Eurotunnel, the heavily indebted Anglo-French group which operates the Channel tunnel, asked the London, Paris and Brussels stock exchanges to suspend its share trading yesterday. The group has been struggling for more than a year to renegotiate crippling junior debt worth GBP8.1 billion (about HK$97.89 billion) and had appointed mediators Robert Badinter and Lord Wakeham to handle negotiations with Eurotunnel's 225 creditor banks. HSBC Holdings' Midland Bank is among the largest creditors and is one of the 26 agent banks that have been regularly meeting Eurotunnel to work out a debt plan. The extended mandate for Lord Wakeham and Mr Badinter expired this morning (Hong Kong time) and the Paris commercial court, the Tribunal de Commerce, was expected to make a statement soon. Eurotunnel also said it would be making a statement soon and it was understood bankers were still meeting the company.
