Britain’s biggest water utility is lining up court dates to push through a massive debt restructuring that could keep it out of government hands.
Sky News has learnt that advisers to Thames Water have approached a broad group of investors including Apollo Global Management and Goldentree to gauge their appetite to participate in a multibillion-pound rescue fundraising.
City insiders said on Thursday that the company had also reserved dates at the High Court in November for a convening hearing and approval of a restructuring plan – a process that would force existing lenders to the company to accept steep losses on their investment.
The restructuring plan is seen by many as the only viable option to enabling Thames, which has about 15 million customers, to avoid temporary nationalisation through a Special Administration Regime (SAR).
Creditors accounting for roughly £9bn of debt owed by Thames Water’s parent company have begun drawing up contingency plans in case the company’s efforts to raise more than £3bn in the coming months are unsuccessful.
Thames Water has already warned that it will run out of money by next spring without a new capital injection.
The process is complicated, however, by the fact that it is appealing against aspects of a regulatory settlement with Ofwat, the industry regulator, ahead of a final determination before the end of the year.
A source close to the company said that Thames Water “continues to look at all options for extending its liquidity and raising new equity”.
They added: “Reserving court dates is sensible forward planning and a part of keeping all options open.”
Thames Water declined to comment.