Murray Energy Corp. acknowledged on Wednesday that it has defaulted on its $440 million bankruptcy financing package, setting up a pivotal month for the nation’s largest private coal producer as it aims to leave chapter 11 amid a market downturn exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Murray’s lawyers said during a telephone hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbus, Ohio, that the company is negotiating with its lenders to roll over the loans funding its operations in chapter 11 into an exit financing package that would propel it out of bankruptcy. Founded by coal-industry booster and prominent Trump supporter Robert Murray, the company filed for chapter 11 protection in October and it has pursued a takeover offer from a group of lenders to get out of bankruptcy. But one lender, Great American Capital Partners LLC, which isn’t part of that group, has said that an agreement on financing terms might not be reached before Judge John E. Hoffman Jr. is scheduled to consider the company’s chapter 11 exit plan in mid-June.
