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We are seeing a developing industry shift from focusing solely on cost to embracing long-term value and truly recognising the win-win proposition that stands before both the Venture Capital and Pension industries. This evolution is increasingly evident in how Pension Schemes are beginning to approach their investment decisions. The move towards a Value for Money framework is a welcome development. This framework is less about comparing fees and more about understanding the quality of returns over time for savers who depend on these funds for their retirement. Such an approach is vital if we are to create a truly sustainable investment landscape. 

Leeds-based Nexus Vehicle Rental, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Hippo Digital and iPac Packaging Solutions in Gateshead, have won the British Private Equity and Venture Capital (BVCA) Vision 2025 awards in the Yorkshire & North East.

In 2024 alone, private capital invested £149 million in North East businesses. Private capital employs an active ownership model which is a hands-on approach that helps drive value creation in portfolio companies through strategic and operational improvements, whilst supporting wider economic development.

In 2024 alone, private capital invested £1.5bn in Yorkshire and the Humber businesses. Private capital employs an active ownership model which is a hands-on approach that helps drive value creation in portfolio companies through strategic and operational improvements, whilst supporting wider economic development.

Yorkshire, the Humber and the North East of England are exciting destinations for private capital, whose investment is supporting the development of over 800 businesses in the wider region. These businesses bring real value to local communities through the 230,000 jobs they support. 

Sometimes in life the numbers, like the existential issues that surround them, just come at you thick and fast. And there’s been a blizzard of them in one particular direction in recent weeks.

The issue of getting more UK pensions fund investment into private capital is one the BVCA has long championed. However, it has become something of a hot topic in recent years, with both the last and the current Government increasingly seeing that it's a conundrum that, if resolved, provides solutions to two challenges keeping them up at night: the lack of UK growth and a pending retirement crisis.

Amidst the ever-changing geo-political backdrop of tariffs and shifting policies, it is evident this new era brings opportunities, as well as challenges. And it positions the UK and Europe competitively on the world stage as an attractive market for investment and partnership.

Leaders from the pensions and private capital industries have issued new recommendations on how to facilitate UK DC pensions to invest in private capital, and how the Government can support this aim – boosting investment in fast growing British businesses and helping UK pension savers access potentially higher returns. 

This final report sets out the recommendations and key findings of the Pensions and Private Capital Expert Panel.This work builds on the Expert Panel’s interim report, published in September 2024. As highlighted in that report, the UK’s world-leading private capital fund industry offers a huge opportunity for UK DC pension savers to benefit from greater investment in the country’s innovative growth companies.