I was at a WTW award giveaway for journalists. Padraig Floyd stood at the back (the freelance journalists) and I listened to Padraig complaining about the hi-jacking of pensions by mandating from the Government (aka Treasury).

This is not my view but it will be discussed next week when we host a discussion between FT journalist Jo Cumbo and the charming Tom McPhail on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile here is news from the FT that a further  allocation to unlisted equity with a home bias is about to happen

The National Employment Savings Trust, which is the UK’s largest workplace pension scheme, said it would allocate £200mn to Schroders Capital as a first step.

Schroders is of course soon to be an American fund manger (as Padraig pointed out to me) and America features largely in this unlisted push

Separately, Nest announced in April that it would deploy £450mn into private credit loans to US companies through specialist manager Crescent Capital, which manages $50bn in assets.

This is what used to be called “alternatives” but is for progressive DB schemes an increasing feature (and has been for some years). Speak to Colin Hateley of AB Foods and he’ll confirm that the billion pound  + surplus on his fund is down to shrewd investment institutionally in private credit.

Colin’s argument , as I’m sure Mark Fawcett’s will be is that size allows opportunities that aren’t available to smaller funds. But DB plans cannot invest in unlisted equity as DC and CDC can. Which is what is encouraging Government and a Government sponsored pension fund to go where no pension funds but LGPS and USS can go.

The latest allocation covers some existing venture investments and provides fresh capital for new late-stage opportunities. These VC investments will be part of a larger existing £1.5bn mandate with Schroders for private equity assets.

This represents a part of a larger program

As of May, private equity accounted for 5 per cent of Nest’s total of £68bn assets under management. Around 44 per cent of its private assets investments are in the UK

the extent of ambitions between now and the end of the decade is clear. They include £1bn in scale ups

Nest said that if enough opportunities were available, its allocation to venture capital would reach roughly £1bn by 2030, focusing heavily on unlisted UK businesses.

To me this is precisely the kind of primary investment in British UK businesses that has been missing. The private credit investment in the USA suit the DB schemes well and listed investments in growth stocks have done UK DC pensions well. But they have done little for the UK which has neither credit or long-term equity investment needed to develop its own companies.

“As a large, long-term investor, Nest is well positioned to support ambitious private companies,” said Fawcett.

“Support for UK innovation can drive job creation and economic growth across the country. Over the coming years, we will build a more meaningful allocation to late-stage venture capital.”

Will the savers in Nest (of which I am one) benefit from these investments? Hear the other side of the argument from Jo and Tom next Tuesday!