The 23,000 acres consist of 11,390 acres of Langholm Moor, known as Blackburn and Hartsgarth, and an 11,610-acre estate at Invergeldie, near Comrie in Perthshire. Oxygen Conservation aims to deliver positive environmental and social impact by working with local communities and forming strategic partnerships.

Rich Stockdale, managing director of Oxygen Conservation, said: “Triodos is changing what it means to be a bank. That’s why, when we were looking for someone to partner with to put together a significant conservation-based debt package, there was only one answer.

“We are so proud to stand side by side with them today. It’s only by creating these types of funding packages and frameworks with respected financial institutions that people can have the confidence to allow private finance to flow into natural capital at scale — thereby funding the protection of the natural world.

“Thank you to everyone at Triodos for their passion, vision and commitment to making this possible. We will now do everything we can to only deliver positive environmental and social impact at our incredible sites.”

Bevis Watts, chief executive of Triodos Bank UK, added: “Urgent restoration of the natural environment is essential to both tackling and being resilient to climate change, and the scale of investment needed is significant. We need to see ourselves as part of natural systems and create a new economy that is connected to the natural environment on which it depends.

“We have worked for over five years to find models for investing in nature restoration that deliver the greatest public good. Oxygen Conservation is pioneering a brand-new approach to protecting and restoring nature and its commitment to deliver positive environmental and social impact, while generating a sustainable financial return, very much aligns with our own values as a bank.

“This loan, which adds to our pioneering portfolio of nature-based investment projects, is fully committed for 25 years, and is understood to be the largest debt transaction on nature-based finance in the UK. We’re extremely proud to be working together on this groundbreaking finance structure and hope to see similar projects around the UK.”

In the coming 18 months, Oxygen Conservation will work with local businesses and communities to develop a conservation-focused masterplan for Invergeldie, which includes transitioning the farm to an organic, regenerative system. Meanwhile, the acquisition of Blackburn & Hartsgarth presents an opportunity to create one of the UK’s most significant conservation projects.

The sites at Invergeldie and Blackburn & Hartsgarth are the latest additions to Oxygen Conservation’s growing portfolio of owned and managed conservation sites. This also includes the Leighon Estate in Dartmoor, Wood Advent Farm in Exmoor, Esgair Arth, near Aberaeron in Wales, Swineley in the Yorkshire Dales, and a stretch of the Firth of Tay, near Dundee.