And why water bills are so expensive. There was nothing compelling to allow an Australian Mafia Bank to take over Thames Water but the UK’s love for global trade led to the UK being scammed.
More at How Macquarie bank left Thames Water with extra £2bn debt - BBC News
More at How Macquarie bank left Thames Water with extra £2bn debt - BBC News
The Australian bank Macquarie has left Thames Water with an extra £2bn debt burden, a BBC investigation shows.
The £2bn was borrowed by Thames Water in 2007 and 2010 but used for the benefit of the bank and its investors, which owned and controlled the UK's biggest privatised water company. This was in apparent contravention of conditions laid down by the regulator when Macquarie bought Thames in 2006.
The transactions which culminated in Thames Water having the additional £2bn of debt on its books took place inside a network of companies set up by Macquarie at the time it bought Thames Water.
A consultation paper published in February 2007 by the water regulator Ofwat showed that Macquarie and its investors paid £5.1bn for Thames Water, of which £2.8bn was money Macquarie had borrowed to help fund the purchase.
What subsequently happened to that £2.8bn so-called "acquisition debt" is revealed in a letter, dated October last year, from Thames Water's then-chairman, Sir Peter Mason, to Martin Blaiklock. ,
It was written in reply to questions arising from Mr Blaiklock's attempts to understand Thames Water's offshore financial structure.
In this letter, Sir Peter reveals that, of the £2.8bn acquisition debt, no less than £2bn had subsequently been repaid. Not by Macquarie and its investors, who had originally borrowed the money, but from new borrowings raised by Thames Water through a Cayman Islands subsidiary.
Martin Blaiklock said: "That letter was a red flag to me because it showed clearly that the debt which Macquarie funds had used to buy Thames Water had been transferred over to Thames Water."
The £2bn was borrowed by Thames Water in 2007 and 2010 but used for the benefit of the bank and its investors, which owned and controlled the UK's biggest privatised water company. This was in apparent contravention of conditions laid down by the regulator when Macquarie bought Thames in 2006.
The transactions which culminated in Thames Water having the additional £2bn of debt on its books took place inside a network of companies set up by Macquarie at the time it bought Thames Water.
A consultation paper published in February 2007 by the water regulator Ofwat showed that Macquarie and its investors paid £5.1bn for Thames Water, of which £2.8bn was money Macquarie had borrowed to help fund the purchase.
What subsequently happened to that £2.8bn so-called "acquisition debt" is revealed in a letter, dated October last year, from Thames Water's then-chairman, Sir Peter Mason, to Martin Blaiklock. ,
It was written in reply to questions arising from Mr Blaiklock's attempts to understand Thames Water's offshore financial structure.
In this letter, Sir Peter reveals that, of the £2.8bn acquisition debt, no less than £2bn had subsequently been repaid. Not by Macquarie and its investors, who had originally borrowed the money, but from new borrowings raised by Thames Water through a Cayman Islands subsidiary.
Martin Blaiklock said: "That letter was a red flag to me because it showed clearly that the debt which Macquarie funds had used to buy Thames Water had been transferred over to Thames Water."
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