Thames Water has been valued as “worthless” by its largest shareholder, just the day after its representative stood down from the board of the beleaguered utility.
Canadian pension fund Omers, which has a 31.7% stake in Kemple, Thames’s parent company, has taken a full write-down on its investment, the Telegraph reported.
Latest accounts filed in Singapore showed it had already slashed the value of its stake to £260 million by December, but now has concluded that it is worth nothing and that the utility is “uninvestable”.
Omers was part of the consortium of investors that pulled out of equity funding, prompting Kemble to default on a debt payment last month.
Thames Water, which has a debt pile estimated at £18bn, has to convince regulator Ofwat next month that a rescue plan can save it otherwise it faces nationalisation via special administration.
The utility has reportedly asked for consumer bills to rise by 56% over the next five years as part of its plan.