Eurotunnel Stock Wins Key Backing of Underwriters

The Anglo-French consortium that plans to build a rail tunnel between Britain and France said Monday that underwriters had agreed to back a crucial stock offering to raise about $1.3 billion.

A spokesman for the consortium, Eurotunnel, said it had found the necessary underwriting for the public issue of stock, clearing a big hurdle in the bid to have the tunnel under the Channel dug and open for traffic by 1993.

The underwriting, in which finance houses from Britain, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States agreed to take up stock not sold in Wednesday’s share launch, means Eurotunnel will be able to draw on an $8.75-billion credit from international banks.

The banks had stipulated that the project would have to show it could raise cash in the stock markets before they would let the company draw on the loan money.