Thames Water set to appoint Adrian Montague as chairman

Get free Thames Water plc updates

we will send you one myFT Daily Digest Latest Email Rounding Thames Water Plc News every morning.

Thames Water is set to appoint Sir Adrian Montague, an experienced city troubleshooter, to step in as the new chairman of Britain’s biggest water company as it struggles to raise vital funding.

The group, which will publish its annual financial report next week, is expected to confirm within hours the appointment of Montague, who was previously chairman of British Energy and Anglian Water and deputy chairman of Network Rail.

Montague is also the chairman of Cadent Gas, the UK’s largest gas distribution network, and Manchester Airports Group.

Two people with knowledge of the matter confirmed the appointment, which was first reported in The Times.

Thames Water declined to immediately comment.

The British government is set to rescue potential taxpayers of the company, which was recently identified by water regulator Ofvat as the group with the most to gain in the debt-ridden sector.

Rising interest rates are putting pressure on many water companies, with Ofwat voicing concerns in December about Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, SES Water and Portsmouth Water.

Thames announced a year ago that it wanted to raise £1.5 billion from its existing shareholders – the University Superannuation Scheme and large institutional investors such as China Investment Corporation – but has so far raised only £500 million of this, leaving £ 1bn gap left. ,

The previous chief executive, Sarah Bentley, abruptly quit this week and one of her co-successors recently admitted the company may need to raise more than £1 billion given the pressure on the business.

Montague, 75, who began his career as a Linkletters lawyer and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson banker, has in the past held senior roles related to complex financial troubleshooting at major companies.

Two decades ago, when Network Rail was set up to replace Railtrack, he was appointed as its vice-chairman.

Montague was also appointed chairman of British Energy in 2002 when the then operator of Britain’s nuclear power stations ran into difficulties. He brought the group back to profitability before selling it to France’s EDF in 2009 for £12.5 billion.

Most recently Montague was chairman of insurer Aviva from 2015 to 2020, where he presided over the company’s strategy relaunch with a cost-cutting exercise including large-scale job cuts.

His long career in the City of London has included stints as chairman of private equity group 3i, insurer Friends Provident, recruitment group Michael Page and Swedish paper maker Selmark.

He was chairman of Cross London Rail Links, the forerunner to the east-west Crossrail line, and was also instrumental in setting it up. green investment bank Under the Tory–Lib Dem coalition, served as deputy chairman until 2013.