Arch Coal, in a bid to shed 4.5 BILLION in debt, files for bankruptcy

[cali]

Arch Coal Files for Bankruptcy: Will Taxpayers Be Left Holding the Bag for Millions in Cleanup Costs?

Today, Arch Coal, the nation’s second-largest coal producer, filed for bankruptcy. The news comes after Arch Coal missed a debt payment on Dec. 15, 2015, triggering a 30-day countdown to a Chapter 11 filing. Arch was recently served with a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange after its trading priced dropped to less than one dollar per share.

The news is the latest in a series of blows to the coal industry. Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot coal and Walter Energy have all filed for bankruptcy protection recently. Fitch Ratings says that Peabody—the nation’s biggest coal company—could be next.

Arch aims to restructure $4.5 billion worth of debt. Its stock price has fallen 99 percent over the last year. In November, it reported a $2.1 billion third quarter loss. Like most existing major U.S. coal companies, Arch made massive and ill-advised acquisitions at the zenith of the coal market, paying $3.4 billion for International Coal Group in 2011.

Let’s hope that Arch employees and their families don’t endure the same fate as those of Patriot coal, which was spun off by Peabody largely as a way to get rid of “legacy” obligations like pensions.

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http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/11/arch-coal/

[Human101948]

1. Well, somebody made out like a bandit in this deal...

Looks like they bought a steaming pile of slag--

Arch Coal to Buy International Coal for
$3.4 Billion
By Chris V. Nicholson May 2, 2011 8:15 am
6:40 p.m. | Updated
Arch Coal said on Monday that it would buy the International Coal Group for
$3.4 billion in cash, creating one of the world’s largest coal producers.
The deal is largely a bet on steel: the combined company would be the
second­biggest producer of metallurgical coal in the United States at a time
when prices for such steel­making coal are rising thanks to demand from
China and India. The biggest producer of steel­making coal is Alpha Natural
Resources, which outbid Arch Coal earlier this year to acquire Massey Energy
for $7.1 billion in cash and stock.

The deal is also something of a vindication for Wilbur L. Ross Jr., who
founded International Coal. The investor, known for his willingness to plunge
into distressed industries, acquired assets out of bankruptcy from the mining
company Horizon Natural Resources in 2004. From that, he cobbled together
International Coal from a series of acquisitions. The company went public in
December 2005 at $11 a share. Mr. Ross holds a 6 percent of the company,
having halved his stake late last year.

Arch is offering $14.60 for every International Coal share, a premium of
32 percent to I.C.G.’s closing stock price on Friday.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/arch-coal-to-acquire-icg-in-3-4-billion-deal/

[pampango]

2. "Yet one thing that will certainly suffer is the company’s ability to meet its obligations to

reclaim land despoiled by mining. As Arch Coal begins the bankruptcy process, regulators and elected officials must do more to guarantee taxpayers are not left holding the bag for hundreds of millions of dollars in clean-up costs at Arch’s coal mines, which have scarred the landscape, damaged critical watersheds and added to the carbon pollution problems the administration is working hard to address.

Now is the time to reform America’s coal program. We need to align our nation’s long-term energy supply decisions with our climate objectives. And that means managing our federal lands—held in the public trust—to prioritize clean energy, not opening new areas to more fossil fuel extraction that digs the carbon hold deeper while degrading our natural heritage."