Arch Coal Inc. is seeking a compromise with lenders opposing a debt-swap deal that would help the struggling coal miner avoid a bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Holders of the coal miner’s $1.9 billion loan may be offered better terms as an incentive to drop their opposition to a proposal to swap as much as $2.38 billion of junior-ranking borrowings for new senior obligations. The opposing group, claiming to represent the majority of senior creditors, is demanding to be paid a comparable yield on a new loan the company is seeking as part of the exchange, Arch Coal said in a July 29 statement. The lenders say that new creditors would receive preferential treatment over existing investors, which would violate provisions of the loan pact.
