Funding boost from Sweden for Yorkshire Water as The Guardian reports that EQT, a Swedish private equity group, is taking a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent company of Yorkshire Water. This would make it the company’s joint owner.
EQT said part of the deal would involve contributing to a £600m “inter-company loan repayment” that is due before March 2027, while it was “fully supportive” of spending plans to clean up Yorkshire’s record on sewage spillages. According to its website the group has already invested in four British plants that burn household and commercial rubbish to generate electricity.
The deal comes as Yorkshire Water faces mounting scrutiny and criticism over its environmental record, executive pay and charges to consumers. Last month it was fined £700,000 for releasing sewage repeatedly into a stream. A succession of sewage pollution incidents in Pools Brook country park near Chesterfield from 2018 killed fish and insects and polluted the stream for more than half a mile, the Environment Agency found in February.
Last year the Guardian revealed that Nicola Shaw, its chief executive, had received £1.3m in previously undisclosed extra pay since 2023 via the offshore parent company. Shaw was given £660,000 from Kelda in the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 financial years, and the size of the fees was not disclosed in the company’s annual report.
In February it was announced that the government was to close loopholes which allow heads of failing water companies to continue to receive large bonuses despite a ban passed last year, The Guardian further reported that bosses of companies that illegally dumped sewage into England’s rivers and seas, including Yorkshire’s Shaw, had been paid millions in bonuses despite the ban. MPs have said the loopholes allowed companies to get around the bonus ban by labelling payments differently or paying bosses through linked companies.
From April, Yorkshire Water consumers can expect their bills to rise by an average of 6% taking the average annual bill to £636. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.0% in the 12 months to January 2026.