Eurostar has reached a refinancing agreement with its shareholders and banks.

The refinancing package of £250 million mainly consists of additional equity and loans from a syndicate of banks guaranteed by the shareholders.

Partners include the French state railway group SNCF and Eurostar majority shareholder, Patina Rail.

The latter is a vehicle backed by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and funds managed by the infrastructure team of Federated Hermes.

SNCB, the Belgian state train operator, is also privy to the deal.

Jacques Damas, chief executive of Eurostar, said: “Everyone at Eurostar is encouraged by this strong show of support from our shareholders and banks which will allow us to continue to provide this important service for passengers. 

“The refinancing agreement is the key factor enabling us to increase our services as the situation with the pandemic starts to improve.

“Eurostar will continue to work closely with governments to move towards a safe easing of travel restrictions and streamlining of border processes to allow passengers to travel safely and seamlessly.

“Their co-ordinated actions and decisions are crucial to the restoring of demand and the financial recovery of our business.”

Going forward, Eurostar said its focus will be on restoring demand for travel on core routes between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and on maintaining rigorous cost control to ensure the repayment of loans.

Eurostar will increase the number of trains on its London-Paris route to two daily return services from May 27th, and three per day from the end of June with a view to gradually increasing the frequency over the summer period as travel restrictions are eased.

Damas said: “Over the last year, this international business dedicated to routes connecting the UK with the continent, has experienced a more severe decline in demand resulting from the global Covid-19 pandemic than any other European train operator or competitor airline.

“With this package of support, Eurostar will be able to continue to operate this vital link and meet its financial obligations in the short to mid-term.”