Thames Water - Case Update

KKR has withdrawn from its proposed £4 billion equity investment in Thames Water, significantly impacting the company’s restructuring plan and introducing heightened uncertainty and urgency to its recovery efforts.

Things seemed to be heading in the right direction when we last wrote about Thames Water in April. The Court of Appeal had just released its reasons for upholding the troubled utility’s Part 26A restructuring plan, which involved the extension of debt maturities, a cash injection of £1.5 billion, and an additional £1.5 billion available under an accordion facility if certain conditions were satisfied.

The restructuring plan, however, was only a temporary fix — it was meant to provide a bridge as an interim measure to enable a further, more comprehensive restructuring plan based on an equity raise to be developed. KKR had been selected as the preferred bidder and was believed to be investing £4 billion in return for a majority stake, with no plans to break the company up.

However, Thames Water has now confirmed that KKR pulled out of the deal, calling the decision “disappointing”. KKR has not commented on the decision, but reportedly conducted 10 weeks of intensive due diligence which revealed issues with some assets. Deal complexity is also thought to have played a part in KKR’s decision to walk.

Thames Water is now left looking for another rescue deal, failing which it will likely be put into special administration. This is pivotal moment for the company, which also just received a whopping £122.7 million fine from watchdog Ofwat for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts.