Thames Water Bonds Dip as Ofwat, S&P Crank up the Pressure
- Debt of Britain’s largest water utility falls across the board
- S&P says it could downgrade to junk on liquidity issues
Thames Water protective barriers surrounding water supply works in London.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Thames Water bonds dipped to some of their lowest levels on record after the UK’s water regulator ramped up its scrutiny of the utility and S&P Global Ratings said it could downgrade it to junk.
The bonds of Britain’s largest water utility were down across the board after it was put into a Turnaround Oversight Regime by regulator Ofwat to ensure Thames Water can fix chronic leaks and sewage spills. Ofwat also set a cost-of-equity range of 4.8%, less than the 5.7% that the utility had requested.