Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is to become the first UK investment platform to offer long-term asset funds within a self-invested personal pension, in a move designed to widen access to private markets.
From the week beginning September 15, the platform will make two Schroders Capital funds available to eligible clients.
The products, focused on global private equity and energy transition infrastructure, will sit inside the SIPP wrapper, giving retail investors the chance to invest in less liquid assets that have traditionally been reserved for institutional and professional investors.
Long-term asset funds, or LTAFs, are an authorised category of open-ended vehicle designed to hold private equity, infrastructure, private debt, real estate and venture capital.
Investors can only trade at set intervals, typically monthly or quarterly, and must usually give at least 90 days’ notice to redeem their holdings.
Emma Wall, head of platform investments at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “As the UK’s largest retail investment platform, we are excited to offer our clients the chance to invest in long-term asset funds week commencing 15 September.
"Our business has been built upon the mission to democratise investing – and we see this as a milestone for the accessibility of private markets for individual investors in the UK.”
She added that the firm had worked with its legal and compliance teams “to ensure that HL’s online journey is both simple to navigate but, more importantly, implements the right restrictions and risk controls associated with restricted mass market investments such as LTAFs”.
The Schroders Capital Global Private Equity LTAF will feed into the group’s $2.5 billion semi-liquid private equity fund, launched in 2019 and invested in more than 270 companies worldwide.
The second vehicle, the Schroders Capital Global Energy Infrastructure LTAF, will provide exposure to renewable power projects and other assets supporting the energy transition.
LTAFs are already eligible for SIPPs and innovative finance ISAs, and are expected to be available through stocks and shares ISAs from April 2026.