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Macquarie, the former owner of Thames Water criticized for loading the company with debt, is a financier of its ailing parent company.
Macquarie investors lent around £130 million to holding company Kemble Water Finance Ltd in 2018 and 2020, according to a person familiar with the situation. The loans are managed by one of the Australian asset manager’s private credit funds and amount to about 9% of Kemble’s debt securities, the source explained.
Details of Macquarie’s continued involvement in Thames Water, first reported in The Times, emerged after Kemble defaulted on a £400 million bond on Friday. This marked the start of a potentially complicated restructuring for the owner of Britain’s largest water company, which serves 25 million people.
The company’s shareholders, including pension and sovereign funds, have refused to inject further liquidity. Kemble’s other financiers include two Chinese state banks, the Financial Times reported last week.
Shareholders have asked regulator Ofwat for a 56% increase on bills and leniency on fines. A draft decision from Ofwat is expected in June, but shareholders believe it is unlikely that it will grant their requests.
News of Macquarie’s involvement sparked political condemnation.
“Under Macquarie’s ownership, Thames Water pumped millions of liters of disgusting sewage into British rivers while racking up billions of pounds of debt, which was then paid to shareholders,” said Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park. “The water giants have failed in their responsibilities to the public while lining their own pockets. Now they demand that taxpayers take responsibility for their failures.”
Macquarie is the largest private sector owner of infrastructure assets in the UK, with stakes in everything from wind farms to airports and gas networks. He currently owns Southern Water and around £120m of debt in Anglian Water.
His ownership of Thames Water was widely criticized after the company’s debt increased from £3.4 billion in 2006, when he acquired the company, to £10.8 billion when he sold his final stake in 2017 , according to research by the FT.
Around £2.7 billion in dividends and £2.2 billion in loans were taken out during that period, although Macquarie said it had spent £11 billion from customer bills on infrastructure.
Thames Water has more than £18 billion of debt, including £15.6 billion of net debt at operating company level.
Macquarie Asset Management said: “We manage debt investments on behalf of long-term institutional investors in a number of infrastructure companies, providing long-term financing for essential infrastructure. Macquarie has had no control or influence over the operating company of Thames Water since 2017.”
Thames Water declined to comment.