Westmorland Coal Company’s cross-border restructuring and sale

This complex matter involved restructuring mining operations and the insolvency sale of assets for US$1.4 billion.

BD&P’s role

Our multidisciplinary team was the Alberta counsel for this transaction. We worked on debt restructuring, tax structuring, a credit bid acquisition, and transactional logistics, which included:

• The sale and restructuring of Westmorland’s assets to a group of its former first lien creditors.
• Unwinding and replacing the complicated international corporate structure while meeting Alberta’s and Canada’s regulatory requirements, including the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act.
• Working with a team of international lawyers while the client maintained domestic coal operations in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

The results

The successful restructuring and sale allowed the business to gain more financial flexibility, a stronger balance sheet and preserve about 1000 jobs.