Eurotunnel has signalled an end to its credit difficulties with a €1.7 billion (£1.3 billion) cash call that would enable it to pay off junior creditors early.

The surprise decision to tap the markets by the Channel Tunnel operator comes after a surge in travellers using the Shuttle and the Eurostar service from London to Paris.

Eurotunnel, which was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2006, told investors yesterday that it would become profitable by the end of this year, two years earlier than planned, for the first time in 11 years of operations.

“This is a credit crisis, not of cash but of liquidity, and we are a really attractive company,” Jacques Gounon, the chief executive, said. “We are delivering what we said we would deliver and we are doing it much more quickly than forecast.”

The group slashed its debts from £6.2 billion to £2.84 billion in 2006, when it completed a controversial financial restructuring under which investors saw their shares diluted to 13 per cent of the equity.

Mr Gounon was under pressure to repay a £1.275 billion convertible bond held by junior creditors before it converted to shares this summer. Capital markets had appeared closed to the company, which needed to begin fundraising this month if it was to give sufficient notice to creditors. Until yesterday Mr Gounon had insisted that he was not under pressure to raise funds and would prefer to wait until the markets had recovered.

The first part of the fundraising, for €800 million, will begin today. It is fully underwritten by Goldman Sachs’s infrastructure fund. The second part, designed to raise €900 million through a traditional rights issue, should take place in June.

Raising capital now would save €68 million a year in interest payments. It would also mean that when the convertibles become shares in 18 months, shareholders will have 30 per cent of the equity. The second phase of the fundraising should lift their stake to between 30 and 45 per cent.

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said: “Mr Gounon has always said that it was one of his goals to get as much of the company back for shareholders as possible. The company has traded much better than expected and this was an ideal opportunity to do that.”

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