Westmoreland chapter 11 plan confirmed
Client(s) Westmoreland Resource Partners, LP
Jones Day represented Westmoreland Resource Partners LP (WMLP) and its debtor-subsidiaries (the WMLP Debtors) and the Conflicts Committee in their chapter 11 cases commenced on October 9, 2018, in the Southern District of Texas. The WMLP Debtors, together with their parent, Westmoreland Coal Company (WLB) and its subsidiaries other than the WMLP Debtors (the WLB Debtors), comprised the sixth-largest coal producer in North America as of the petition date. The WMLP Debtors entered bankruptcy with the goal of restructuring approximately $326.8 million in funded debt through sales of substantially all of their assets, which consisted of coal mines in Ohio, Kentucky, and Wyoming. Jones Day assisted the WMLP Debtors and the Conflicts Committee in navigating various atypical and complex issues in the Westmoreland cases, including intercompany disputes with the WLB Debtors.
On February 5, 2019, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of the WMLP Debtors' Ohio and Kentucky mines to a buyer who agreed to assume substantial reclamation obligations. Jones Day also assisted the WMLP Debtors in negotiating and obtaining bankruptcy court approval of key settlements with (a) the WLB Debtors and (b) the official committee of unsecured creditors, both of which required intensive negotiations with the debtors' respective secured lender groups.
On June 5, 2019, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of the WMLP Debtors’ Wyoming mine to a buyer who agreed to assume its reclamation obligations and the court also confirmed the WMLP Debtors’ chapter 11 plan.
