THAMES Water is seeking approval in court for further funding as it faces imminent collapse.
In October last year, the water supplier secured a loan of up to £3bn amid fears it would go under before Christmas.
The injection ensured the company would continue into this year, but it is now seeking further funding from investors to avoid going into public hands.
Thames Water has been aiming to secure approval for a series of short terms loans while it completes restructuring.
Without it, it risks nationalisation amid heavy criticism over its environmental performance and debts for more than £15bn.
It now faces a four-day court hearing, beginning on Monday, February 10, and if it secures approval will see £3bn of loans spread over two instalments.
Thames Water is also deciding whether to appeal the recent decision by regulators to raise customer bills by 32%, which is considerably less than the company sought to hike bills by– over 50%.
If the appeal is launched, however, the price rise could be lowered further,
The second loan instalment is dependent on the company launching this appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority, which must be submitted by February 18.
The case hangs on whether the judge will decide that the company’s creditors, some of whom do not back the new loan plan, would be worse off if its plan were not to be put in place.
