Thames Water nationalisation ‘not the answer' says minister after private equity rescue fails
Thames Water nationalisation ‘not the answer' says minister after private equity rescue fails The Independent . Nationalisation of struggling Thames Water is “not the answer,” environment secretary Steve Reed has warned after a private equity giant pulled out of a £4bn rescue deal, throwing the company’s future into doubt. A bailout of the debt-laden utility would take money away from the NHS and other public services, he said. Thames Water is about £19 billion in debt and MPs were told last month that at one point this year it had about five weeks’ worth of cash left before going bust. Britain’s biggest water supplier, which has 16 million customers, chose KKR at the end of March to be its preferred bidder under plans to invest around £4 billion of new equity. But the firm said on Tuesday that KKR was no longer “in a position to proceed” and that its status as preferred bidder had lapsed. At the despatch box, Conservative shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins accus...