Shareholders inject additional £550 million investment into Southern Water

Southern Water welcomes an announcement that funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management have agreed to invest an additional £550 million of equity into the Southern Water group.

This follows their £1.1 billion equity injection into the Southern Water group in September 2021.

The additional £550 million of equity funding will help us maintain the momentum of our Turnaround Plan and manage the impact of the high inflation and interest rate environment on our operating, maintenance and funding costs. 

Of the £550 million of new equity, £375 million will be invested in our regulated company to support additional investment aimed at protecting the environment and better serving our customers. The remaining £175 million will be invested into the wider Southern Water group to support our financial resilience.

The new funding will enable us to increase planned capital investment in our network by 50 per cent to £3 billion (from £2 billion) during this regulatory period (2020-25), equivalent to investing £1,500 per household in our area.

Our Turnaround Plan is focused on ensuring a reliable supply of water for our customers; protecting and improving the health of rivers and seas by building capacity and resilience at our waste-water treatment works and sewer network; making our customer service easy and trusted; and becoming an industry-leader in health and safety.

We were awarded a two-star Environmental Performance Assessment Rating by the Environment Agency for 2022, up from one-star for 2021. We recognise that we have further to go, and the Turnaround Plan sets out our ambition to reach a three-star rating by 2025.

Lawrence Gosden, Chief Executive Officer of Southern Water, said: 

“We would like to thank Macquarie for its continued support, which will enable us to increase investment per household to more than £1,500 this regulatory period and manage the impact of cost inflation and higher funding costs on our business. Macquarie’s additional investment is a strong vote of confidence in our operational transformation. It will help us to deliver on our ambitions to customers and position Southern Water well for further future investment in our network.”