The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

CLF sells portion of coal business for $175M in cash:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cliffs-natural-resources-inc-enters-110000977.html

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Logan County Coal assets in southern West Virginia to Coronado Coal II LLC for US$175 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. Cliffs anticipates using the cash proceeds from the sale for debt repayment.

…Cliffs other U.S. coal assets, Oak Grove mine in Alabama and Pinnacle mine in West Virginia, are unaffected by this transaction. The Company stated that it will continue to explore sale options for its other coal assets. The $175M sale per se won’t make much difference, but this is a start. The Oak Grove and Pinnacle mines should garner a larger sale price than Logan County.

The accounting for the Logan County sale will result in a capital loss of $375-$425M (pre-tax) to be booked in 4Q14.