Eurotunnel receives bank offers

The operator of the English channel rail link gets offers to restructure its debt.

eurotunnel
Eurotunnel has been beset by financial problems

Interest reduction

 

In August this year, a Paris court granted Eurotunnel protection from its creditors, giving it six months to find a solution to its $11.8bn debt burden.

 

Eurotunnel will present the long-awaited restructuring plan to creditors for a vote on Monday.

 

John Keefe, a Eurotunnel spokesman, said: “The important thing is that now two of the biggest banking groups of the world want to back the restructuring deal.

 

“This will allow us to reduce interest payments to below £150m [$289.8m] a year.”

 

The offers will be studied by the Anglo-French company’s advising banks and its audit committee before being submitted for board approval, Keefe said.

 

Eurotunnel has faced financial problems since the launch of the channel tunnel project the late 1980s.

 

The costs of digging the 50km tunnel were underestimated and traffic through the tunnel has been far lower than Eurotunnel forecasted.

Source: News Agencies