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Patriot Coal Receives Court Approval for $802 Million Interim Financing
Jul. 12, 2012 Patriot Coal Corporation, a producer and marketer of coal products in the eastern U.S., announced that the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted Patriot interim approval of its $802 million debtor-in-possession financing (DIP) from Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Barclays Bank PLC, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated as joint lead arrangers, and granted Patriot interim authorization to access immediately $677 million of the DIP financing. The DIP financing and cash from the company's ongoing operations will provide Patriot with financial flexibility to operate its business in the ordinary course, including funding post-petition payments to suppliers and meeting other customary business obligations, during the reorganization process.
In addition, the Bankruptcy Court granted interim authorization for Patriot to continue to pay wages and provide health care and other benefits to employees, use existing cash management systems, and take certain other actions to help ensure that Patriot's mining operations and customer shipments continue in the ordinary course.
As previously announced, Patriot Coal and substantially all of its wholly owned subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on July 9, 2012. The case has been assigned to the Honorable Shelley C. Chapman.
Patriot Coal Corporation is a producer and marketer of coal in the eastern U.S., with 12 active mining complexes in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin. It ships to domestic and international electricity generators, industrial users and metallurgical coal customers, and controls approximately 1.9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.