Closing post
With City traders reeling from a bad day, it’s time to wrap up.
Here are today’s main stories:
Thames Water to ask debt markets for survival plan funding
Thames Water is preparing to tap debt markets within weeks in an attempt to fund a rescue plan and repair its threadbare finances, the Guardian can reveal.
It is understood the embattled water company is planning to publish a revised five-year spending plan within days, ahead of a deadline next month. Its board is expected to meet on Thursday to rubber-stamp the plan, and executives hope to release it on Friday.
Sources said the company then intends to wait for up to a week before approaching lenders to fund the proposals and has sought advice from City bankers and lawyers on the debt issuance. Financiers said the proposed timing of the fresh borrowing was surprising, given huge uncertainty around Thames’s future.
Britain’s biggest and most heavily indebted water company is fighting to secure its financial future, and has already said it only has cash reserves to fund its operations for the next 15 months without a substantial increase in bills.
