Britain’s largest water utility is engaged on plans to lift further funding simply weeks after unveiling plans to faucet shareholders for £1.5bn in new fairness.
Sky News has learnt that Thames Water has begun debating whether or not it wants to hunt new capital to ship the transformation plan it has set out below Sarah Bentley, its comparatively new chief govt.
Water business sources stated this weekend that agency plans had but to be decided, however stated that Thames Water might determine to lift tons of of thousands and thousands of kilos past the £1.5bn determine outlined in June.
The firm, which final month launched a hosepipe ban affecting 10m clients throughout southern England, has come below substantial fireplace for its dire efficiency in relation to leaks and multimillion pound govt pay packages.
A Thames Water spokesperson stated: “Like all companies, Thames Water actively manages its monetary place.
“This year, we have successfully raised additional equity from our supportive shareholders and have refinanced maturing debt in order to put us in the best possible position as we continue to execute against the eight year turnaround plan that we launched in May 2021.
“As we look ahead to the subsequent regulatory interval, and contemplate the evolving expectations of the regulator and the consequences of a altering local weather, we maintain a variety of alternatives into account to make sure that we are able to optimise supply for purchasers right this moment and over the long run.”
The £1.5bn of recent fairness was divided into £500m within the present monetary 12 months, adopted by an additional £1bn earlier than March 2025, when the present business regulatory interval ends.
In its June assertion, the corporate added: “Thames Water shareholders acknowledge that further shareholder support may be required to improve financial resilience.”
The further shareholder funding fashioned a part of a £2bn expenditure enhance designed to enhance the corporate’s efficiency on leaks and river well being, taking its whole spending in the course of the present five-year regulatory interval to £11.6bn.
Thames Water’s shareholders embrace China Investment Corporation, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund; the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s largest non-public pension fund; and Infinity Investments, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, are stated to have endorsed the plans.
Serving roughly 1 / 4 of Britain’s inhabitants, Thames Water has seen its status battered by revelations about its cavalier method to air pollution and detached therapy of shoppers.
A 12 months in the past, it was fined £4m for permitting untreated sewage to flee from London sewers into a close-by river and park, whereas in August 2021, it was ordered to pay £11m for overcharging hundreds of shoppers.
Ms Bentley, who joined as chief govt two years in the past, has pledged to ship higher outcomes for each clients and the atmosphere at a time when Britain’s privatised water firms are below strain for paying substantial dividends.
In whole, tens of billions of kilos have been handed to shareholders in water utilities throughout Britain since privatisation, stoking public and political anger given the business’s frequent mishaps.
Source: information.sky.com”