The Australian operation has been widely blamed for the crisis at Britain’s biggest water company, but its profits – and its executives’ pay – show no sign of slowing

In the UK it will soon be possible to leave your rented home, travel on a motorway en route to the airport and get on a plane, all of which are leased, owned or managed by Macquarie Group.

But as Macquarie’s reach into the framework of British life expands, it is the plight of one of its former utilities that is drawing attention to the stewardship of the prominent asset manager.