The UK’s biggest water provider has received another bid, despite having declared itself “uninvestable”.
The latest bid for Thames Water came from infrastructure investor Covalis Capital, which would bring in French utility Suez, the firm confirmed on Friday morning.
If agreed, the supplier could be broken into smaller businesses, the Financial Times reported, and Suez would be an operating partner with the government holding a “golden share” with additional rights, including a board seat.
Some Thames Water assets would be sold with the remaining parts of the company listed on a stock exchange, the newspaper said.
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Thames Water provides water to 16 million Britons and is seeking £3bn in emergency funding to avoid running out of cash. The utility has warned its ageing assets posed a “risk to public safety”.
There have been fears Thames Water could have run out of money by Christmas – which would mean it could fall into special administration, a form of government ownership.
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The cash-strapped company has been struggling to secure fresh funds from existing shareholders after they withdrew a promised investment of £500m amid a funding row with industry regulator Ofwat.
It had struggled to secure funds from existing backers, describing itself as “uninvestable”.
Thames Water faces millions in Ofwat fines for polluting British waterways with sewage, which has added to its £15bn debt pile.
Earlier this year its parent company defaulted on some of its borrowings.
Final offers are due to be submitted in January after Ofwat determines how much water companies can hike bills and invest on system upgrades later this month.
Also in the running with bids are Castle Water, controlled by the Conservative Party treasurer Graham Edwards, according to Bloomberg.
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Both Covalis and Thames Water declined to comment. Suez said its offer is to “advise and assist Thames Water by leveraging Suez’s expertise in technical advisory and organisational optimisation”.
“At this stage, Suez’s scope of work is limited to an advisory mission to ensure the project’s success and address the specific challenges faced by Thames Water.”
Suez runs water infrastructure in France and has 5,000 employees in the UK.