Eurotunnel operates shuttle services and manages the tunnel

The comment was made by a spokeswoman of the troubled firm after an initial count of shareholder votes to decide its fate at its AGM on Wednesday.

Shareholders are voting whether to keep the board, or oust chief executive Richard Shirrefs and other executives.

BBC correspondent Hugh Pym said sources close to Eurotunnel had conceded defeat in the battle with rebel shareholders.

Final vote

He said that based on votes already cast before the shareholder meeting, a campaign to oust the existing directors has succeeded.

"Chances of (the board) staying in power are quite slim," company spokeswoman Mady Chabrier said.

The company says leaders of the shareholder revolt have won proxy votes representing more than 20.0% of its capital ahead of a general meeting Wednesday, compared to 8.3% for the current management.

Together with the proxy votes, the shareholders who have voted by correspondence and those registered to attend the meeting represent a total of 39% of Eurotunnel's capital, the company said.

But the final participation figure is likely to be higher since some shareholders who plan to attend the meeting have not registered, it added.

However, it appears a large number of so-far undeclared shareholders would have to travel to the meeting, north of Paris, to save the board.

Debt payments

The operator of the tunnel ran into financial trouble because rail passenger numbers have fallen far short of optimistic predictions made when it was opened ten years ago.

The company has struggled to pay interest on debts of �6.4bn.

A group of French investors, led by maverick journalist, investor, and would-be politician Nicolas Miguet, have been angered by the plunge in the value of the share price.

Mr Miguet, and colleagues in pressure group Adacte, have also been angered at the Eurotunnel board's failure to clear the company's debts, and the need to pay interest on that debt for years to come.

He has led a campaign to sack the board and put in their own candidates, while at the same time calling for an increase in representation for smaller shareholders at the helm of the company.

Rebel retail shareholders won a court case last December forcing Eurotunnel to let shareholders vote on whether to keep management they blame for taking the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

State aid forbidden

Eurotunnel shareholders have seen their investment lose some 90% of its value since the shares were launched in 1987.

But Eurotunnel has warned investors that the attempt by Mr Miguet and his colleagues to unseat the board would threaten their entire investment and risks putting the company in the hands of its creditors.

The UK's National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has also criticised Adacte, saying it had failed to demonstrate an understanding of Eurotunnel's business and legal structure.

It said the rebels' proposal to involve the UK and French governments in helping the company's recovery ignored the fact that Eurotunnel's founding treaty barred it from seeking state aid.