Thames Water is seeking a further £2.4 billion in funding to enable it to continue delivery of its AMP8 capital programme, increasing the £3 billion currently available to it under the super senior facility entered into with its subsidiary, Thames Water Super Senior Issuer PLC to £5.4 billion.
Yesterday the water company launched the process to extend its liquidity to Autumn 2027, allowing the continued delivery of its AMP8 capital programme focused on improvements for customers and the environment.
A report in the Financial Times says Thames Water’s senior creditors are nearing a deal with a group of junior bondholders, “offering a small payout and other fees to prevent the rival group from challenging their plan to take over the heavily indebted utility in court.”
Thames Water has so far drawn £2.65 billion of the £3 billion available to it under the super senior facility entered into with its subsidiary, Thames Water Super Senior Issuer PLC.
Yesterday the water company and the Super Senior Issuer also launched parallel consent requests and STID Proposals. If granted, this will allow Thames Water to draw a further £350 million of the Facility in November 2026. The 16th Consent Requests and STID Proposals have a voting date of 29 October 2026 and follow fifteen previous sets of consent requests which were approved by creditors.
As previously announced, the water company and the Super Senior Issuer have secured accordion commitments of £1.5 billion, which, in addition to the £1.5 billion of commitments originally made available as part of RP1 (Restructuring Plan), brings the total amount which is currently available under the Facility to £3 billion.
Based on the latest available forecast, Thames Water expects that, subject to the satisfaction and/or waiver of certain conditions, the Facility will provide liquidity until the end of 2026 or the start of 2027. The water company does not expect to complete its recapitalisation process ahead of this date.
Thames Water is proposing to increase the maximum amount available under the Facility by an Upsize of £2.4 billion to £5.4 billion. Commitments in respect of of the increased amount would be sought in tranches over the coming months.
Once in place, the utility says the Upsize would extend Thames Water’s liquidity into Autumn 2027 and allow it to continue to deliver its capital programme.
In order to implement the Upsize, the water company is proposing that a new entity, Thames Water Super Senior Upsize Issuer PLC, is incorporated and accedes to the Facility as an additional lender. The Upsize Issuer (and its holding company) would be a subsidiary of the Super Senior Issuer and would issue additional super senior debt in the form of loans and bonds to fund its loan to Thames Water under the Facility on a pari passu basis with the Super Senior Issuer.
Thames Water said additional changes to the super senior documentation would reflect this and "ensure an aligned voting process" on future consents between the Super Senior Issuer and Upsize Issuer.
According to the Financial Times, Thames Water is being “propped up by an expensive £3 billion loan from senior creditors carrying an interest rate of nearly 10 per cent and it needs to raise new debt to keep afloat.”
“The company will have incurred almost £2bn in financing costs and advisory fees over the 18 months to the end of September, according to its last annual report and projections shared with the FT”, the Financial Times article says.
Thames Water says it continues to work closely with stakeholders to secure a market-led solution.
Enpure Ltd and Clean TeQ Water Ltd have announced a collaboration agreement to bring Clean TeQ Water's Moving Bed Ion Exchange-based nutrient removal technologies to water utilities across the UK.
Near-real-time microbial monitoring of wastewater discharge and bathing waters is now possible thanks to the BactoSense ID solution created by Swiss-based bNovate Technologies.
ABB has launched AquaMaster+™, a digital platform for smart water network management, designed to help water utilities monitor, analyze and manage their water networks, preventing pipeline water losses and optimizing operations.
Craig Nienaber, Business Development Manager for Safe Access Solutions (SAS) at HUBER Technology, explores why the company is seeing a growing level of interest in its safe access solutions for critical infrastructure providers, including their application in wastewater treatment assets.
Southern Water has released film and images showing what it’s like to walk inside Hampshire’s expanded Yew Hill underground reservoir for the very last time, before it gets filled with water.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.