Raising from LPs in the United Kingdom: How Managers from Outside the UK Get Their First Meetings
If you manage a private fund outside the UK and want to meet LPs in London, remember that you are competing for their time with managers from everywhere else, and make the meeting worth the slot.
The United Kingdom is one of the largest markets for Private Capital Development (PCD) introductions, and one of the most active: about half of PCD’s UK introductions have come since 2023. PCD has arranged one-to-one introductions with UK allocators for managers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and continental Europe. This page sets out what we see around those meetings.
Who allocates to managers from outside the United Kingdom
London is home to one of the broadest ranges of LPs anywhere. The UK institutions that have taken first meetings with managers PCD introduced include:
- Investment consultants and advisers, whose recommendations carry other institutions’ capital.
- Family offices and multi-family offices, including Nordic and other families who manage their wealth from London. The UK LP that has met the most managers PCD introduced is the London family office of a Swedish industrial dynasty.
- Pension funds and insurers, including local government pension schemes.
- Endowments and foundations, from universities to churches and global charities.
- Funds of funds.
- Banks and private banks.
How a first meeting in the United Kingdom works
- You are competing for time. London is highly competitive, with great demands on an LP’s calendar. Much like New York, there is always an event under way, and a London allocator can fill a week with conferences alone.
- The world’s managers come to London. More than in any other market in this series, managers from everywhere, emerging-market managers above all, travel to London to call on LPs. That is not a problem to solve; it is the context your request lands in.
- Make the ask small and specific. A single, low-friction question, would you like a meeting, about one manager at a time, stands out in an inbox full of broadcasts and conference invitations.
London as a crossroads
London is where investors from elsewhere come to meet managers, not only where UK LPs sit. A U.S. college endowment met a London-based manager PCD introduced at the manager’s own London office. Earlier, at EMPEA, PCD’s co-founder saw a Japanese investor travel to London to meet a London-based pan-Africa manager. And London LPs travel too: a London investment consultant is visiting a U.S. manager PCD introduced at its headquarters in October 2026.
For a manager, that makes a London trip worth more than its UK meetings alone. Ask your introducer who else will be in town.
Why the room matters in London
PCD’s co-founder has been bringing managers to London for more than fifteen years. Randy Mitchell’s first delegation of U.S. fund managers, the March 2010 Global Road Show organized while he was at the U.S. Department of Commerce, ended in London, with the UK’s private capital association taking part. His Impact Investing mission ended in London on 1 October 2013. The same model continued as Immersions at EMPEA, where he was vice president for strategic engagement from 2014 to 2018, and as PartnerQuest under PCD.
In a market this crowded, standing is what gets a manager into the room. The largest fund managers are over-marketed to London LPs, who hear from them constantly. What a London allocator values is a manager it would not otherwise meet, introduced by someone it knows. PCD’s introductions come from Randy Mitchell’s own email address, and many of the allocators who receive them are people he has met in person. Not all of them, but many.
Where PCD's role ends
PCD builds a manager's standing with UK allocators and arranges the introduction. It does not offer or promote a fund, and it does not solicit investment on a manager's behalf, in the United Kingdom or anywhere else. Questions about offering fund interests to investors in the United Kingdom belong with the manager's own counsel there.
If you are an allocator checking that a manager is regulated and licensed in its home market, or a manager preparing to be checked, PCD's Global Directory of Fund-Manager Regulators names the regulator and the public register to consult in each major jurisdiction, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority among them.
Private capital associations in the United Kingdom
- UK Private Capital — ukprivatecapital.co.uk. The national body for private equity, venture capital and private credit, founded 1983. Until 2026 it was the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA); the old name and domain now redirect.
The full, verified list of more than 100 associations worldwide is in PCD's Global Directory of Private Capital Associations.
Frequently asked questions
Do UK LPs invest in funds managed outside the UK?
Yes. Investment consultants, family offices, pension funds, insurers, endowments, foundations and funds of funds in the UK all take first meetings with managers from outside the country.
Why is it hard to get time with LPs in London?
Because managers from everywhere come to London to call on them, and there is always an event under way. A London LP’s calendar is the scarce resource; a single, specific request about one manager stands out.
Can I meet investors from other countries in London?
Often, yes. London is a crossroads: investors from the U.S., Japan and elsewhere travel there to meet managers, and many Nordic and other families manage their wealth from London.
Who manages Nordic family wealth in London?
Several Nordic families run family offices in London. One of London’s largest family offices serves the UK branch of a Swedish industrial dynasty.
Looking at investors in the United Kingdom?
If you have no relationships there yet, the introduction is the part we do.
Cross-border LP introductionsEducational content only. This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy before publication. It is general information, current as of the "Last reviewed" date shown above, and is not legal, tax or compliance advice. Private Capital Development LLC is not a law firm and is not a broker-dealer. PCD facilitates relationships between fund managers and institutional investors, on a flat-fee retainer.
Private Capital Development, a Benefit LLC, is a Maryland-based firm founded in 2018 that connects private capital fund managers with institutional allocators through personal, one-to-one introductions. Capital Mobilization is the name of its capital-introduction practice.