A DEBT deal to refinance Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel may help management and bank lenders but leaves little value for the long suffering shareholders, debt specialists said yesterday.

Eurotunnel said it would send prospectuses to shareholders next month giving details of a restructuring of its 70 billion francs (£7.7 billion sterling) of bank debt and hoped to get approvals at a meeting in Paris by July 10th.

It earlier announced a 1996 net loss of 6.1 billion francs, one billion francs less than a year ago.

One debt specialist said Eurotunnel technically had no shareholder value as its debts wiped out its "enterprise value". A second debt expert said the complex debt deal took none of the debt away but pushed out payments further into the future.