As negotiations enter a ninth month, an outcome is thought to be weeks away and the devil is still in the detail
It is two years since the shareholders of Thames Water threw in the towel, declared the company “uninvestible” and accepted their shares were worthless. Yet the water torture goes on and on. We are now in the ninth month of negotiations between Thames’s senior creditors and the regulator, Ofwat, on a rescue deal – and still an outcome is thought to be weeks away.
Monday’s updated sketch of the proposal contained a few new details. The amount of fresh equity that would be injected into Thames has increased from £3.15bn to £3.35bn. The day-one debt facility has been boosted by a billion pounds to £3.25bn. Ofwat also appears to have insisted creditors underwrite a further £3.3bn debt facility in case Thames, circa 2028, can’t raise borrowings from the market on commercial terms by then; that precaution is probably wise.
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