Southern Water owner Macquarie invests further £550m

Southern was accused of ‘environmental vandalism’ last year after discharging raw sewage on to bathing beaches. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

The Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie has confirmed it will inject a further £550m into the UK’s Southern Water in an attempt to turn around the troubled company.

The funds are intended to help Southern Water, which supplies Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to overhaul its leaky pipes and faulty sewage works.