[ad_1]
The battle for control of Thames Water’s future has deepened after a second group of bondholders tabled a fully underwritten offer to provide £3bn of new debt.
Sky News has learnt that the utility’s class B bondholders submitted a proposal to the company on Thursday morning which aims to trump a rival offer from its class A creditors.
The submission of the class B group’s legally binding agreement sets up a tussle between some of the world’s largest pension funds, hedge funds and insurers for a key role in determining the fate of Britain’s biggest water company.
Thames Water, which has about 16 million customers, is scrambling to avert the threat of insolvency and temporary nationalisation as it seeks a compromise from Ofwat, the industry regulator, over its spending plans for the next five years.
The company’s shareholders have already abandoned plans to inject billions of pounds into it, describing it as uninvestible.
The tabling of the latest proposal will put pressure on Thames to reconsider its public support for a more expensive deal with the class A group, which includes the likes of Silverpoint and Elliott Advisors, the American hedge funds.
One of the members of the class B group said its plan provided Thames Water with “a deliverable and binding offer to address the company’s immediate funding needs”.
Amid a dispute with the class A debtholders about the relative cost to Thames Water of their proposals, the source said the class B financing would provide “twice the capital at a far lower cost and on more flexible terms”.
They added that it was open to all Class A and Class B holders.
It was…
[ad_2]
