General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

I did pay close attention to the Channel tunnel build, because at the time I was doing a Post Grad Course concerning corporate financing and management accounting. It was one of the case studies we encountered.

Mrs Thatcher announced all would be funded by private investment.

There was a massive demand for shares, amplified by the travel perks shareholders would qualify for.

However, it took no time for the shareholders' investment to be wiped out. Costs far exceeded projections, and leverage (loans from banks) soon left the shareholders as a very minority owners.

When later, to improve the projects indebtedness, banks converted long term loans into shares, the existing shareholders saw their holdings further diluted in value.

The, in theory, no use of public funds has to be seen alongside of sweetheart deals which the government did with banks to secure their cooperation.

As this information was deemed to be a commercial secret, we never know how much money was involved.

The final major beneficial owners were Goldman and Deutsche Bank.

As I have already said: political decisions. Look in detail at any of the large projects, and you will find things are fudged to get the outcome desired by whomsoever is wielding power at the time.