Overview

• Environment Secretary Steve Reed told Parliament ministers have stepped up preparations to take temporary control of Thames Water if the creditors’ rescue fails.
• The largest creditors have proposed a £17bn rescue package that would write off several billion pounds of debt and inject £3bn in fresh funding.
• That proposal hinges on regulators waiving historic environmental fines and granting immunity from pollution prosecutions.
• US private equity firm KKR withdrew its bidding effort, leaving the creditors’ plan as the sole private-sector alternative to state intervention.
• A taxpayer-backed special administration regime could cost up to £4.1bn and trigger wider reforms in the UK water industry’s regulatory framework.