Eurotunnel banks hold fire
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Eurotunnel's lead bankers have worked out contingency plans based on eventualities from outright collapse to continuing present lending plans. A banker close to the company said: "We have a list of scenarios from the totally desperate to giving Eurotunnel a blank cheque."
The leading banks plan to monitor Eurotunnel's performance over the summer. The City expects some form of financial restructuring but the banks say it is too early to tell.
Banking sources said the lead banks had not put restructuring proposals of any sort either to Eurotunnel or the syndicate of its 220 lenders.
At the preliminary profits announcement last month, the syndicate agreed a further pounds 300m loan to take the project through to October.
Eurotunnel denied there had been any deterioration in performance since. "We are carrying more cars and freight than we expected to carry at this stage when we made our preliminary announcement."
A banking source said the outcome was "very dependent on what kind of summer the tunnel has. The banks will look not merely at the financial side. Almost more important to the banks is the operations - their efficiency, reliability and whet-her they have the necessary capacity in place."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments