A lot can happen in five years. Rewind to early 2013 and Severn Trent was trying to remain independent, under siege from the Canadians. The LongRiver consortium, led by pensions giant Borealis, was trying to buy the water utility for up to £5.3bn.
How shareholders must rue the day its board rejected LongRiver’s final £22-a-share offer. Severn Trent faces very different challenges today: a Labour Party that wants to renationalise it; a water regulator and environment secretary bent on clamping down on outsized returns; and rising interest rates.
Its stock has plummeted from its lofty level of almost £25 a share a year ago, though it has staged a recent rally.
At £20.88 a share, the company’s £4.9bn valuation puts it dangerously close to relegation