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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner James River Coal on Friday revealed that it was exploring and evaluating potential strategic alternatives for the company, which might include a capital investment through debt and/or equity securities, or a sale of all or one or more portions of the company.
In order to launch this process, the Nasdaq-listed company had amended its revolving credit agreement, which would provide it with continued access to funds during the strategic review process.
To assist in the process of identifying, evaluating and pursuing potential strategic alternatives, the company had engaged Perella Weinberg Partners as restructuring adviser, Deutsche Bank Securities as merger and acquisitions adviser and Davis Polk & Wardwell as legal adviser.
James River said that it had not decided to pursue any specific transaction or other strategic alternative.
The company has operations in Central Appalachia and the Illinois basin, and sells metallurgical, bituminous steam and industrial-grade coal to electric utility companies and industrial customers both domestically and internationally.
Last year, the company shuttered several coal mines to cut costs.
In November, it idled four of its Central Appalachian coal mines, as continued weak coal prices haemorrhaged the company’s third-quarter results. The Richmond, Virginia-based company idled two underground and two surface mines at its Buckeye complex, and furloughed about 200 employees and contractors. The company stated that it expected the complex, which produced one-million tons in the first nine months of the year, to restart in 2014 depending on market conditions.
James River in October idled coal production at its McCoy Elkhorn operations, Bledsoe coal operations and Long Branch surface operations, owing to the continued soft coal market.