Cash-strapped Thames Water is seeking to strike a deal with its regulator to avoid a fine of £104 million ($133 million) for polluting rivers, Bloomberg News reported. Industry regulator Ofwat said the utility released raw sewage from wastewater treatment works for years without permission. It also fined Yorkshire Water £47 million and Northumbrian Water £17 million for similar failures at treatment plants.

The universities regulator has announced a contract of up to £4mn for professional services companies to manage a potential wave of insolvencies, as the sector faces a looming funding crisis, the Financial Times reported. The Office for Students (OfS) announced the tender last week after education secretary Bridget Phillipson made it clear that the government will not bail out universities despite warnings from university leaders that several institutions are already on the brink of insolvency.

Bank of Montreal has sold about £300 million ($383 million) of Thames Water’s senior debt at an almost 30% discount, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian lender sold a mix of the utility firm’s senior debt, including bilateral loans and privately placed debt, split across Class A instruments with different maturities. The debt was sold for a little over 70% of its face value, following an auction process with a reserve price of 65%, which closed on Friday, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.

Parents of children who attended a nursery which closed without notice have said they are owed hundreds of pounds and have had to find alternative childcare, BBC.com reported. Capellas in Balsall Common closed its doors in the middle of June. Staff told the BBC that they had not been paid, and they had no idea if it was coming. The nursery's director, Martin Wallbank, said that the closure was due to financial pressures, and that all parents would receive owed payments through the insolvency process. He added that payments were also being made to staff pensions.

U.K. retail footfall levels slipped in July, when consumers shifted their spending to holidays and leisure activities from shopping, according to a study, the Wall Street Journal reported. The number of visits to stores—comprising high-street shops, retail parks and shopping centers—for the four weeks ended July 27 fell 3.3% from the same period a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.3% decline in June, according to data from British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic Solutions IQ published Friday. The fall marked the 12th consecutive month of decline in U.K. store visits.

A senior member of the Barclay family, which owns The Telegraph, has struck a confidential settlement with a leading private bank to avoid the threat of bankruptcy, The Telegraph reported. According to court filings, Investec has dropped a legal claim against Alistair Barclay after months of wrangling over almost £1m in unpaid debts. The settlement was submitted to the High Court in late July, two days before Mr Barclay was expected to appear before a judge. Details of the agreement have been kept private.

The Bank of England cut interest rates from a 16-year high on Thursday after a narrow vote in favour from policymakers divided over whether inflation pressures had eased sufficiently, Reuters reported. Governor Andrew Bailey - who led the 5-4 decision to lower rates by a quarter-point to 5% - said the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee would move cautiously going forward. "We need to make sure make sure inflation stays low, and be careful not to cut interest rates too quickly or by too much," he said in a statement alongside the decision.

Thames Water may be put into a special turnaround regime within months, a process that could lead to the break up of Britain’s largest water company, Bloomberg News reported. The industry’s chief regulator is considering accelerating its so-called Turnaround Oversight Regime, to try to prevent the collapse of the debt-laden utility. The regulator will closely monitor Thames, which is in crisis after shareholders halted new equity injections in March and its parent company defaulted on its debts.

Banca Generali SpA won a U.K. court ruling in a dispute arising out of €344 million ($373 million) worth of securitizations it bought from a trade finance firm, Bloomberg News reported. The Italian wealth manager has the power to remove and replace CFE Advisory Services as the agent in charge of dealings with the noteholders, the UK’s Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday. The wealth manager, representing the senior noteholders, was in a dispute with issuer Sovereign Credit Opportunities SA and CFE over attempts to appoint its own agent.

Stonegate Pubs, the UK’s biggest pub operator, is starting a large debt refinancing with a bond sale and a £250 million cash injection from its private equity owner TDR Capital. The company is selling the equivalent of around £2.1 billion ($2.7 billion) in bonds, which will be split between sterling fixed-rate and euro floating-rate senior secured notes, according to a person familiar with the matter. Only about £670 million will be marketed by banks led by Barclays Plc. The rest is to be bought by existing investors.