UK investor is teaming up with French group as part of a bid for control of troubled utility
Thames Water has received a bid from Covalis Capital that would see France’s Suez flown in to help manage a break-up of the UK’s largest water utility before listing it on the stock market. The proposal comes ahead of Thursday’s deadline for indicative bids for Thames, which is saddled with nearly £19bn of debt and risks running out of cash in the new year.
Thames has warned that its ageing assets pose a “risk to public safety”, while its existing investors — which include the pension funds Omers and USS, as well as the Chinese and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds — have declared the business “uninvestable”. They have said they will withdraw their ownership, potentially taking a £5bn loss. Final offers are due to be submitted in January after regulator Ofwat has agreed the extent to which water companies will be allowed to raise bills.
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