Thames Water’s biggest investor slashed the value of its stake last year, raising questions about how easy it will be for the indebted UK utility to persuade shareholders to inject much needed equity.  The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, one of Canada’s biggest public sector pension funds, owns a 31 per cent stake in Thames Water, held through multiple investment vehicles including a Singapore-registered entity that owns about a fifth of the company.

“Frédéric Blanc-Brude, director of Edhecinfra, a research centre and data provider, said the Omers writedown suggested other investors could be forced to recognise losses on Thames Water, which provides water and sewage services to 15mn customers in and around London”.

“The UK water utilities are presented as boring and low risk, but we can see they have large swings in value,” Frédéric Blanc-Brude said.

Read the full article here.