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Thames Water: KKR makes £4bn offer for majority stake

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.

KKR has offered £4bn for a majority stake in the crisis-hit utility Thames Water, according to a report.

Sources close to the matter told Bloomberg that KKR had no plans to sell any assets should its offer succeed. Deliberations are ongoing, and there is a guarantee a transaction will happen, they added.

The US asset manager’s joins a number of bidders for Thames Water, the UK’s biggest water supplier, with offers already tabled from the likes of Castle Water Limited and the infrastructure investor Covalis Capital.

It comes after the embattled firm on Tuesday received High Court approval for a £3bn lifeline from its top-tier creditors.

Thames Water is facing a major crisis amid a more than £16bn debt pile and will face nationalisation without further equity investment.

Even with its £3bn loan, the company has said it will run out of cash at some point next year. It is currently appealing to the UK’s competition regulatory to hike bills for consumers further, the money from which it intends to plug into creaking infrastructure.

Critics of the High Court’s judgement say it is simply a “stay of execution” and that nationalisation would have provided the basis for a restructuring in the public interest.

Thames Water declined to comment. KKR has been approached for comment.