EUROTUNNEL, the heavily indebted operator of the Channel Tunnel, yesterday appointed a veteran French transport executive to run the day-to-day running of the operation.

Jean-Pierre Trotignon, 54, has been appointed to allow Jacques Gounon, Eurotunnel’s chairman and chief executive, to concentrate on a debt restructuring that is crucial to the company’s future.

M Trotignon, who began his career working in the French government’s transport office, will assume responsibility for infrastructure, passengers, ticket purchasing and staff. M Gounon will continue to oversee the group as a whole, but will spend much of his time attempting to renegotiate Eurotunnel’s £6.4 billion of debts.

M Gounon has said that bankruptcy is inevitable unless he can persuade the company’s creditors to restructure their loans. He has given himself until October to reach an agreement in principle, although this could prove difficult since he has ruled out the debt-for- equity swap favoured by the creditors. If an agreement in principle is reached, it is likely to take a further year to 18 months to finalise the details.

The chairman said: “His (Jean-Pierre Trotignon’s) professional experience in the transport sector, including logistics, public transport and the cross-Channel market, will be a valuable addition to the company’s management team.”

M Trotignon’s career has also included a stint as director of Transdev, a French public transport operator, and as managing director of Ubifrance, which helps French companies to set up and expand overseas.

His appointment will take some of the pressure off M Gounon, who recently assumed the role of chief executive on top of his existing chairmanship and intends to keep both roles for the forseeable future.

Jean-Louis Raymond quit as Eurotunnel’s chief executive in June after falling out with M Gounon following a disagreement over the strategy to rescue the company. M Raymond then threatened to stand against M Gounon for the company’s chairmanship, but pulled out of the contest after Nicolas Miguet, one of his key backers, switched his allegiance to M Gounon. M Raymond was elected as a non-executive director at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in June.

In April last year M Miguet rallied enough shareholder support to oust the entire board and branded the company’s lenders a “bunch of gangsters”.

In the first such victory for small shareholders in French corporate history, Philippe Bourguignon, who had been proposed as the company’s new chairman but not yet accepted by shareholders, was ousted, along with Richard Shirrefs, the chief executive.

One source close to the creditors welcomed the fact that M Trotignon’s appointment would allow Mr Gounon to spend more time renegotiating the debt, but he pointed out that this took him only back to the point in June when the company had a separate chairman and chief executive.

INS AND OUTS

April 6, 2004: Philip Bourguignon, Eurotunnel’s proposed chairman, and Richard Shirrefs, chief executive, ousted

April 22, 2004: Roger Burge resigns suddenly for “personal reasons”

February 18, 2005: Jacques Maillot resigns as chairman, replaced by Jacques Gounon

June 10, 2005: Jean-Louis Raymond quits as chief executive after falling out with M Gounon, who assumes M Raymond’s role

June 15, 2005: M Raymond rejoins board as non-executive director

August 22, 2005: Jean-Pierre Trotignon appointed to new position of chief operating officer

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