Senior creditors submit £5bn plan to keep Thames Water afloat
Senior creditors of Thames Water, including some of the top names in finance, have submitted a £5 billion rescue plan for the deeply troubled privatised regional monopoly.
Any such deal appears to hang on Ofwat, the industry regulator, being prepared to postpone fines and investigations into the company's past wrongdoing and to renegotiate performance targets, including penalties if targets are missed, which have been set for the next five years.
Last week the American buyout giant KKR walked away from a planned £4 billion rescue of Thames Water days after Ofwat decided to go ahead with a decision to fine Thames £123 million for pollution breaches and for paying dividends that had been expressly forbidden.
It is understood that KKR quit after deciding that political and regulatory issues, and the public opprobrium around its plans, were too much of an obstacle.
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