Thames Water’s creditors, a gang of 100 institutional investors holding about £14bn of the company’s senior debt, are reportedly willing to pursue their bid for the debt-laden utility even if the probable next prime minister, Andy Burnham, drags it into temporary nationalisation. Because nothing says ‘sound investment’ like fighting the government for a company drowning in £17.6bn of debt.

The group, which includes heavy hitters like Elliott Investment Management, Apollo Global Management, Silver Point Capital, BlackRock, and M&G, is still chewing over a £10bn rescue proposal with regulator Ofwat. But Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds already shot down the plan in mid-June, calling it an “undue burden” on consumers - pushing the UK’s biggest water company closer to a special administration regime (SAR), aka temporary nationalisation.

Creditors, however, see SAR as a process, not a solution, and want to buy Thames back out of it. Because who wouldn't want to inherit a company that serves 16 million customers and is buckling under debt run up since privatisation? Burnham, who’s expected to enter Downing Street within two weeks, has called for “greater public control” over Thames, possibly meaning nationalisation.

Thames has been teetering on the brink for nearly three years and could run out of cash by October. The creditors’ rescue plan would inject £3.35bn of new equity and £3.25bn of fresh debt, while sparing Thames from pollution fines for four years - a nice deal for a company that’s been dumping sewage into rivers.

Other potential bidders, like Hong Kong’s CK Infrastructure Holdings and Castle Water, are cheering for an SAR, hoping to snap up the utility at a discount. The government previously recovered nearly the full cost of nationalising energy provider Bulb by selling it to Octopus for £3bn, so there’s precedent for this sort of thing.

A Thames Water spokesperson said the company is working with all parties to ensure “long-term financial stability” and “uninterrupted delivery” of its biggest infrastructure upgrade in 150 years. Because nothing says stability like a debt pile taller than the Shard.