UK’s Thames Water faces new crisis after shareholders refuse to invest

LONDON (Reuters) -Thames Water, Britain's biggest water utility, said shareholders had refused to stump up a promised 500 million pounds of equity, heightening concerns about its survival, after it failed to agree future bills and conditions with the regulator. Thames Water said in a statement on Thursday that it was "business as usual" for the company, seeking to reassure its 16 million customers after a year of speculation that it could collapse under the weight of its more than 14 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) of debt. "Discussions with Ofwat (the regulator) and other stakeholders are ongoing," Thames Water said in its statement.