The UK government-backed fund designed to protects savers in company pension plans has slashed its exposure to equities by one-third and moved money into infrastructure and forestry, as it tries to protect itself against persistently high inflation.

The Pension Protection Fund, one of the largest pension funds in the UK with ￡39bn in assets, has in recent months reduced its equities target, which includes global and UK holdings, from 9 per cent to 6 per cent, its chief investment officer told the Financial Times.

“The stickiness of inflation continues to worry me,” Barry Kenneth said in an interview. “The longer inflation stays high, the longer interest rates stay high, the more of a challenging environment it will be for many of the assets we hold.”