Eurotunnel challenges its tormentor

Eurotunnel v Miguet in court

THREE judges sit today in Paris to decide whether Eurotunnel's tormentor Nicolas Miguet speaks for holders of 5% of its shares.

They will also consider whether the right-wing publisher's demand that the court appoint a legal officer to require Eurotunnel to convene a general meeting is farfelu (hare-brained).

The hearing could make or break the three-month campaign by Miguet and his ally, Joseph Gouranton of the French small shareholders' association Adacte, to have the board replaced.

Today's hearing comes after Eurotunnel rejected their demand for an extraordinary meeting, which holders of 5% of the equity can require, and amid mounting bitterness between the company and the shareholder activists.

An action for defamation against Miguet by chief executive Richard Shirrefs is scheduled to be heard in January.