Anglian Water gets £500m boost after criminal investigations
Anglian Water has received a £500m boost from its shareholders just days after it was revealed it is facing a raft of criminal investigations.
The company, which operates in the East of England, is owned by the Osprey Consortium which is made up of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Colonial First State and Industry Funds Management.
Anglian Water said its backers would inject £500m into the group on a pro-rata basis to their current shareholdings.
The announcement comes after the government confirmed earlier this week that Anglian Water and Thames Water together face more than 50 criminal investigations between them as part of a crackdown on sewage dumping.
In total, 81 investigations into water companies were launched between last July’s general election and March 2025.
Anglian Water and Thames Water, two of the country’s largest such businesses, face the bulk of the investigations.
The record number of spot checks unearthed “widespread law-breaking”, the Environment Agency said, with under-fire Thames Water the subject of 31 of probes.
Anglian Water faces 21 probes – the second-highest of England’s 10 major water firms – while London-listed Severn Trent and United Utilities together face the third-highest number of investigations with seven.
Anglian Water receives shareholder backing
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, the group said: “Anglian Water is pleased to announce that our shareholders have provided unconditional and legally binding commitments to inject £500m into the Anglian Water Group, pro-rata to their current shareholdings.
“This investment reflects shareholders’ continuing confidence in both the business and the strength of our arguments to the CMA, as well as government’s recent commitment to address the long-term attractiveness of the sector to investors.
“The shareholder equity commitment forms part of the group’s plans which were announced in March 2025 to strengthen the capital structure ahead of anticipated regulatory reforms and reflecting the group’s desire to maintain strong investment grade credit ratings.”
Anglian Water said £300m is to be provided by early September and will be used to repay a £240m bond which matures in March 2026, as well as repayment of drawn bank revolving credit facilities.
The group added that the remaining £200m will be provided by early June 2026, when it will be used to repay £200m of bank loans maturing in the middle of that month.
In June last year, Morning Wire reported that price increases helped revenue at Anglian Water increase to £1.6bn as it plans to hand shareholders a payday of almost £90m.
For the 12 months to March 31, 2024, the supplier saw its revenue rise from £1.4bn to £1.6bn after introducing an average increase of 10.7 per cent in duel-service bills.
Anglian Water, which has over six million customers in the East of England and Hartlepool, also handed its shareholders a dividend totalling £88.6m, up from £79.9m in the prior year.
Anglian Water’s pre-tax profit was slashed from £358.5m to £133.2m in the year.