On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:17:58 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:45:44 GMT, Stefan Patric
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:23:57 -0700, Hatunen wrote:


It is also possible for the owner company to declare bankruptcy under
the laws of the applicable nation, therby shedding some of the
original debt, and/or restructuring that debt, but still functioning
at a loss. YMMV on al this, of course, depending on the creativity of
yoru accountants.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=153&sid=3034111

Now, we know: Eurotunnel posted its first profitable year in 2007 after
13 years of operation.

Yes, "its first annual net profit, less than a year after the company
nearly drowned in debt."

And after a debt restructuring deal:

"Eurotunnel lurched from one debt crisis to another until it reached a
restructuring deal with shareholders last year allowing it to cut its
9.2 billion euros debt to 4.16 billion euros ($14.44 billion to ($6.53
billion) by repaying banks in the form of shares."

Which "...halved Eurotunnel's debt and saved it from bankruptcy"

and which " ... created a new company, Groupe Eurotunnel SA, and diluted
existing shareholders' stake to 13 percent. The vast bulk of the debt

[snip]

Although Eurotunel didn't declare bankruptcy, as I suggested above, it
did come so close that it scared its creditors into taking less than
owed, and basically screwed the small investors.

I'm glad that Prime Minister Thatcher mandated that the British half of
the project be privately financed--no public money. (This wasn't a
public works project, after all.) Couldn't find any info on whether the
French used government funds or not.

However, now the question is: Can Eurotunnel be profitable two years in
a row? ;-)

Stef