Latest news with #LawrenceGosden
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Southern Water handed £1.2bn liquidity boost by 'vampire kangaroo'
Australian investment giant Macquarie has agreed to plough as much as £1.2billion of capital into struggling utility firm Southern Water. The so-called 'vampire kangaroo' will initially inject £655million into the group followed by a minimum £245million by December, which could grow to £545million. Southern Water, which serves 4.7 million people across southern England, said on Tuesday the added equity will help fund planned infrastructure upgrades over the coming five years. Over the 2025 to 2030 regulatory period, the business intends to spend £8.5billion on improving services, including £3.3billion towards environmental projects. Like the rest of the UK water industry, Southern Water has come under considerable criticism for its environmental record. It was fined a record £90million four years ago for deliberately dumping raw sewage into the sea across sites in Kent, Hampshire, and West Sussex between 2010 and 2015. In October last year, water regulator Ofwat ordered the group to refund £31.9million to customers for missing targets on leaks and sewage spills. By 2030, Southern Water aims to reduce its leakage rate from 17 per cent to 13 per cent, halve the overall number of pollution incidents, and cut the amount of water it takes from the environment by 50 million litres per day. Lawrence Gosden, its chief executive, said: 'Every penny of this equity raise will go directly towards delivering the largest growth investment programme in the sector relative to its size. 'Taken together with the reduction in debt, and no forecast dividends for the 2025-30 regulatory period, the new investment will directly support Southern Water's financial resilience and improving performance.' Macquarie - nicknamed the 'Vampire Kangaroo' by critics - has faced significant condemnation for its previous part-ownership of Thames Water. Thames Water's debts more than tripled from £3.4billion in 2006, when Macquarie first acquired the company, to £10.8billion in 2017, when it sold its final stake in the firm. Macquarie has claimed that during the 11-year period, it invested over £11billion in Thames Water's network, the most of any English or Welsh water company on a per-customer basis. As part of the Southern Water deal, Macquarie has agreed to slash debts in the Worthing-based group's holding companies from about £865million to £415million. 'With the help of our investors' capital, Southern Water will have the financial resources to maintain its positive momentum,' said Martin Bradley, senior managing director at Macquarie Asset Management. 'While it's been a difficult time to raise private sector capital for a UK water company, we are aligned with the Government's ambition to reform the sector and are encouraged by the desire to achieve the reset required to effect real long-term change.'
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Southern Water receives further £1.2bn equity injection to bolster finances
Australian investment firm Macquarie – which previously owned Thames Water – has stumped up the fresh equity, starting with an initial £655 million with up to a further £545 million due by December. The plans come as part of a deal that will also see the debt owed to Southern Water's holding company lenders slashed by more than half. Southern Water, which supplies 4.7 million people across the south and south-east of England, has amassed nearly £9 billion of debt – making it one of the most heavily indebted water firms in the UK behind Thames Water. It has seen its credit rating downgraded amid fears that it may break the conditions of its lending agreements. But the firm's lenders have agreed to write down debt under the latest support package, reducing it debt mounting from £865 million to £415 million. Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water, said: 'Every penny of this equity raise will go directly towards delivering the largest growth investment programme in the sector relative to its size, for the benefit of our customers and the environment. 'This follows £1.65 billion of equity already invested by Macquarie, since 2021. 'Taken together with the reduction in debt, and no forecast dividends for the 2025-30 regulatory period, the new investment will directly support Southern Water's financial resilience and improving performance.' Macquarie had already committed in February to £900 million of new equity into Southern Water, up from the £650 million it had previously pledged. Southern Water is among six water firms urging regulators to allow them to charge customers even more than previously granted. The group had already been allowed a 53% increase to average bills over the next five years by Ofwat, but is appealing to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to have this reviewed. Macquarie said the amount of equity investment under the second tranche, which is due by December, is partially dependent on the CMA's decision on the appeal, but will be a minimum of £245 million. Southern Water has also come under recent fire over its environmental track record and its top bosses have been banned from receiving bonuses for the past financial year – alongside senior executives at five other water suppliers. They have all been banned under new rules which prevent bonuses from being paid if a water company does not meet environmental or consumer standards, does not meet financial resilience requirements, or is convicted of a criminal offence. Southern and the other five companies were found to have committed the most serious so-called Category 1 pollution breaches.
South Wales Argus
2 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Southern Water receives further £1.2bn equity injection to bolster finances
Australian investment firm Macquarie – which previously owned Thames Water – has stumped up the fresh equity, starting with an initial £655 million with up to a further £545 million due by December. The plans come as part of a deal that will also see the debt owed to Southern Water's holding company lenders slashed by more than half. Southern Water, which supplies 4.7 million people across the south and south-east of England, has amassed nearly £9 billion of debt – making it one of the most heavily indebted water firms in the UK behind Thames Water. It has seen its credit rating downgraded amid fears that it may break the conditions of its lending agreements. But the firm's lenders have agreed to write down debt under the latest support package, reducing it debt mounting from £865 million to £415 million. Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water, said: 'Every penny of this equity raise will go directly towards delivering the largest growth investment programme in the sector relative to its size, for the benefit of our customers and the environment. 'This follows £1.65 billion of equity already invested by Macquarie, since 2021. 'Taken together with the reduction in debt, and no forecast dividends for the 2025-30 regulatory period, the new investment will directly support Southern Water's financial resilience and improving performance.' Macquarie had already committed in February to £900 million of new equity into Southern Water, up from the £650 million it had previously pledged. Southern Water is among six water firms urging regulators to allow them to charge customers even more than previously granted. The group had already been allowed a 53% increase to average bills over the next five years by Ofwat, but is appealing to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to have this reviewed. Macquarie said the amount of equity investment under the second tranche, which is due by December, is partially dependent on the CMA's decision on the appeal, but will be a minimum of £245 million. Southern Water has also come under recent fire over its environmental track record and its top bosses have been banned from receiving bonuses for the past financial year – alongside senior executives at five other water suppliers. They have all been banned under new rules which prevent bonuses from being paid if a water company does not meet environmental or consumer standards, does not meet financial resilience requirements, or is convicted of a criminal offence. Southern and the other five companies were found to have committed the most serious so-called Category 1 pollution breaches.
South Wales Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Southern Water receives further £1.2bn equity injection to bolster finances
Australian investment firm Macquarie – which previously owned Thames Water – has stumped up the fresh equity, starting with an initial £655 million with up to a further £545 million due by December. The plans come as part of a deal that will also see the debt owed to Southern Water's holding company lenders slashed by more than half. Southern Water, which supplies 4.7 million people across the south and south-east of England, has amassed nearly £9 billion of debt – making it one of the most heavily indebted water firms in the UK behind Thames Water. It has seen its credit rating downgraded amid fears that it may break the conditions of its lending agreements. But the firm's lenders have agreed to write down debt under the latest support package, reducing it debt mounting from £865 million to £415 million. Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water, said: 'Every penny of this equity raise will go directly towards delivering the largest growth investment programme in the sector relative to its size, for the benefit of our customers and the environment. 'This follows £1.65 billion of equity already invested by Macquarie, since 2021. 'Taken together with the reduction in debt, and no forecast dividends for the 2025-30 regulatory period, the new investment will directly support Southern Water's financial resilience and improving performance.' Macquarie had already committed in February to £900 million of new equity into Southern Water, up from the £650 million it had previously pledged. Southern Water is among six water firms urging regulators to allow them to charge customers even more than previously granted. The group had already been allowed a 53% increase to average bills over the next five years by Ofwat, but is appealing to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to have this reviewed. Macquarie said the amount of equity investment under the second tranche, which is due by December, is partially dependent on the CMA's decision on the appeal, but will be a minimum of £245 million. Southern Water has also come under recent fire over its environmental track record and its top bosses have been banned from receiving bonuses for the past financial year – alongside senior executives at five other water suppliers. They have all been banned under new rules which prevent bonuses from being paid if a water company does not meet environmental or consumer standards, does not meet financial resilience requirements, or is convicted of a criminal offence. Southern and the other five companies were found to have committed the most serious so-called Category 1 pollution breaches.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Southern Water receives further £1.2bn equity injection to bolster finances
The owner of Southern Water has pumped another £1.2 billion into the struggling utility to help boost its finances. Australian investment firm Macquarie – which previously owned Thames Water – has stumped up the fresh equity, starting with an initial £655 million with a further £545 million due by December. The plans come as part of a deal that will also see the debt owed to Southern Water's holding company lenders slashed by more than half. Southern Water, which supplies 4.7 million people across the south and south-east of England, has amassed nearly £9 billion of debt – making it one of the most heavily indebted water firms in the UK behind Thames Water. It has seen its credit rating downgraded amid fears that it may break the conditions of its lending agreements. But the firm's lenders have agreed to write down debt under the latest support package, reducing it debt mounting from £865 million to £415 million. Lawrence Gosden, chief executive of Southern Water, said: 'Every penny of this equity raise will go directly towards delivering the largest growth investment programme in the sector relative to its size, for the benefit of our customers and the environment. 'This follows £1.65 billion of equity already invested by Macquarie, since 2021. 'Taken together with the reduction in debt, and no forecast dividends for the 2025-30 regulatory period, the new investment will directly support Southern Water's financial resilience and improving performance.'
