PHOENIX : PROVIDES INVESTMENT TO BUILD 1000 NEW ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES…

PHOENIX GROUP PROVIDES INVESTMENT TO BUILD 1000 NEW ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES ACROSS WALES

Phoenix Group ('Phoenix'), the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business, announces that it has provided £50 million in long-term financing to Barcud Cyf, a not-for-profit Welsh Housing association. The financing will be used to build around 1,000 new energy efficient, affordable homes for people across the mid and West Wales region, enabling Barcud to achieve its strategic objective of reaching 5,000 homes by 2025 The new homes will span across Ceredigion and Powys counties and will support Barcud's objective to be a sustainable, low carbon housing association.

Phoenix continues to focus on embedding ESG principles into its portfolio, with Barcud standing as the latest example of an investment with this purpose. With this transaction, Phoenix continues to support the Welsh Government's ambition of providing new, energy efficient homes across rural areas.

Phoenix's c£10bn illiquid portfolio is investing in a broad range of assets including infrastructure and social housing, with a focus on sustainable housing and affordable homes that help to address the challenge of housing shortages across the UK.

Phoenix worked in collaboration with its strategic asset management partner, ASI, to complete this transaction.

Commenting, Michael Eakins, Chief Investment Officer, Phoenix Group, said:

'We are delighted to have completed this transaction to provide energy efficient social housing across the mid and west Wales region as we continue to innovate with our capital to drive environmental and social impact. Structuring this deal with energy efficiency targets drives to the heart of our sustainability agenda and our focus on ensuring our investments help to build back better and greener. We know that there is a chronic shortage of housing across the United Kingdom and we are committed to helping people and communities in every corner where we can. '

Kate Curran, Group Director of Finance and ICT, Barcud said

'The funding from Phoenix has ensured that Barcud can achieve its business plan objectives of providing additional, affordable and energy efficient homes for communities across mid and West Wales. The transaction is linked to our sustainability objectives through various Environmental, Social and Governance measures.'

Fiona Dickinson, Investment Director, Aberdeen Standard Investments

'With our extensive knowledge of the UK affordable housing sector, ASI was well positioned to play a crucial role in connecting the long-term capital of our strategic partner with this super opportunity to fund new homes in Wales, deliver a positive ESG impact and change people's lives for the better'.

-Ends-

Enquiries

Dilesh Sangaran

PR Manager

Phoenix Group

07974 604 323 / 0203 735 0942

[e-mail]

Notes to editors

About Phoenix Group

Phoenix is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business, with £338 billion of assets under administration and c.14 million customers.

We are a growing and sustainable business with a clear purpose - helping people secure a life of possibilities. This means taking responsible and sustainable investment decisions, and using our presence and voice to advocate on behalf of the UK's savers. We understand that our scale and expertise means that we have an important role to play for our customers, colleagues and our communities.

As life expectancy continues to increase and the pension landscape continues to shift, we will continue to be a safe and dependable ally in the journey to and through retirement for millions of customers, by providing the right guidance and products, at the right time, to support the right choices. We offer a broad range of products for people across all stages of the savings life cycle.

Our strategy focuses on delivering long term, sustainable value and, to fulfil our purpose, focuses on five key areas to ensure we respond to changing customer needs, manage our capital position well, create value, inspire our people, and put sustainability at the heart of our business.

Phoenix is a FTSE 100 company and we feature in the FTSE 100 ESG Select Index. In 2020 we committed to our operations being net zero carbon by 2025 and our investment portfolios by 2050. We are playing an active role in helping to build back better and greener as we invest for the future. We are a Living Wage Employer and recognised as a Carer Positive Exemplary for offering the best support to colleagues who are carers.

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About Aberdeen Standard Investments

• Aberdeen Standard Investments is a global asset manager dedicated to creating long-term value for our clients. With over 1,000 investment professionals, we manage £456.9 billion* of assets worldwide and have clients in c.80 countries. (*as of 31 December 2020)
• We are high-conviction, long-term investors who believe teamwork and collaboration are the key to delivering repeatable, superior investment performance.
• Standard Life Aberdeen plc is headquartered in Scotland. It has over 1 million shareholders and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• You can access the Aberdeen Standard Investments media centre here: https://www.aberdeenstandard.com/news-and-media
• In April 2021, we announced our intention to rebrand to abrdn. The rebranding roll-out process for the new name and associated visual identity will begin in the summer and progress through 2021, alongside implementation of a full stakeholder engagement plan to manage the transition.