Arch Coal Inc. is under mounting pressure to get a grip on its dwindling cash, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The miner is saddled with $5.1 billion of debt and has failed to clinch a deal with creditors to swap existing bonds for new securities with longer maturities, which would help the company cut its obligations and ride out a commodities slump. Arch is two weeks away from an $18.1 million interest payment on some of the bonds it wants to make disappear. With senior lenders not wanting to see that cash used up, they’re likely to pressure the company to skip the payment, according to Spencer Cutter, a credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. That would start the clock on a 30-day grace period that would force the two sides to either reach a compromise or head to bankruptcy court.
