Barclays is selling $320 million Thames Water debt, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -British lender Barclays is selling Thames Water debt worth 236 million pounds ($319.9 million), Bloomberg News reported on Friday, as the struggling water utility risks being placed into special administration if it were to collapse.

The inflation-linked liabilities were offered in an auction where bid was due on Thursday, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Thames declined to comment on the report while Barclays did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The UK government earlier this week appointed FTI Consulting to advise on contingency plans for Thames Water to be placed into a special administration regime were the country's largest water utility to collapse, according to a government source.

The embattled firm said earlier in the day it had drawn the remaining available amount of its first 1.5 billion-pound tranche of debt lifeline, securing liquidity needs until at least mid-December.

($1 = 0.7378 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi and DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru)