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Thames Water: Hong Kong’s CK Infrastructure makes £7bn swoop

By:

Transport Reporter

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Charlie Maynard, MP for Witney, was among a group which included the utility's secondary creditors, who opposed a £3bn emergency loan agreement earlier this year.
Charlie Maynard, MP for Witney, was among a group which included the utility's secondary creditors, who opposed a £3bn emergency loan agreement earlier this year.

Hong Kong’s CKI Infrastructure has submitted a £7bn bid for a majority stake in the embattled utility Thames Water.

The Financial Times reported CKI, which is part of the wider CK Hutchison group, made a non-binding offer for Thames earlier this month.

CKI has indicated it would inject £7bn to ease the debt-laden company’s financial woes, but its interest is contingent on bondholders taking significant writedowns, according to sources.

It comes after reports the private equity firm KKR had also made a £4bn swoop for Thames Water.

The UK’s biggest water supplier won High Court approval for an emergency £3bn loan from creditors earlier this week, granting it a temporary lifeline to avoid nationalisation.

CK Hutchison also holds a 75 per cent stake in Northumbrian Water, which supplies water to Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Essex.

Thames Water declined to comment. CKI have been approached for comment.