Thames Water - comment

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has signed the appointment of FTI Consulting to advise the government on contingency plans for Thames Water, if negotiations fail and the company enters special administration. The government was always going to need someone on standby as negotiations approached the wire. So we find this nothing spectacular to worry about. Nevertheless, we are not fans of the opacity and binary risk distribution in the name and would have preferred more forthcoming signals from the treasury before dismissing the KKR proposals, even if their exit now restores an undiluted upside to creditors.