Topic: | REAL FACTS | |
Posted by: | Steve Taylor | |
Date/Time: | 16/08/11 19:09:00 |
"17 Oct 2006 Australian investment group Macquarie emerged last night as the surprise winner in the auction for Thames Water, paying German owner RWE £8bn for Britain's biggest water company. The acquisitive group, which also recently made an unsuccessful bid for the London Stock Exchange, fought off competition from rival Australian group, Alinta, Guy Hands's private equity firm Terra Firma and the Qatar Investment Authority. Sir Peter Mason, the departing chief executive of Amec, is believed to have been closely involved with the process, and is expected to receive a senior role when Macquarie takes charge of Thames. The deal is expected to ignite further interest in the remaining independent UK water stocks, which have already benefited from bid speculation in recent months. Macquarie said it was paying £4.8bn cash, and taking on debts of £3.2bn. The combined £8bn price falls some way short of the target of up to £12bn hoped for by RWE." |