Speeches by Bool.

“It was not paid for—”

“I just wanted to clarify some timings because when Charlie asked earlier on, you said that KKR submitted its bid to Ofwat on 30 May, but you also said that you were aware of KKR potentially drawing out on 29 May, and then not getting the financing. Can you clarify that?”

“But either way, you were aware of KKR pulling out, but simultaneously, it put a bid in, we think.”

“Okay. Just very quickly on that point: obviously as part of the due diligence, KKR would have been asking Thames Water a lot of questions to seek that comfort. Clearly, you could not give KKR the comfort to be able to get that financial investment sign-off. Obviously I understand about the banks. Chris, I know you said…”

“Where did those mainly fail? Which of those issues were the problem because I am sure the regulators might have been on side. I understand the future investment. Where was the weakness on the others? If KKR could, why could others not?”

“Just to understand, you say it does not have operational capacity in water, but CKI owns 75% of Northumbrian Water. What do you mean by that compared to the creditors?”

“Sorry, fine. If there really was a true exclusivity period, then obviously, as Charlie mentioned, the creditors were primed and ready. So was it actually a true exclusivity period if they were primed and ready?”

“It would have been an exclusivity agreement signed thing.”

“How comparable is the bid now between what the creditors are now offering and what KKR were?”

“They want the reset, so it was possibly always going to fail. Either way, they are going to unless you can get that.”

“But the creditors are actually given that information because of the loan structure and funding. There could be questions raised about the comfort that KKR could not get because the creditors ultimately wanted the bid.”

“I find this very difficult because it is incredibly serious to get to this stage after 10 weeks—”

“But the creditors were also operating and preparing their own bid alongside KKR. Equally, to have the information that KKR needed, it would have had to speak to the creditors to get the confirmation. So it is like marking its own homework for a bid that then comes out.”

“—and then not be able to get your finances over the board. That is very unusual in this day and age.”

“You said that KKR shared information, so what information was shared? Was it ultimately its DD reports?”

“Well, investment committee, but that is serious, and I do not think that is just politics alone, if I am being honest.”

“I appreciate that because I completely understand that need for exclusivity and that that is what KKR would want. They want that 10-week period; it is quite common in legal transactions. I have seen that before. What I do not quite understand is once that period ended, why did you not just reopen it and give the other …”

“I have a very quick question. I understand your explanation about the penalties and the doom loop, but did the KKR bid include paying those penalties and have the creditors built in paying these penalties as part of their bid?”

“Members across the House will be familiar with the winter of discontent. In 1979—the year our Chancellor was born—the Labour Government were at the behest of their union paymasters, and refuse piled up across the country. Fast-forward 46 years: we are a year into the Chancellor’s term of office, and we have before us a…”

“I can certainly give you more. The Minister and Government Members rarely want to listen, but I raise these points on behalf of my constituents, who have asked me to do this. I implore the Government: if they want growth, they must take this summer to think again about how to achieve it, or it will be an autumn of angu…”