Cloud Peak Plans Bankruptcy Filing in Delaware -- Sources
4:21 pm ET May 7, 2019 (Dow Jones) Print
By Soma Biswas
Coal mining company Cloud Peak Energy Inc. is planning to file for bankruptcy in Delaware this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Gillette, Wyo., company failed to make two interest payments on two separate notes and entered into a forbearance agreement with a bondholder group that was extended to May 7. The company also has warned previously that a bankruptcy filing was possible.
After missing a $1.8 million coupon payment on March 15, and starting talks with a bondholder group, Cloud Peak also elected not to make a payment of more than $17 million on May 1, according to regulatory filings.
The company, which has faced lower demand for its coal in recent years, slashed its 2019 estimates for earnings and cash flow.
Cloud Peak is the latest in a series of thermal coal producers, which mine coal used by power plants, to file for bankruptcy or begin restructuring talks with creditors.
The expected chapter 11 filing will come weeks after Westmoreland Coal Co., a thermal coal producer, emerged from bankruptcy protection. Another bankrupt mining company, Kingsport, Tenn.-based Mission Coal Co., recently sold two of its mines to Murray Energy Corp.
Cloud Peak hired a number of restructuring advisers last year, including law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP and investment bank Centerview Partners. Another mining company, privately owned Blackhawk Mining LLC, recently also hired Centerview and has started restructuring talks with its lenders, according to people familiar with the matter.
Debtwire first reported the news of talks between Blackhawk Mining and its lenders.
Murray Energy, controlled by Robert Murray, a vocal proponent of the coal industry, restructured its debt stack last year, pushing out the repayment date on $2.7 billion in debt to 2021 and beyond.
Neither Cloud Peak nor Blackhawk Mining returned calls for comment.
Write to Soma Biswas at soma.biswas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2019 16:21 ET (20:21 GMT)
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