Thames Water names ex-British Gas finance director as CFO

-Britain's biggest water supplier Thames Water on Wednesday named former British Gas finance director Steve Buck as its chief financial officer to help deliver the indebted company's turnaround plan.

Last week, Thames Water announced the abrupt departure of CFO Alastair Cochran.

A poster child for Britain's broken water sector, Thames Water has been battling against financial collapse since last year. To survive beyond 2026, it needs 3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) of new equity and to restructure its debt.

Buck "will play a crucial role as we seek to place Thames on a more secure financial foundation, continue to implement our turnaround plan and focus on a full recapitalisation of the business," CEO Chris Weston said in a statement.

Buck worked for Thames Water between 2002 and 2007, has held senior roles at energy company Centrica, and was the finance chief at utility Pennon Group.

Earlier this week, Thames Water named U.S. investment firm KKR as the frontrunner to invest new equity into the company, and said it had gained overwhelming approval for its debt restructuring proposals.

($1 = 0.7729 pounds)

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Mark Potter)