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View all search resultsMajor coal miner Berau Coal Energy announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with bondholders to allocate 53 percent of the US$118
ajor coal miner Berau Coal Energy announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with bondholders to allocate 53 percent of the US$118.75 million recapitalization funds to repay its notes to mature this year and those due in 2017.
Berau, according to a statement published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) website, will use $118.75 million to repay the outstanding principal amount on the existing notes, with $100 million in proceeds of its London-based Asia Resources Minerals (ARMS)'s equity issuance plus cash on hand.
The coal miner said that with the cash, the company would repay $62.47 million of its maturing $450 million 2015 notes, due in July, and the remaining $56.28 million would be used to repay its $500 million 2017 notes.
The statement further said that if the miner was able to obtain a commitment for a revolving credit facility amounting up to $50 million, an additional $23.75m would be used to repay both of the notes on a pro rata basis.
The statement is a follow up to a previous statement, published last week, on a proposed exchange of notes and proposed equity offering, to be carried out by ARMS.
The previous statement announced details of an exchange offer for its outstanding 12.5 percent notes due 2015 and 7.25 percent notes due 2017, for new notes maturing in July 2019 and December 2020 with lower interest, respectively.
The previous statement said that a steering committee holding 23.7 percent of the outstanding notes had agreed on the refinancing terms, as has UK financier Nathaniel Rothschild's NR Holdings, which acts as the underwriter of ARMS' right issuance.
Rothschild initially cofounded ARMS with Indonesia's Bakrie family in 2010, but boardroom rows and plunging coal prices soured the business, ending in a business split with him continuing on with Berau and Bakrie with Bumi Resources.
Rothschild has agreed to supply funds for the struggling coal miner, by becoming a standby buyer for ARMS equity issue.
Berau controls a 90 percent share in PT Berau Coal, the country's fifth-largest producer and exporter of thermal coal. Berau operates three active mines ' Lati, Sambarata and Binungan ' at a single site in East Kalimantan and is estimated to have resources of about 2.2 billion tons, with probable and proven reserves estimated at 509 million tons.
Despite high reserves, the company saw its revenues decline by around 4 percent year-on-year to $1.04 billion in the first nine months of last year while its net loss was up by 17 percent to $78.28 million, as coal prices remained bearish. The company ' which has yet to release its full-year results ' recorded $112.04 million in finance costs along the reported period, contributing to its surging net loss.
The statement said that both the proposed notes exchange and the proposed equity offering remained 'subject to negotiation and execution of definitive documentation and the provision of all requisite approvals and consents.'
ARMS will publish a prospectus that will include a statement on its working capital requirements and is currently evaluating 'its base and reasonable downside case working capital scenarios for the period to December 2016 to support such a statement.'
The prospectus for ARMS equity shares is expected to be published on March 27.
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