Through a corporate transaction engineered by Parsons Behle & Latimer (Parsons), client Navajo Transitional Energy Company LLC, (NTEC) received bankruptcy court approval Aug. 19, 2019, to purchase all of the mining assets of Cloud Peak Energy Company Inc. (Cloud Peak).
Cloud Peak assets include the Powder River Basin, Wyoming Antelope and Cordero Rojo mines, which are the third-and fifth-largest coal mines in the country, respectively. NTEC will also purchase the Spring Creek mine in Montana. The assets will be acquired free of significant debt burdens they are currently carrying as they are being purchased out of bankruptcy. Between the three mines and its Denver administrative office, Cloud Peak employs approximately 1,200 people. The transaction will make NTEC the third-largest coal producer in the country.
Nora R. Pincus, Parsons’ lead attorney on the project says, “We are very pleased to have successfully represented NTEC in the aggressive auction process that led to the bankruptcy court’s approval to purchase the assets of Cloud Peak. The purchase will empower NTEC to efficiently run these mines while saving hundreds of jobs. Our client’s philosophy of environmental stewardship and effective business practices will ensure the responsible use of these natural resources now and in the future.”
The Parsons team included Bruce H. White and Michael R. Brown, who provided strategic guidance on the bankruptcy and corporate structuring aspects of the transaction, Kevin W. Johnson, who handled the significant mining and operations issues and Shane L. Hanna, who handled many of the core corporate transaction matters.
Since 1882, Parsons has been a legal service leader in the mining industry, and today, is one of the most experienced natural resource management and corporate transaction law firms in the U.S.
NTEC is a wholly-owned limited liability company of the Navajo Nation, which owns and operates the Navajo Mine, located on the Navajo Nation, south of Farmington, New Mexico. NTEC’s mission, emphasizes being a reliable, safe producer of coal while diversifying the Nation’s energy resources to create economic and environmental sustainability for the Navajo people. The Navajo Mine has been supplying coal to the Four Corners Power Plant for the past 50 years.
Timothy McLaughlin NTEC Management Committee Chairperson said in a statement, “Since NTEC was created, we have shown that we can not only improve operations, become financially successful and support job growth but also balance economic development and environmental protection.”
The transaction is expected to close during October 2019.
Media contact:
Dana Robinson
Marketing and Communications Manager
Parsons Behle & Latimer
Phone: 801.536.6647 Mobile: 801.541.4625
drobinson@parsonsbehle.com
