‘Uninvestible’: Britain’s biggest water company left in the lurch by shareholders

Investors are refusing to inject billions in new money into Britain’s biggest water company, leaving the beleaguered business at risk of an emergency government takeover.

Investors are refusing to inject billions in new money into Britain’s biggest water company, leaving the beleaguered business at risk of an emergency government takeover. The nine shareholders in Thames Water, which supplies water and wastewater services to 15 million people in London and the southeast of England, said in a statement Thursday that they were “not in a position” to provide an extra £3.25 billion ($4.1 billion) because UK water regulator Ofwat was insisting on conditions they could not accept. “After more than a year of negotiations with the regulator, Ofwat has not been prepared to provide the necessary regulatory support for a business plan which ultimately addresses the issues that Thames Water faces,” the shareholders said. The utility counts UK and Canadian pension funds, as well as sovereign wealth funds from China and Abu Dhabi, among its investors. In its turnaround plan published in October, Thames Water, which is saddled with £14 billion ($17.7 million) in debt, proposed to jack up the average annual customer bill by 40% by 2030. In July, the utility’s shareholders agreed to pour an extra £750 million ($945 million) into the company before March 2025 to stave off a temporary takeover by the government. The first £500 million ($630 million) of that sum was due by Sunday, March 31.