Eurotunnel operates shuttle services as well as tunnel management

The firm which runs the Channel Tunnel has rejected a call from a dissident shareholder to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

Nicholas Miguet, a French journalist, has called the EGM to vote down the Eurotunnel board and replace it with a new one, his second such request in four days.

The financial commentator claims to have support from 17% of shareholders, but Eurotunnel has called his criticisms of the company "a campaign of misinformation".

Mr Miguet has demanded the EGM to protest at the company's level of debt and the interest it is paying to its bankers.

The company warned in July that it was unlikely sales would cover interest on its 7bn euro (�4.9bn) debt this year, despite announcing that it had reduced its debt by �90m over the previous six months.

In a statement rejecting Mr Miguet's call, the company said it had drawn up a clear strategy for reducing its debt and "does not intend to be distracted".

Watchdog notified

Eurotunnel added it was "determined to take all the actions necessary to put an end to this attempt to de-stabilise the company which can only be harmful to both its shareholders and its employees".

Mr Miguet says new management is needed to get rid of Eurotunnel's debts.

He said: "We are paying interest on the debt for the next 30 years, and a new management would talk to the bankers.

"It would say to them 'we will pay the debt at the price that is in your books'."

At the firm's annual general meeting in May, he and a group of other Eurotunnel investors tried to oust management of the heavily indebted company in a vote but were defeated.

Eurotunnel has now complained to the French watchdog Commission des Operation de Bourse (COB), asking them to investigate what it says has been misleading information and manipulation of its share price.

'Advice famous'

Despite his demands, Mr Miguet has been recommending that investors buy Eurotunnel shares, as part of what he says has been general financial advice.

He said: "I am a journalist for a financial paper, without any line of advertisement.

"I selected France Telecom when it was one-fifth of the price it is today. My advice is very famous in France."

Mr Miguet's Adacte group of shareholders claims to have approached Sir Richard Branson as a possible boss of the company.

But a spokesman for the Virgin boss said there had been no approach.

As well as management of the tunnel, Eurotunnel operates car and coach shuttle services between England and France.