits of a diversified allocation to private markets through a simple fund solution.
Whilst the fund remains focused on the needs of DC clients, DB schemes will have access to the fund in a weekly dealing, diversified fund structure.
This allows them to capture the diversified returns available from private markets while also managing schemes’ liquidity requirements as they mature or, extract surplus capital when it is safe to do so.
L&G CEO asset management Eric Adler says: “We are pleased to have been an early adopter in designing a solution that enables default schemes with flexible liquidity requirements to access private markets opportunities.
“As private markets continue to open up to new DC and DB members, we expect a continued focus on private markets strategies that can offer income and growth together with positive societal benefits.”
L&G CEO retail Laura Mason adds: “We’re proud that the fund drives a real-world impact by investing in assets such as affordable housing and clean energy. At the same time, it provides enhanced diversification, through access to a broader range of assets with the aim of delivering enhanced growth for our members over the long-term.”
