(Bloomberg) -- Castle Water Ltd. and KKR & Co. have been invited to provide more detail on their bids as the process for owning the debt-laden utility Thames Water progresses, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The US alternative asset manager and water firm Castle have been asked to submit revised bids this week, the people said. Both have previously put forward non-binding offers to inject around £4 billion ($5.1 billion) into Thames Water to help turn around the utility, Bloomberg News has reported.

The offer from infrastructure investor Covalis Capital, who is also a junior creditor of Thames, is currently less favored by Thames Water, some of the people said.

Rothschild & Co. has been trying to find a new owner for Thames Water for months, but the process has been complicated by the firm’s immediate need for liquidity and a restructuring of its debt pile of over £16 billion. Without the fresh cash injection, the UK’s largest water and sewage company risks plunging into special administration — a state-supervised process akin to insolvency designed for bankrupt businesses that provide critical services.

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no guarantee a transaction will happen, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Representatives for Castle Water, Rothschild, Thames Water, Covalis and KKR declined to comment.

Both KKR and Castle Water are looking to own a majority stake in the utility without selling any assets, Bloomberg reported. In contrast, Covalis has put forward a £5 billion bid, of which around £1 billion would be injected upfront, before raising another £4 billion from asset sales, refinancing and the listing.

CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. is also considering taking a majority stake in Thames Water and has held discussions with the utility outside the official Rothschild-run process, the people said. The Hong Kong-based company, which owns Northumbrian Water alongside KKR, hasn’t made any formal offer, the people said. A representative for CKI couldn’t provide immediate comment.

Last week, the cash-strapped company bought itself more time to fix its balance sheet after a London judge approved an emergency loan worth as much as £3 billion, which will come from existing senior creditors. That will allow Thames Water to keep operating beyond the end of March, when it has said it would run out of cash. The emergency loan is only a temporary measure, while an equity investment would come following talks with creditors as part of a long-term solution for the utility.

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--With assistance from Lucca de Paoli and Giulia Morpurgo.

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