One oft-proven way to make money is to pick up a few gems among a pile of discarded mining rubble.

In the case of the UK, an investment fund is offering a similar opportunity – this time to pick up some profits from investing in a few companies in the disaster that is the English water industry.

Since its privatisation the industry has avoided investing in infrastructure; pumped pollution on to beaches and into rivers and streams; sucked out huge dividends; and, saddled water companies with huge debts.

Australia’s own Macquarie was a leading exponent of this and wrecked Thames Water leaving heavily polluted beaches, streams and rivers behind it.

The incoming Labour Government has promised to nationalise much of the industry and will no doubt think of some way to claw back some ill-gotten gains. Clawing back any of the latter may be hard, but a creative government might think about various ways to make that possible. Moreover, as some companies are heading into bankruptcy the price will be derisory at best.

Of course, if they do we will hear shrieks about sovereign risk from industry but that will be overwhelmed by cheers from the public.

The investment company spruiking the opportunities is ClearBridge, part of the Franklin Templeton Investment Corp, which manages US$187.billion in assets globally.

A media release about the ‘opportunity’ was headlined “Political turmoil and........

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