Yorkshire Water announces next steps in removal of Cayman Islands companies

Yorkshire Water has taken the next major step in the removal of its Cayman Islands companies with the launch of a public request for consent to its bondholders.

Under the request the bondholders, who provide debt funding to support Yorkshire Water’s capital investment programme, have three weeks to agree to the removal of the companies and the transfer of their debt to a wholly UK based structure.

The Cayman companies were originally created for technical reasons due to the financial structure of the Kelda Group – Yorkshire Water’s parent company. They have always been managed from the UK and UK resident for tax purposes.

The launch of the request has followed a preparation period and recent engagement with bondholders by Yorkshire Water and its advisers and the company is confident of receiving approval.

At the same time, Moody’s and Fitch have put out updates.  Moody’s said that they see this move as beneficial for Yorkshire Water as it finalises its business plans for the next price control period that will be submitted to Ofwat in September.

Liz Barber, Yorkshire Water’s director of finance, markets and regulation, said: “When we announced last October that we’d be removing the Cayman companies from our structure, we acknowledged that this would be a complex process which may take some time. It’s pleasing therefore to get to this point in under a year from the initial announcement as we were determined to make good on our commitment as quickly as we could.”