Latest news with #MikeMcTighe
TimesLIVE
5 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Thames Water creditors see a 'short and closing window' to rescue company
Thames Water's senior creditors said there was a 'short and closing window' for a market-led rescue of the water company after US private equity firm KKR pulled out of a multibillion-pound funding plan on Tuesday. The creditors said on Wednesday they had submitted a long-term plan to fix the root causes of Thames Waters' problems. The heavily indebted water company, Britain's biggest, moved a step closer to nationalisation on Tuesday when KKR walked away from investing about £4bn (R96.7bn) of equity. The group of senior debt holders said they had a proven track record of stewardship and could deliver 'substantial fresh investment' to turn around the company under new leadership. 'The creditors believe that Thames Water requires an urgent and fundamental reset and there is a very short and closing window in which a market-led solution can succeed,' they said in a statement, adding that discussions with the regulator Ofwat and the government would be advanced in the coming weeks. They are being advised by corporate troubleshooter Mike McTighe, who is a potential candidate for chair if the proposal succeeds, according to a source close to the creditors. Thames Water in March agreed to postpone a challenge to the regulator's decision on how much it could increase customers' bills while it explored the potential equity raise. That deferral is set to expire next month. A spokesperson for Thames Water declined to comment on the creditors' statement. It said on Tuesday, when announcing that KKR had walked away, that it would 'progress discussions on the senior creditors' plan with Ofwat and other stakeholders'.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Thames Water creditors line up McTighe to spearhead rescue deal
One of Britain's top corporate troubleshooters is being lined up to spearhead a multibillion pound rescue of Thames Water after the company's preferred bidder walked away. Sky News can reveal that Mike McTighe is working with Thames Water's largest group of creditors on a plan to restructure the company's debts and inject new funds in the hope of avoiding nationalisation. Mr McTighe, whose portfolio of chairmanships includes the Daily Telegraph's publisher and Openreach, BT Group's infrastructure arm, is said to have begun meeting stakeholders in recent weeks. If the Class A creditors' proposal is successfully executed, Mr McTighe would probably take over as chairman of Thames Water, according to people close to the situation. Mr McTighe has earned a reputation as a turnaround expert, but also chairs companies such as IG Group, the financial spreadbetting company, and Together Financial Services, the non-bank lender. The recruitment of such a prominent businessman to lead the lenders' efforts will add momentum to a plan which increasingly looks like the only alternative to landing British taxpayers with a vast rescue bill. The group's proposal would include swapping several billion pounds of Thames Water's debt for equity, as well as injecting substantial new funding. Thames Water is Britain's largest water utility, serving more than 15 million customers. However, decades of poor performance and financial engineering have left it carrying close to £20bn of debt and facing hundreds of millions of pounds in regulatory fines. The Class A creditor group, which represents about £13bn of Thames Water's borrowings, includes some of the world's most powerful investors. Elliott Management, the New York-based firm, is among those exposed to a collapse that could leave Thames Water in a special administration regime (SAR) - a government-sponsored insolvency process aimed at providers of key infrastructure services. Other members of the creditor group include institutions such as Aberdeen, Invesco, Apollo Global Management and M&G. A source close to the creditor group said: "We have done a huge amount of diligence and work on a plan to turnaround Thames. "We are the only bidders who will be able to complete this transaction within the necessary timeframe." The fact that Mr McTighe has been persuaded to join their effort will revive hope that a private sector solution to Thames Water's crisis can still be found. On Tuesday, the company announced that KKR, its preferred equity partner for the last two months, had decided not to proceed with a deal. Sky News revealed that talks between Henry Kravis, the KKR co-founder, and Sir Keir Starmer's top business adviser had taken place over the weekend in an effort to prevent the deal from collapsing. Money latest: It was unclear on Tuesday whether CKI, the Hong Kong-based company which controls swathes of UK infrastructure assets, might seek to revive its interest in a deal with Thames Water. Sir Adrian Montague, the company's current chairman, said: "Whilst 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." In recent weeks, Thames Water has been fined a record £123m by Ofwat for separate transgressions relating to dividend payments and environmental pollution, and found itself embroiled in a bitter political row over whether retention payments it had lined up for executives were classified as bonuses. The company has also been at the centre of a legal battle which culminated in the Class A group of lenders providing a £3bn emergency loan in March following a court challenge launched by a smaller creditor group. The government described Thames Water as "stable" on Tuesday, but said it was ready to step in and take control of the company if required to. The company effectively faces a deadline of late July to finalise a rescue deal because of a referral of its five-year regulatory settlement to the Competition and Markets Authority. A spokesperson for the Class A creditors declined to comment on Tuesday evening.
Sky News
7 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Thames Water creditors line up McTighe to spearhead rescue deal
One of Britain's top corporate troubleshooters is being lined up to spearhead a multibillion pound rescue of Thames Water after the company's preferred bidder walked away. Sky News can reveal that Mike McTighe is working with Thames Water's largest group of creditors on a plan to restructure the company's debts and inject new funds in the hope of avoiding nationalisation. Mr McTighe, whose portfolio of chairmanships includes the Daily Telegraph's publisher and Openreach, BT Group's infrastructure arm, is said to have begun meeting stakeholders in recent weeks. If the Class A creditors' proposal is successfully executed, Mr McTighe would probably take over as chairman of Thames Water, according to people close to the situation. Mr McTighe has earned a reputation as a turnaround expert, but also chairs companies such as IG Group, the financial spreadbetting company, and Together Financial Services, the non-bank lender. The recruitment of such a prominent businessman to lead the lenders' efforts will add momentum to a plan which increasingly looks like the only alternative to landing British taxpayers with a vast rescue bill. The group's proposal would include swapping several billion pounds of Thames Water's debt for equity, as well as injecting substantial new funding. Thames Water is Britain's largest water utility, serving more than 15m customers. However, decades of poor performance and financial engineering have left it carrying close to £20bn of debt and facing hundreds of millions of pounds in regulatory fines. The Class A creditor group, which represents about £13bn of Thames Water's borrowings, includes some of the world's most powerful investors. Elliott Management, the New York-based firm, is among those exposed to a collapse that could leave Thames Water in a special administration regime (SAR) - a government-sponsored insolvency process aimed at providers of key infrastructure services. Other members of the creditor group include institutions such as Aberdeen, Invesco, Apollo Global Management and M&G. A source close to the creditor group said: "We have done a huge amount of diligence and work on a plan to turnaround Thames. "We are the only bidders who will be able to complete this transaction within the necessary timeframe." The fact that Mr McTighe has been persuaded to join their effort will revive hope that a private sector solution to Thames Water's crisis can still be found. On Tuesday, the company announced that KKR, its preferred equity partner for the last two months, had decided not to proceed with a deal. Sky News revealed that talks between Henry Kravis, the KKR co-founder, and Sir Keir Starmer's top business adviser had taken place over the weekend in an effort to prevent the deal from collapsing. It was unclear on Tuesday whether CKI, the Hong Kong-based company which controls swathes of UK infrastructure assets, might seek to revive its interest in a deal with Thames Water. Sir Adrian Montague, the company's current chairman, said: "Whilst 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." In recent weeks, Thames Water has been fined a record £123m by Ofwat for separate transgressions relating to dividend payments and environmental pollution, and found itself embroiled in a bitter political row over whether retention payments it had lined up up executives were classified as bonuses. The company has also been at the centre of a legal battle which culminated in the Class A group of lenders providing a £3bn emergency loan in March following a court challenge launched by a smaller creditor group. The government described Thames Water as "stable" on Tuesday, but said it was ready to step in and take control of the company if required to. The company effectively faces a deadline of late July to finalise a rescue deal because of a referral of its five-year regulatory settlement to the Competition and Markets Authority.
The Independent
18-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Premiership set to remain without promotion and relegation as Newcastle play down financial fears
The Premiership is set for another season without promotion and relegation after Championship league leaders Ealing Trailfinders failed to meet the minimum standards criteria required for elevation. The west London club top the second division by 13 points have won the league in two of the last three seasons, but have failed to satisfy requirements around ground capacity and safety compliance set by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). Third-placed Coventry also failed to meet the criteria, with the sole Championship side eligible for promotion Doncaster Knights. The Yorkshire outfit sit 29 points behind Trailfinders in eighth. Were a club to top the table and satisfy the RFU's regulations, they would face the bottom-placed Premiership side in a promotion/relegation play-off. It is now four years since Saracens, who were relegated from the Premiership after the salary cap scandal, were the last team to move between rugby's top two tiers. 'We are in a new era for the men's professional game and there are ongoing and very live conversations about how we can build an investable framework that ensures that it is sustainable,' Mike McTighe, chair of the Men's Professional Rugby Board, said. 'While right now only one Championship club is meeting the requirements that would enable them to come into the league, we are working hard to ensure that is not always the case and that we apply the right flexibility and support where it's appropriate. "We know how hard those clubs with aspirations to join the Premiership are working both to generate the required investment to be sustainable within that league and to ensure they have the required infrastructure to support themselves.' There is renewed scrutiny on the finances of English club rugby union after a report from Sky News suggested that the other nine Premiership clubs and league investors CVC Capital Partners are preparing to provide a loan to Newcastle Falcons to keep the club going. Premiership Rugby's financial monitoring panel, set up following the demise of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish, require assurances from all 10 of the league's clubs by the end of April that they can financially fulfil the 2025/26 campaign, with decisions and rulings then finalised by the end of the season. Newcastle's owner, Semore Kurdi, announced last year that he was seeking a sale of the club but investment has not, as yet, been forthcoming. The club, currently bottom of the Premiership, have frozen recruitment for next season amid the uncertainty, but Newcastle boss Steve Diamond has insisted that the club are in 'good fettle'. 'It's public record we are looking for investment and I am pretty sure that if that investment doesn't come, then this (loan) is a fallback position to maintain our status in the league,' said Diamond, who was director of rugby at Worcester at the time of their suspension from the Premiership. 'When I was at Worcester, the situation was different to now because it was never out there that we needed investment and everyone was kept in the dark, including Premier Rugby and the RFU. The only conversation Semore [Kurdi, current owner] and I have had is over potential investors coming in. 'I am confident Newcastle will be playing next season and I am unaware of what the promotion and relegation is and if other teams don't meet the criteria or play off we will be active to retain our status. This year has gone remarkably well compared to where we were, even though we are still losing £2m. We are in good fettle.'
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ealing fail to meet Premiership promotion criteria
There will be no promotion and relegation between the top tiers of English rugby this season after Championship league leaders Ealing Trailfinders failed the minimum standards who have a 13 point lead at the top of the Championship table, applied for promotion and the chance to face the bottom-placed Premiership team in a the Rugby Football Union (RFU) have announced Ealing didn't meet the requirements around ground capacity, as well as assurances over safety Knights did pass the standards but sit 29 points adrift of Trailfinders in eighth, while third-placed Coventry also failed the minimum comes with the Premiership's bottom team Newcastle Falcons in a precarious situation, and looking for additional financial support in order to be able to complete next season's the RFU insist they will continue to support aspirational clubs, this is another setback for Trailfinders in their bid to join English rugby's elite."We know how hard those clubs with aspirations to join the Premiership are working both to generate the required investment to be sustainable within that league and to ensure they have the required infrastructure to support themselves," Mike McTighe, Men's Professional Rugby Board Chair said.
