ST. LOUIS, Sept. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody
(NYSE: BTU) announced today that it successfully completed an
amendment of its Senior Secured Term Loan to lower the interest
rate and modify terms to provide additional financial and
operational flexibility, including for share repurchases and
dividends.
"Today's announcement reflects yet another positive step in
further strengthening our capital structure and executing on the
priorities we outlined in August," said Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer Amy
Schwetz. "Building on our recent 15 percent voluntary
reduction in debt, this amendment further reduces fixed charges and
provides greater financial flexibility to execute share repurchases
and pay dividends in line with our previously announced capital
return initiatives."
The company's Senior Secured Term Loan will now bear interest at
a rate of LIBOR plus 3.50 percent, with a LIBOR floor of 1.00
percent, reflecting a reduction of 1.00 percent. Certain
terms were also modified, including the addition of a $450 million restricted payments basket to be
utilized for payments of cash dividends, purchases of the company's
stock or similar distributions, among other items.
Together, the impact of the interest rate reduction and
$300 million voluntary debt
repayments Peabody completed in the third quarter are expected to
reduce annual cash interest expense by approximately $23 million on a pro forma basis.
Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company.
The company is also a leading voice in advocating for
sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal
technologies. Peabody serves metallurgical and thermal coal
customers in more than 25 countries on five continents. For
further information, visit PeabodyEnergy.com.
Investor Contact:
Julie
Gates
314.342.4336
Certain statements included in this release are
forward-looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. The Company uses words such as "anticipate,"
"believe," "expect," "may," "forecast," "project," "should,"
"estimate," "plan," "outlook," "target," "likely," "will," "to be"
or other similar words to identify forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are made as of the date the
release was issued and are based on numerous assumptions that the
Company believes are reasonable, but these assumptions are open to
a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that may cause
actual results to differ materially from expectations. These
factors are difficult to accurately predict and may be beyond the
Company's control. Such factors include, but are not limited to
those described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2016 filed
with the SEC on March 22, 2017, as
amended on July 10, 2017 and
August 14, 2017, and in Exhibit 99.2
to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on
April 11, 2017, as well as other
filings the Company may make from time to time with the SEC.
Factors that could affect the Company's results or an investment in
its securities include but are not limited to: competition in the
energy market and supply and demand for the Company's products,
including the impact of alternative energy sources, such as natural
gas and renewables; global steel demand and its downstream impact
on metallurgical coal prices, and lower demand for the Company's
products by electric power generators; customer procurement
practices and contract duration; the impact of weather and natural
disasters on demand, production and transportation; reductions
and/or deferrals of purchases by major customers and the Company's
ability to renew sales contracts; credit and performance risks
associated with customers, suppliers, contract miners, co-shippers,
and trading, bank and other financial counterparties; geologic,
equipment, permitting, site access, operational risks and new
technologies related to mining; transportation availability,
performance and costs; availability, timing of delivery and costs
of key supplies, capital equipment or commodities such as diesel
fuel, steel, explosives and tires; impact of take-or-pay
arrangements for rail and port commitments for the delivery of
coal; successful implementation of business strategies, including,
without limitation, the actions we are implementing to improve the
Company's organization and respond to current conditions;
negotiation of labor contracts, employee relations and workforce
availability, including, without limitation, attracting and
retaining key personnel; changes in post-retirement benefit and
pension obligations and their related funding requirements;
replacement and development of coal reserves; uncertainties in
estimating the Company's coal reserves; effects of changes in
interest rates and currency exchange rates (primarily the
Australian dollar); the Company's ability to successfully
consummate acquisitions or divestitures, and the resulting effects
thereof; economic strength and political stability of countries in
which we have operations or serve customers; legislation,
regulations and court decisions or other government actions,
including, but not limited to, new environmental and mine safety
requirements, changes in income tax regulations, sales-related
royalties, or other regulatory taxes and changes in derivative laws
and regulations; the Company's ability to obtain and renew permits
necessary for the Company's operations; the Company's ability to
appropriately secure the Company's requirements for reclamation,
federal and state workers' compensation, federal coal leases and
other obligations related to the Company's operations, including
the Company's ability to utilize self-bonding and/or successfully
access the commercial surety bond market; litigation or other
dispute resolution, including, but not limited to, claims not yet
asserted; terrorist attacks or security threats, including, but not
limited to, cybersecurity breaches; impacts of pandemic illnesses;
any lack of an established market for certain of the Company's
securities, including the Company's preferred stock, and potential
dilution of the Company's common stock; price volatility in the
Company's securities; short-sales in the Company's securities; any
conflicts of interest between the Company's significant
shareholders and other holders of the Company's capital stock; the
Company's ability to generate sufficient cash to service all of the
Company's indebtedness; the Company's debt instruments and capital
structure placing certain limits on the Company's ability to pay
dividends and repurchase capital stock; the Company's ability to
comply with financial and other restrictive covenants in various
agreements, including the Company's debt instruments; and other
risks detailed in the Company's reports filed with the SEC. The
Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements
except as required by law.
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SOURCE Peabody