Begin forwarded message:
From: Bill Bishop <bbish@austin.rr.com>
Date: August 30, 2013, 9:32:27 AM CDT
To: Oliver Bernstein <oliver.bernstein@gmail.com>
Subject: tumbling
Longview Power, MEPCO file for bankruptcy
August 30, 2013 by Ken Ward Jr.
Here’s today’s news from Longview Power and MEPCO:
Longview Power, LLC today announced that it and certain of its affiliates, including Mepco Holdings, LLC and its affiliates, commenced Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Both Longview and Mepco intend to operate their businesses as they continue to negotiate a chapter 11 plan with their lenders to de-risk their balance sheet.
Longview, of course, operates a fairly new coal-fired power plant outside of Morgantown. And MEPCO’s CEO is James Laurita Jr., the chairman of the West Virginia Coal Association. There’s more background here.
Here’s the rest of their press release:
When able to operate at full capacity, Longview’s 700 megawatt supercritical coal fired power generation facility is one of the most efficient coal-fired power plants in the country and has one of the lowest air emissions profiles of any such power plant. Construction failures and defects have prevented the power plant from operating reliably at its designed capacity. Longview’s Mepco affiliate and its predecessors have engaged in coal mining and processing operations in and around West Virginia for more than 50 years. Currently, Mepco owns or operates three active underground coal mines and one active surface mine located in northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania.
“After careful consideration of available alternatives, the Company determined that filing for Chapter 11 was a necessary and prudent step that allows us to strengthen and operate our businesses without interruption while continuing to restructure the Company’s balance sheet,” said Jeffery Keffer, CEO of Longview Power. “The Company has been in consensual negotiations with our senior lenders toward a Chapter 11 plan to maximize value; those negotiations remain ongoing. We remain confident that the Company and our lenders will reach an agreement on the terms of a Chapter 11 plan in the near term.”
“I want to make clear that we will continue to conduct business as usual and our operations and employees will not be affected by the Chapter 11 filing,” Jim Laurita, Jr., CEO of Mepco added. “We will continue to provide our customers with the level of service they have come to expect from this great company and its employees. This is the best option the Company has to negotiate its balance sheet with the Company’s lenders.”
The Company has filed customary, so-called “first day” motions to ensure the Company obtains the benefits of the Chapter 11 filing and continues to operate its business in the ordinary course and without interruption. The Company expects that these motions will be heard by the Court immediately after Labor Day and will continue to operate in the ordinary course in the meantime. Employees should expect that all payroll and benefits will continue as they have without interruption.
The Company has engaged Lazard as its investment banker and Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC as its restructuring advisor. The Company is represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, as primary restructuring counsel, and Dentons US LLP for all issues related to Longview’s pending arbitration proceedings.
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Eitan Bencuya
National Communications Strategist
Sierra Club
202-495-3047 o
415-255-5521 m
eitan.bencuya@sierraclub.org