Utmost expands investment range with new StepStone partnership

StepStone Group has partnered with Utmost to give UK-based investors access to a range of private market investment strategies.

The agreement gives Utmost clients access to StepStone’s private markets offerings spanning private equity, venture capital and growth, private credit and infrastructure. The firms said the collaboration aligned with increasing demand from UK wealth managers.

StepStone noted that the long-term investment horizons typically associated with unit-linked structures were well suited to private markets, which require patient capital to generate returns.

Bob Long, chief executive at StepStone Private Wealth Solutions, said: “We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Utmost, which will provide its clients with access to a broad range of private markets strategies that support the flexibility and diversification modern portfolios demand.

“This comes at a time when interest from UK wealth managers in private markets continues to grow, with the time horizon of the unit-linked insurance policies offered by Utmost closely aligned with the longer-term horizons of our evergreen semi-liquid funds range.”

‘Important step’

Utmost added that adviser and client appetite for more complex asset classes had increased.

Stephen Atkinson, global head of sales and marketing at Utmost, said: “As more of our clients are looking to the private market to diversify their portfolios, we are committed to supporting access to complex access to these assets through our unit-linked wealth solutions.

”This partnership marks an important step in our ambition to broaden the range of high quality investment opportunities available to advisers and policyholders.”

StepStone said the agreement was built on momentum in its private wealth business, with assets under management tripling over the previous 15 months as global demand for evergreen fund structures increased.