Following yesterday’s announcement that the Court of Appeal had upheld the restructuring plan proposed by Thames Water, Thames Water Ultilities Ltd (TWUL) and Thames Water Super Senior Issuer PLC have launched parallel consent and waiver requests with a voting date of 31 March 2025 to seek a waiver from 75% or more of the super senior creditors.

The waiver relates to certain conditions precedent to the super senior funding relating to the appeal period.While the waiver is in force, the £1.5 billion super senior funding will be drawn into the Super Senior Issuer in tranches sized in line with TWUL's liquidity needs. This process will continue while any further appeals process is ongoing.

In addition, and to facilitate the waivers, TWUL has also launched STID Proposals with a voting date of 31 March 2025 seeking the consent of a majority of the Class A Creditors to defer the reserving of cash for debt service during any further appeal period. As a matter of caution only, this will also provide for a re-classification of the super senior funding as Class A Debt in the unexpected event of any further appeals being successful.

TWUL understands that certain Class A Creditors are discussing among themselves whether to enter into supportive turnover arrangements where, in the unexpected event of any further appeals being successful, the participating Class A creditors agree to turn over recoveries to the super senior creditors in respect of the super senior funding.

To the extent that they agree to do so, TWUL has agreed to pay a conditional fee to such Class A Creditors equal to 0.25% of their outstanding principal amount of their Class A Debt.

The conditional fee is only payable to Class A Creditors who enter into the turnover arrangements prior to 28 March 2025 and in the event that there is permission granted for a further appeal, following which the turnover arrangements may then be required.

A statement by Thames Water to the London Stock Exchange said the company retains the strong support of its Class A Creditors and is confident that the relevant waivers and consents will be forthcoming in due course.

Chris Weston, CEO, Thames Water commented:

"The Court of Appeal has already refused the appeals and upheld the strong High Court decision to sanction the Company Plan. We continue to work closely with our creditors and will soon start to access the additional liquidity.

"We remain focused on putting Thames Water onto a more stable financial foundation as we seek a long-term solution to our financial resilience and in order to continue to implement our turnaround plan so we can deliver better results for our customers and the environment while seeking to attract new capital into the business. As we have previously stated, the Company Plan will not affect customer bills but will provide continued investment in our network to fix pipes, upgrade our sewage treatment works, and maintain high-quality drinking water. We remain of the view that a market led solution is in the best interest of customers, UK taxpayers and the wider economy."