Struggle for Yorkshire Water in sight after £2bn stake put on the market

A BATTLE for control of Yorkshire Water looks to be on the horizon as a 30% stake of the firm has been placed for sale.

According to the Sunday Times, one of its biggest shareholders, American banking behemoth Citigroup, has put its £2bn stake in the company up for sale.

The utilities firm provides water and sweage treatment to over 4.7m people. It was acquired by a consortium comprising Citigroup and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

New York banking corporation Citi has appointed investment bank Evercore to offload its stake in the £6bn business as the firm’s value has increased substantially since it was acquired by them in 2008.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We are aware of Citi’s decision to review its investment in Kelda.

“It is not unusual for companies to trade their investments.”

Three of Britain’s 18 water companies are left on the market, whilst the rest have been bought by overseas investors.

Earlier this month Yorkshire Water announced it had been given the go-ahead by Ofwat to spend around £3.8bn on improvements to its services and improve the quality of the region’s water supply.

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