NEW YORK: US investment group KKR is in talks with troubled British utility Thames Water and its advisers about participating in a £3bil (US$3.88bil) share sale which forms part of a wider recapitalisation plan, Sky News reported last Saturday.

Thames Water, which serves about 16 million people in and around London, is at the centre of a crisis over sewage dumping, crumbling pipe networks and huge debts.

The utility, Britain’s biggest water supplier, said in October it had lined up a financing lifeline of up to £3bil with some of its creditors in a deal which if approved will help it survive for another year at least.

KKR is among a small number of investors studying Thames Water’s finances with a view to supporting a rescue share sale, the report said, citing sources.

 -  Reuters