LONDON, Dec 10 Reuters Britain39;s Thames Water said its equity raise was progressing, the next stage of a rescue plan after it secures a 3 billion pound 3.83 billion facility to help it survive into the new year, as it published halfyear results.

The water supplier, the country39;s biggest, has close to 18 billion pounds of debt and is fast running out of cash after its current owners refused to stump up new money earlier in the year, putting the government on standby for nationalisation.

Chief Executive Chris Weston said the company was making progress with its turnaround plan and its posted an improvement in profit, but its environmental performance was worse.

We39;ve reached key milestones in establishing a more stable financial platform, agreeing a liquidity extension transaction proposal and progressing our equity raise process, he said on Tuesday.

While the 3 billion pound lifeline offered to Thames by a group of creditors in October will temporarily stabilise its finances, its longterm future depends on it securing new equity and restructuring its debt.

A competitive process is underway aimed at raising the 3.25 billion pounds of equity Thames Water needs to fund investments to 2030. British financial investor Covalis Capital and France39;s Suez Group are amongst the bidders.

For the six months to the end of September, Thames Water posted underlying earnings EBITDA of 715 million pounds, up 14 partly a result of better cost discipline.

On the worsening…