Eurotunnel debtholders, suppliers approve restructuring; binding financing proposals submitted

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Nov. 27 - Eurotunnel SA said holders of 72% of its senior and junior debt and all voting suppliers approved its restructuring plan put forward under the French Safeguard procedure, according to a company news release.

In addition, Eurotunnel said it has received binding proposals from Citigroup and a consortium comprised of Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to finance the restructuring plan.

The company said the proposals will be analyzed by its advisers and then its audit committee before being put to the board of directors for approval.

The senior and junior debt vote was held Monday in a meeting of the creditors' financial establishments committee, and 28 of the 35 creditors present or represented voted in favor of the proposal.

According to the release, the majority approval was obtained in spite of the abstention by some hedge funds, which had unsuccessfully contested their inclusion in the financial establishments committee as constituted by the Paris Commercial Court.

These votes will be followed by a vote of the company's bondholders before the middle of December.

"The result of the [senior and junior debtholders'] ballot demonstrates that the proposed plan is the best balance possible between shareholders and creditors and that it was not possible to ask the creditors, who have already agreed to reduce Eurotunnel's debt by more than half, to go any further," Eurotunnel chairman and chief executive Jacques Gounon said in the release.

Eurotunnel's creditors have approved a realistic and balanced plan which will, at last, allow the company's performances to be seen in their true context and which will permit Eurotunnel to develop from a solid base."

Eurotunnel is the Paris-based operator of the Channel Tunnel.

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