Assured Guaranty has over $10 bln exposure to troubled UK water companies - FT

Assured Guaranty

12/07/2023 04:42

July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. insurer Assured Guaranty
 AGO.N  has amassed more than $10 billion of exposure to some
heavily indebted UK water utilities, and could end up paying
lenders in the case of defaults, the Financial Times reported on
Tuesday.
    Bucking under the weight of its debt, Britain's largest
water utility Thames Water was under the threat of
nationalisation before its shareholders stepped in on Monday to
help plug a financial black hole.
    Thames Water had amassed a debt pile of 14 billion pounds 
($18.14 billion), casting a shadow over the entire sector, which
needs to upgrade.
    Assured Guaranty has built about $1.9 billion in exposure to
Thames Water, with Southern Water being its largest non-U.S.
exposure at $2.2 billion, the FT said, citing results published
in March.
    However, a senior managing director at Assured Guaranty told
the FT that the insurer feels these water companies have a
strong debt profile.
    "We feel the UK water company debt we have insured has a
strong credit profile, as it provides an essential public
service and is in a well-regulated industry where we guarantee
the senior level debt," the newspaper quoted manager Nick Proud
as saying.
    Assured Guaranty did not immediately respond to Reuters'
request for a comment.

     ($1 = 0.7717 pounds)
    
    
    

 (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((rishabh.jaiswal@thomsonreuters.com;))