Struggling UK utility Thames Water faced a funding crisis on Thursday as shareholders pulled a £500m bailout after regulators refused its demands to hit customers with massive price hikes, greater leniency for polluting waterways and pay out higher dividends, while its parent company also admitted it couldn't pay back a £190m loan.
A University of Oxford analysis proposes breaking up the company, including the creation of a business to take care of large wastewater capital projects.
Thames Water faces
potential nationalisation after shareholders reneged on a
promise to plough in new equity, putting the company s finances
and future at risk. The utility is struggling.
The owners of Thames Water have refused to provide a £500m cash injection to prevent its collapse as they renew demands for household bills to increase by 40pc.