Standard Life’s parent company Phoenix is reported to be launching a new ‘superfund’ later this year, investing in unlisted assets in the UK and overseas.
The Telegraph is reporting that this fund will invest in UK start-ups with growth potential, particularly in the technology and life science areas — and would be aligned to government plans to get pension firms investing directly into the UK economy via private markets, as set out by the chancellor in last year’s Mansion House agreement.
According to these reports, this ‘superfund’ could be used by smaller pension providers and other institutional investors to get access to this asset class, which includes venture capital and private equity. These asset classes are traditional seen as high growth although they can also be higher risk with significantly less liquidity.
A number of leading pension companies, including Phoenix, have already pledged to invest up to 5 per cent of their funds into unlisted assets and private equity by the end of the decade. Other signatories to this Mansion House compact include Aegon, Scottish Widows, L&G, Smart Pension, Cushon and Nest.
Data suggests that Phoenix, which also runs a number of large closed pension and insurance funds, currently has less than 1 per cent of its £280bn AUM in private assets.
Phoenix declined to comment on this report about the new superfund.
