A battle among Arch Coal Inc. creditors is intensifying as the miner prepares for a potential bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. A group of middle-tier bondholders hired law firm Brown Rudnick LLP to help protect their investments as the miner moves toward restructuring its $5.1 billion of debt in court proceedings. The creditors hold the miner’s $350 million of 8 percent second-lien bonds, which stand behind investors that hold $1.9 billion of first-lien loans. The hiring comes after Arch, the largest coal miner in the U.S. by volume after Peabody Energy Corp., said in a filing earlier this month that it was in talks with creditors on a “significant restructuring” of its balance sheet and it may file for chapter 11 protection regardless of whether it strikes a deal with creditors.
