ABERDEEN Standard Investments has lent £65 million to the City of London Corporation to back a series of capital projects.

The investment was undertaken on behalf of life insurance companies in the Phoenix Group. The City of London Corporation raised £450m in total for a number of major capital projects. It includes plans to unify three historic markets at Smithfield, Billingsgate and New Spitalfields, to a site in Barking.

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The City Corporation believes that, amongst other benefits, the move will have a significant positive impact on the environmental profile of the markets.

Andrew Dennis, of Aberdeen Standard Investments, said: “The City of London Corporation is an institution that pre-dates the Norman conquest and Parliament, and owns assets of national and global significance.

It is at the forefront of the green economy, and this financing will in part be used to reduce the environmental impact of businesses in London. The City’s requirement for long-dated debt capital is well matched with our clients’ appetite for long-dated fixed income assets with low credit risk.” Scott Robertson, of Phoenix, said it is “delighted to be lending to the city of London Corporation under its green and sustainable financing framework”.