Eurotunnel President Patrick Ponsolle warned that failure to approve a plan to restructure the channel tunnel operator's £8.7 billion debt would force the company to begin bankruptcy proceedings.

Ponsolle issued the statement following an extraordinary general shareholders meeting convened to consider the debt plan. As expected, the meeting did not attract enough shareholders to constitute a quorum, and Eurotunnel will hold a second meeting July 10.

Ponsolle said it was 'a high risk bet' for shareholders to hope that Eurotunnel's creditors would agree to further concessions. If, on July 10, a quorum is obtained and the plan isn't approved, he said the board will have to refer the matter back to the France's Tribunal of Commerce.

'The judicial process which would then ensue, the likely state of insolvency, the probability that the banks will exercise their right of substitution, and the complexity of the bi-national judicial and political situation would, I am convinced, have irremediable adverse consequences for the company and for shareholders,' the president said.

Ponsolle's warning of the risk of bankruptcy comes in the face of increased pressure from minority shareholder groups.

Under the debt restructuring plan, Eurotunnel's creditor banks would write down £2 billion of Eurotunnel's junior debt and unpaid interest, and lower interest rates on the remainder in exchange for a large stake in the company.

However, some investor groups are calling for a bigger debt writedown and measures that would preserve their voting rights once current shareholdings are diluted.

Ponsolle reiterated that the debt plan on the table 'is not only the best possible in the circumstances, but also the only one that could have been negotiated