Thames Water Lenders Offer Golden Share to Head Off Nationalisation

Thames Water’s main lenders have предложed a “golden share” and greater local authority involvement in a bid to prevent the utility from being nationalised, according to BBC reported. The London & Valley Water consortium has also sweetened its rescue package with hundreds of millions of pounds in new money on top of an earlier £10bn deal that would write off nearly half of Thames Water’s debt and inject fresh cash in return for leniency on future pollution fines. The government rejected the previous proposal in June, and the BBC says the lenders are preparing a legal challenge if the new Andy Burnham-led government takes Thames Water into public ownership. A government spokesperson said Thames Water remains financially stable, while the company has warned it could run out of cash by November. The utility supplies water and wastewater services to 16 million people across London and parts of southern England and was fined £122.7m last year by Ofwat, the biggest penalty ever issued by the regulator.