One of the UK’s largest workplace pension schemes is looking to ramp up allocations to private equity investments in an effort to bolster its long-term returns, according to the Telegraph.

The National Employment Savings Trust plans to invest as much as a fifth of younger members’ pension pots in private businesses as the roughly £31.5 billion ($40.1 billion) state-backed fund looks to take on more risk, the newspaper reported, citing comments from a senior executive.

“We plan to step up our investment into private markets over the coming years, including more money into unlisted equities,” Mark Fawcett, chief executive officer of an investment subsidiary of the National Employment Savings Trust, or Nest, wrote in the Telegraph. “Our view is simple: we don’t want Nest members missing out on an asset class which is so highly sought after.”

London-based Nest joins a wave of money managers focusing more on private markets as investors seek alternative sources of returns in an uncertain economic environment. BlackRock Inc. recently said investors including pension funds, family offices and insurers are set to increase allocations to private equity and private credit this year, despite recession fears and rising interest rates.

UK pension funds private markets allocations also forms part of Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s reforms to lift economic growth by spurring investment in innovative sectors. The chancellor is under pressure to show that Britain is open for business after a spate of corporate criticism about an unwelcoming environment for firms and policy inertia since the UK left the European Union.

Other major pensions funds including Aviva Plc, Legal & General Group Plc and M&G Plc have also outlined commitments to allocate more investments to unlisted businesses within the next decade.

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