Water Company Nationalisation

[SueEllen]

I wanted to label the thread something else due to the state of our rivers.

Starting with Thames Water after the next GE. (https://www.theguardian.com/environm...bt-interactive)

https://www.theguardian.com/business...00m-of-funding

Investors at Thames Water have pulled the plug on £500m of emergency funding, raising concerns about the financial future of the country’s largest water company and increasing the prospect of nationalisation.
The beleaguered utilities company announced this morning that its shareholders had refused to provide the first tranche of £750m funding set to secure its short-term cashflow, after the company had failed to meet certain conditions.

The funding failure heightens the possibility that Thames Water could be placed into special administration, which would result in the government stepping in and temporarily renationalising the company.
Chris Weston, the chief executive of Thames Water, said on Thursday that this was a “long way off” but did not rule out the possibility.

“If at the end of the day – probably well into the end of next year – we were in a situation where we had no equity, then there would be the prospect … of special administration, but we are a long way from that point at the moment,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“There is a possibility but the key message today is one of reassurance.”
He said that the business had enough cash to last until May 2025 and it would be working to secure a final determination with Ofwat by the end of the year, while trying to secure extra equity from new and existing shareholders. He added that the company would continue to serve its 15 million customers as usual.

[vetran]

take into national ownership and fix the spills!

[malvolio]

Perhaps if they use their profits to improve the infrastructure before paying out large divis to the shareholders, they would not be in such a mess in the first place. Thatcher's original (if somewhat optimistic!) idea was to privatise to incentivise competition and hence performance, not enrich private shareholders. That idea seems to have got lost somewhere along the way, probably down to the toothless OFWAT quango.

[Smartie]

It's a common situation where investment companies buy a company then load it with debt, effectively buying the company with its own money.
In this case it was during Macquarie's ownership but it happens quite a lot.

All the value is sucked out of a company then the investors sell up and move on, leaving customers with high bills and crap infrastructure.
Yet another case of privatising profits and nationalising debt.
This needs to be banned.

[Paddy]

It's a common situation where investment companies buy a company then load it with debt, effectively buying the company with its own money.
In this case it was during Macquarie's ownership but it happens quite a lot.

All the value is sucked out of a company then the investors sell up and move on, leaving customers with high bills and crap infrastructure.
Yet another case of privatising profits and nationalising debt.
This needs to be banned.

In the case of TW, the major shareholder was an Australian Investment Bank which sold of the assets, land and reservoirs to themselves for pennies. Some critical assets were leased back to TW at premium rental and leases other were re-sold and the cash paid into offshore accounts.

[tazdevil]

In the case of TW, the major shareholder was an Australian Investment Bank which sold of the assets, land and reservoirs to themselves for pennies. Some critical assets were leased back to TW at premium rental and leases other were re-sold and the cash paid into offshore accounts.

Sale and leaseback with the intention of theft rather than using the money to invest in infrastructure should be illegal if it isn't already. Public utilities shouldn't be allowed the sell their infrastructure at all to preserve access to critical assets for the national good. Perhaps a reset is required and these businesses and the assets they utilise should be re-nationalised, without compensation if dodgy accounting has been involved?

[WTFH]

Who'd have thought that having key parts of the UK infrastructure owned by foreign investors who have no ties to the UK would have any negative consequences. Next we'll hear something ridiculous like the French own our electricity companies and we finance it all via China and the Middle East.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Didn't we send loads of criminals to Australia?

They've obviously bred.

[SueEllen]

FFS

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment...sewage-2981778

[vetran]

Didn't we send loads of criminals to Australia?

They've obviously bred.

and many to the US of A though the residents frequently forget that.

New Zealand though we only sent one shipment.