Thames Water on road to state rescue amid investor standoff with Ofwat

After regulator resists 40% increase in bills, shareholders deny request for more money - raising prospect of nationalisation

Who will win in standoff between Thames's investors and watchdog?

Thames Water appears to be on the road to nationalisation after its investors signalled they were unwilling to pump more money into the debt-laden utilities company, amid a standoff with the regulator and the government over raising customers' bills.

Britain's biggest water supplier said on Thursday its shareholders had refused to provide 500m of emergency funding due this week to secure the company's short-term cashflow.