Alpha Natural Resources Anticipates Final Court Approval of Completed Debtor-in-Possession Financing

BRISTOL, Va., Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (OTC PINK: ANRZQ) announced today that, based on a hearing held yesterday, it anticipates a Final Order being entered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia authorizing Alpha to utilize the Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) financing package the Company secured in connection with its Chapter 11 filing in early August.

"Finalizing this package with the support of both our secured lenders and the unsecured Creditors Committee represents a significant milestone in our restructuring," said Alpha's Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, Phillip Cavatoni.  "We believe that, in concert with existing liquidity, this package provides the financial flexibility needed to navigate the Chapter 11 process."

The 18-month financing package provides for up to approximately $692 million in financing, and is led by a group composed of the Company's first and second lien lenders.  Changes made to the original package were agreed to by all parties and did not affect the overall financing sought by Alpha.  This expected approval follows a number of other Final Orders received from the Court in recent weeks, including the authorization to continue paying employee wages and benefits. 

Alpha and certain of its wholly-owned subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on August 3, 2015.  More information about Alpha's bankruptcy process and legal filings made with the Court to date can be found at www.alpharestructuring.com.

About Alpha Natural Resources
Alpha Natural Resources is one of the largest and most regionally diversified coal suppliers in the United States. With affiliate mining operations in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, Alpha supplies metallurgical coal to the steel industry and thermal coal to generate power to customers on five continents. Alpha is committed to being a leader in mine safety with our Running Right safety process, and an environmental steward in the communities where our affiliates operate. For more information, visit Alpha's website (www.alphanr.com).  

Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on Alpha's expectations and beliefs concerning future events and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors are difficult to predict accurately and may be beyond Alpha's control. The following factors are among those that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements:

• our ability to continue as a going concern, including our ability to successfully confirm a plan of reorganization that would restructure certain of our debt obligations to address our liquidity issues and allow emergence from the Chapter 11 proceedings, or to execute one or more strategic transactions either as part of such a plan of reorganization or otherwise;
• our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition;
• sustained depressed levels or further declines in coal prices;
• worldwide market demand for coal, electricity and steel, including demand for U.S. coal exports;
• utilities switching to alternative energy sources such as natural gas, renewables and coal from basins where we do not operate;
• reductions or increases in customer coal inventories and the timing of those changes;
• our production capabilities and costs;
• inherent risks of coal mining beyond our control, and our ability to utilize our coal assets fully and replace reserves as they are depleted;
• changes in environmental laws and regulations, including those directly affecting our coal mining and production, and those affecting our customers' coal usage, including potential climate change initiatives;
• changes in safety and health laws and regulations and their implementation, and the ability to comply with those changes;
• competition in coal markets;
• future legislation, regulatory and court decisions and changes in regulations, governmental policies or taxes or changes in interpretation thereof;
• global economic, capital market or political conditions, including a prolonged economic downturn in the markets in which we operate and disruptions in worldwide financial markets;
• the outcome of pending or potential litigation or governmental investigations;
• our relationships with, and other conditions affecting, our customers, including the inability to collect payments from our customers if their creditworthiness declines;
• changes in, renewal or acquisition of, terms of and performance of customers under coal supply arrangements and the refusal by our customers to receive coal under agreed contract terms;
• our ability to obtain, maintain or renew any necessary permits or rights, and our ability to mine properties due to defects in title on leasehold interests;
• attracting and retaining key personnel and other employee workforce factors, such as labor relations;
• the geological characteristics of the Powder River Basin, Central and Northern Appalachian coal reserves;
• funding for and changes in postretirement benefit obligations, pension obligations, including multi-employer pension plans, and federal and state black lung obligations;
• cybersecurity attacks or failures, threats to physical security, extreme weather conditions or other natural disasters;
• increased costs and obligations potentially arising from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act;
• reclamation and mine closure obligations;
• our assumptions concerning economically recoverable coal reserve estimates;
• our ability to negotiate new United Mine Workers of America ("UMWA") wage agreements on terms acceptable to us, increased unionization of our workforce in the future, and any strikes by our workforce;
• disruptions in delivery or changes in pricing from third party vendors of key equipment and materials that are necessary for our operations, such as diesel fuel, steel products, explosives and tires;
• inflationary pressures on supplies and labor and significant or rapid increases in commodity prices;
• railroad, barge, truck and other transportation availability, performance and costs;
• disruption in third party coal supplies;
• our ability to integrate successfully operations that we may acquire, invest or develop in the future, or the risk that any such integration could be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected;
• the consummation of financing or refinancing transactions, acquisitions or dispositions and the related effects on our business and financial position;
• indemnification of certain obligations not being met;
• long-lived asset impairment charges;
• fair value of derivative instruments not accounted for as hedges that are being marked to market;
• our substantial indebtedness and potential future indebtedness;
• our ability to generate sufficient cash or obtain financing to fund our business operations;
• our ability to obtain or renew surety bonds on acceptable terms or maintain self-bonding status; and
• other factors, including the other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations", and "Risk Factors" sections of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2015, the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2015, and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and in filings made by the Debtors with the Bankruptcy Court.

Forward-looking statements in this news release or elsewhere speak only as of the date made. New uncertainties and risks arise from time to time, and it is impossible for Alpha to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. Alpha has no duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forward-looking statements in this news release after the date it is issued. In light of these risks and uncertainties, investors should keep in mind that the results, events or developments disclosed in any forward-looking statement made in this news release may not occur.

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SOURCE Alpha Natural Resources Inc.