EUROTUNNEL NEEDS CAPITAL INCREASE BY END JULY, BENARD SAYS
French channel
tunnel consortium, needs to launch its planned 7.7-billion
franc third stage capital increase by end July to cover ongoing
project costs, French co-chairman Andre Benard said today.
    If the proposed public share offering was delayed beyond
then, Eurotunnel would have to find bridging finance, he told
reporters during a visit by French parliamentarians to the
construction site of the French tunnel terminal.
    Early elections in Britain could cause such a delay, he
noted.
    Britain's lower house of Parliament last month passed a
bill endorsing the construction of the 50-km (31-mile) tunnel.
The bill still needs approval of the upper house of Lords.
    Benard said the consortium had decided after lengthy
discussion to issue an identical mix of securities in the
London and Paris markets, but details of the precise package
had still to be decided.
    The offering would comprise approximately three billion
francs in each market with another 1.5 billion offered in the
United States, Japan and other European markets. Timing will be
set to take account of the French privatisation program.
   Earlier this month a Eurotunnel official said the
ratification bill should go before the National Assembly (lower
house) early next month before passing to the Senate (upper
house) at the end of May.
    Eurotunnel officials expect work on the sites to start in
December or January. The tunnel should be completed by 1993 for
an overall cost of 50 billion francs.
 REUTER
