Energy

Coal Miner Alpha Files Chapter 11 Plan

Paul Ausick

Published: March 8, 2016 11:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:14 pm

When coal mining company Alpha Natural Resources filed for bankruptcy in August of 2015, there was no surprise. The only question was how the carnage in the industry itself would affect the company’s bankruptcy process.

Alpha, which now trades over-the-counter under the ticker symbol ANRZQ, filed its reorganization plan Tuesday morning with the bankruptcy court. According to announcement:

[T]hese filings provide for the sale of Alpha’s assets, detail a path toward the resolution of all creditor claims, and anticipate the emergence of a streamlined and sustainable reorganized company able to satisfy its environmental obligations on an ongoing basis. By selling certain assets as a going concern and restructuring the company’s remaining assets into a reorganized Alpha, the company is able to provide maximum recovery to its creditors, while preserving jobs and putting itself in the best position to meet its reclamation obligations. This path will allow for a conclusion of Alpha’s bankruptcy proceedings by June 30, 2016.

The company has received a stalking-horse credit bid of $500 million from the company’s first-lien lenders. The bid includes properties in Wyoming, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Under the plan, remaining unsold assets are set to become part of a reorganized Alpha that will focus “primarily on fulfilling all of the company’s environmental reclamation obligations.” The plan expects that certain of the company’s remaining mines will continue to operate, “adjusting to market conditions and allowing for a phased approach to this work.”

On Tuesday, Alpha’s shares traded just under its Monday closing bid of $0.02 per share in a 52-week range of $0.01 to $1.09.