Kemble Water Finance Limited

analysisKemble Water Finance Limited (05819317, legal entity identifier (LEI) 2138003A8GC5KL85UR35) was set up to raise debt from external lenders for the 2006 purchase of TWUL, held closer to TWUL than the shareholder debt because external lenders require greater security. Kemble Water Eurobond Plc is its person with significant control, and Kemble Water Finance in turn is the person with significant control of Thames Water Limited and of Thames Water (Kemble) Finance PLC, each with 75% or more of the shares and votes and all notified on 6 April 2016. Its prospectus of 8 January 2021 defines twelve "Initial Investors", from Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn to Wren House Infrastructure Investments Limited, including any successors in title. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

analysisAt 31 March 2023 Kemble Water Finance owed £943.0 million of secured bank loans and private placements, including a £190.0m floating rate loan due 2024, a £149.8m 5.39% loan due 2026 and private placements of £50.0m due 2027 and 2028; the face value of its debt was £949.8 million, and £400.0 million at its subsidiary Thames Water (Kemble) Finance. The two companies have given security by debenture under an intercreditor agreement, with Kemble Water Finance guaranteeing its subsidiary's debt; the 2021 notes are secured on its shares in Thames Water (Kemble) Finance and Thames Water Limited and a floating charge over all its assets. Its prospectus describes it as a holding company without material operations, dependent on payments from its subsidiaries, primarily TWUL, which are separate legal entities with no obligation to pay the notes or make funds available for them. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisIn October 2023 TWUL's £37.5 million of dividends reached Kemble Water Finance through TWUHL and Thames Water Limited, and Kemble Water Finance kept the money to service its own external debt and that of Thames Water (Kemble) Finance; TWUL told Ofwat the payment would cover Kemble's debt service only to the end of January 2024 and would not let Kemble pay its shareholders. ^{5 6}

analysisAfter the shareholders declined in March 2024 to provide £750 million of new equity, members of the Kemble group announced from April 2024 that they would not service their own debt and defaulted on all debt payments, according to the High Court's record of the unchallenged evidence of Thames Water's general counsel; the restructuring plan company, Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited, describes the Thames Water group as effectively ring-fenced from the Kemble group by TWUL's licence. The Class A creditor group, itself a party to the restructuring, told the Competition and Markets Authority that events of default occurred under Kemble Water Finance's and Thames Water (Kemble) Finance's financing arrangements, defaults that concern the holding companies' own debt, not TWUL's. Kemble Water Finance extended its accounting period to 30 September 2024 and has filed no accounts since; to May 2026 its filing history shows no administrator or liquidator, and its registered office moved to 3 More London Riverside on 18 November 2025. ^{1 2 3 4}