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Moody's withdraws key Thames Water rating over lack of information
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Moody's withdrew Thames Water's credit rating due to insufficient information, impacting its financial outlook amid public backlash and debt concerns.
LONDON (Reuters) -Moody's has withdrawn the credit rating of the financing arm of Thames Water's parent company, citing a lack of information on the embattled unit.
"We have decided to withdraw the rating (of Thames Water Kemble) Finance PLC) because we believe we have insufficient or otherwise inadequate information to support the maintenance of the rating," Moody's said in a statement.
Thames Water, which serves 16 million customers in and around London, is at the centre of a public backlash over the amount of sewage it has been pumping into Britain's rivers and its huge debt that has raised the prospect of re-nationalisation.
It is the primary operating subsidiary of Thames Water Limited, which is in turn owned by Kemble Water Finance Limited, the financing subsidiary of which is Thames Water (Kemble) Finance PLC.
Despite the withdrawal, Moody's said it was maintaining ratings on the two other parts of the complex Thames Water structure, Thames Water Utilities Ltd and Thames Water Utilities Finance Plc.
It did not provide any further details on what information was lacking with regards to the Kemble financing unit. Prior to the withdrawal, the rating had been a default-territory 'C' grade.
(Reporting by Marc Jones in London and Unnamalai L in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens)
Moody's withdrew the rating due to insufficient or inadequate information to support its maintenance.
The rating for Thames Water Kemble Finance PLC was withdrawn, previously sitting at a default-territory 'C' grade.
Thames Water serves approximately 16 million customers in and around London.
Thames Water is facing public backlash over the significant amount of sewage it has been discharging into rivers and its substantial debt.
Despite the withdrawal, Moody's is maintaining ratings on Thames Water Utilities Ltd and Thames Water Utilities Finance Plc.
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