Latest news with #equity shareholders
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
Thames Water says £1.5bn emergency loan will run out by Christmas
Thames Water, which is teetering on the brink of administration and renationalisation, has admitted that the first tranche of emergency bridging loans from its creditors will run out by Christmas. Britain's largest privatised water utility said that on Wednesday it drew down £872 million of £1.5 billion of worth of liquidity made available by its senior creditors to allow time for Thames to find new equity shareholders and recapitalise its stricken balance sheet. The company, which supplies water to 16 million people and which at the end of June was £16.8 billion in debt, said that on Thursday it took the remaining £555 million, which it says will see it through 'until at least mid-December 2025'. It excludes £73 million of the tranche that goes to creditors not funding the scheme. It stated that a second £1.5 billion of bridging loans from its creditors, part of a promised £3 billion package, 'is expected, if and when it becomes available, to provide liquidity until at least September 2026'. It added, however, that the availability of that tranche remained subject to several caveats, not least the emergence of a 'holistic recapitalisation transaction'. The announcement not only reveals the hand-to-mouth existence that Thames finds itself in but also highlights that no new bloc of shareholders to recapitalise the company to the tune of up to £5 billion has yet emerged. Thames Water thought it had found itself a saviour in the spring when it named the American private equity firm KKR as its preferred bidder. By the summer, however, KKR had withdrawn, privately citing the political toxicity around Thames. American hedge funds led by Elliott Management and Silver Point Capital, both senior creditors of Thames, have been leading a coterie of investors putting together a potential equity takeover plan. Any proposals by the group are predicated, however, on Ofwat, the regulator, relaxing the terms of its five-year funding settlement through to 2030 and rolling over or revoking penalties and fines for past and future missed targets and misdemeanours on pollution and leakage and the like, which have been put at up to £1 billion. The threat of being put into a 'special administration regime' has been hanging over the company for months. In such a regime the company would be renationalised, at least temporarily, and external insolvency and recovery accountants would come with a brief to reorganise the company's finances, which would probably mean creditors having to write off billions of pounds lent to Thames. It was reported this week that Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has retained the services of FTI Consulting for such an eventuality. CK Infrastructure, an arm of the worldwide trading interests of the Hong Kong multibillionaire Li Ka-shing, has approached the government with the offer of tabling a white knight rescue takeover. CKI had previously been rebuffed by Thames in favour of KKR. CKI's approach, however, has become a political hot potato because of perceived links between it and the Chinese government.
South China Morning Post
7 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Wharf posts first-half profit as Hong Kong luxury property market offsets mainland woes
Hong Kong developer Wharf (Holdings) swung to a profit in the first half, supported by lower borrowing costs and a recovery in the city's luxury housing market that offset weaker demand in its mainland China operations. Profit attributable to equity shareholders came in at HK$535 million (US$68.2 million), reversing a HK$2.64 billion loss a year earlier, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. Underlying net profit, a reflection of the company's business operations after excluding revaluations, rose 3 per cent to HK$2.04 billion in the six months to June due to a reduction in interest expenses and taxes. Revenue, however, fell 19 per cent to HK$5.67 billion. The company will pay an interim dividend of HK$0.20 per share, unchanged from last year. 13:00 How Hong Kong's housing market became among the world's most unaffordable How Hong Kong's housing market became among the world's most unaffordable The improved sentiment in Hong Kong's luxury residential sector helped the company achieve a record HK$144,000 per square foot for a penthouse at its 50 per cent-owned Mount Nicholson development on The Peak. The flat was sold for HK$609 million in the first half, driving revenue from projects in the city 56 per cent higher to HK$475 million.
