Thames Water creditors ‘will bid for company even if it is nationalised’

Group of 100 investors still discussing £10bn rescue proposal with officials from regulator Ofwat, says report Thames Water’s creditors are willing to pursue their bid for the debt-laden company even if the probable next prime minister, Andy Burnham, brings it into temporary nationalisation. The group of 100 institutional investors, which hold about £14bn of Thames’s senior debt, are still discussing a £10bn rescue proposal for the struggling company with officials from the regulator Ofwat, and they have held meetings in recent days. Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, objected to the proposal in mid-June because it would place an “undue burden” on consumers, pushing the Britain’s biggest water company closer towards a form of temporary nationalisation called a special administration regime (SAR). Creditors would want to buy Thames out of temporary nationalisation as they regard it as a process but not a solution, sources said, in news first reported by the Financial Times. Burnham has called for “greater public control” over Thames and told the Guardian this could mean nationalisation. The future of Thames, which serves 16 million customers in London and the