Split comes despite chair’s preference for deal from group including US hedge funds Elliott Partners and Silver Point plus others

Thames Water’s board is split over two competing deals from its lenders aimed at saving the UK’s biggest water supplier from going insolvent.

Two classes of creditors, group A bondholders and group B bondholders, are offering high-interest £3bn rescue packages intended as a liquidity lifeline while the company burns through cash and seeks to restructure its debts.