abrdn invests in The London School of Economics and Political Science

abrdn has invested £75m in a sustainable private placement on behalf of its strategic partner Phoenix Group (Phoenix) in The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a leading UK Russell Group university.

The long term loan, issued under the School’s Sustainable Finance Framework, will be used for green and social projects at the School, including a new building overlooking Lincoln’s Inn Fields Park in central London that will provide adaptable spaces for teaching, research and conferences. The building has been developed with sustainability, energy efficiency and carbon minimisation at the core of its design and is set to be LSE’s first Net Zero Carbon building.

Located in the heart of central London, LSE has a global reputation for academic excellence and is currently ranked the top European university for social science and management in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. LSE has a truly global reach with students from over 150 nationalities studying at the School, and with over 160,000 alumni the university can count 18 Nobel Prize winners and 37 past and present world leaders among those who have benefited from an LSE education.

LSE is also a leader in sustainability, which is woven through the institution via its Sustainability Strategic Plan, and can be evidenced by becoming the first UK Carbon Neutral University, verified to PAS 2060 by BSI, a global certification organisation.

Matt Hamilton-Glover, Investment Manager at abrdn said: “This investment allows us to support LSE’s long-term mission: ‘for the betterment of society’ whilst matching the long term liabilities of our strategic partner, Phoenix. In particular, with this investment LSE will be better enabled to teach and inspire the next generation of leaders, de-carbon their estate and undertake research in key areas aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – these are values which we at abrdn share with LSE.”

LSE’s Chief Finance Officer Mike Ferguson said: “Securing this investment is a milestone moment for LSE. The funding will play a crucial role in helping us realise our ambition of being the leading social science institution with the greatest global impact and securing a sustainable future, as set out in our strategic plan, LSE 2030.”

Ends

Media enquiries

Debbie Cowe,
Media Relations Manager, abrdn
Debbie.cowe@abrdn.com
+44 (0) 7711 774017

Notes to editors

At abrdn, we enable our clients to plan, save and invest for their futures.

We structure our business into three areas – and together they reflect our focus on enabling our clients to be better investors:

• Investments: We work with clients to create solutions across asset classes, regions and markets globally – combining multi-layered research and market insights with technology and diverse thinking.
• Adviser: We offer market-leading platform technology and tools that enable UK wealth managers and financial advisers to create more opportunity for their business and their clients.
• Personal: We help people throughout the UK plan for their financial futures – through our financial planning business and our digital investing services.

Across our investments, adviser and personal businesses we manage and administer £542 billion of assets for our clients, and abrdn plc has over 1 million shareholders. (Figures as at 31 December 2021)

Our investments are built on an insight strength that comes from multi-layered research and a large global footprint. Our teams collaborate across multiple capabilities, to create forward-thinking solutions that aim to meet our clients’ needs and deliver more sustainable outcomes. Our investments business manages £464 billion on behalf of individuals, governments, pension funds, insurers, companies, charities and foundations (as at 31 December 2021) – with support and expertise from 800 investment specialists in over 30 locations.

abrdn is the single global brand for all areas of our business. In July 2021 our plc listing became abrdn plc. In September our investments business, formerly Aberdeen Standard Investments, became abrdn.

abrdn.com