Eurotunnel has received a 72% margin of support for its latest debt restructuring plan which it claims has saved the company from possible liquidation.

The Anglo-French Channel Tunnel operator still owes a mighty ?4.2bn (E.6.2bn) to 54 creditors following the huge debts that went with building the Channel Tunnel in the run up to its opening in 1994. Passenger numbers have also failed to meet the original forecasts, so limiting the ability of Eurotunnel to service this debt.
Currently the company is under the protection of a semi-quasi European version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow it to present new financing plans. Without this, it could have liquidated and its licence terminated.
Under the new deal, existing shareholders will have a minimum 13% stake in a new company that will make an offer for Eurotunnel's shares early next year.
The new firm Groupe Eurotunnel, will be bolstered by a long-term loan of ?2.84bn ($5.5bn) from a consortium of banks, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.
‘It is now time for Eurotunnel to be reborn and become a new company,’ said Eurotunnel chairman and chief executive Jacques Gounon. ‘Eurotunnel can finally emerge from the rut in which it has been for over 20 years.’
While there has been much posturing over solving this debt question and Eurotunnel still has to calm concerns with its bond holders, analysts say it would be unthinkable that the French or UK governments would ever allow the operation to cease.