Warning issued for 16 million UK households who have major water supplier
16 million households have been warned after a major update over their water supplier. The Thames Water preferred bidder KKR has pulled out of a rescue deal and the future of the troubled supplier is now in doubt.
A US private equity group says it cannot proceed with acquiring a £4bn stake. The company has 'indicated that it will not be in a position to proceed', Thames Water said.
Sir Adrian Montague, the company's chair, said: 'While today's news is disappointing, we continue to believe that a sustainable recapitalisation of the company is in the best interests of all stakeholders and continue to work with our creditors and stakeholders to achieve that goal.
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'The company will therefore progress discussions on the senior creditors' plan with Ofwat and other stakeholders. The board would like to thank the senior creditors for their continuing support.'
Thames Water, which serves 16 million customers in London and south-east England, needs to secure fresh funding for its operations by the end of June.
Labour Party MP and Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the Government was 'keeping a very close eye' on the Thames Water situation. Mr Reed told LBC Radio that 'Thames itself remains stable' but added: 'The Government is clearly keeping a very close eye on what's going on.
'We're monitoring the situation, but there's no disruption to water supply. Thames have got a number of options that they're exploring.'
He went on and also said that 'as things stand' Thames Water is 'a stable, ongoing company' but the Government was 'ready for any eventuality'.
'If the circumstances happened with any company, any water company, where there was a breach and it would need to be put into special administration, that would happen but, as things stand, that's not applying to any company right now."
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