By Emmy Hawker, Senior reporter, Trustnet, 25 July 2025:
Investors across both the retail and institutional space are increasingly looking to private markets for investment opportunities, with private-equity assets under management projected to reach £7.4trn globally by 2029..
The £41bn 3i Group is the “behemoth” of the private-equity investment-trust world, noted Morgan, pointing to its strong growth record and FTSE 100 status.
However, it isn’t your typical private equity trust, with the vast majority (around 60%) of its entire asset base tied up in European supermarket retailer Action, which has driven a large part of 3i’s strong returns, especially in the past five years..
Trustnet asked three experts which funds they would hold alongside 3i Group to ensure investors interested in private markets can gain a more diverse exposure to private equity.
Alliance Witan
For James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, the priority is to ensure there is maximum diversity to complement 3i’s more targeted approach.
He suggested the Alliance Witan investment trust, noting that it offers exposure to the “best ideas of some of the world’s best fund managers”, with around 20 stocks per manager, or just over 200 holdings in total.
“It comes with a more attractive dividend yield than 3i (2.2% versus 1.7%) and is also a large, liquid FTSE 100 constituent with a market cap of £4.9bn,” he said.
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