Walter Energy’s case posture in the available docket set is a mature Chapter 11 that began as a balance-sheet and operating-cost restructuring for an overlevered metallurgical coal producer, with the later record here showing appeal activity rather than a fresh operating or plan milestone. The debtors entered Chapter 11 on July 15, 2015, after a collapse in met-coal pricing left the business carrying unsustainable leverage, large labor and retiree obligations, and high annual interest expense despite cost reductions and liquidity preservation efforts described in the Harvey First Day DeclarationDkt. 3.
The filing followed a capital structure built around approximately $3.153 billion of funded debt, including a $978.2 million first-lien term loan, $970 million of 9.500% first-lien notes, a $73 million first-lien revolver letter-of-credit facility, $360.5 million of second-lien PIK toggle notes, and roughly $771.3 million of unsecured senior notes, all summarized in the Harvey First Day DeclarationDkt. 3. Operationally, Walter Energy was a Birmingham-based producer and exporter of metallurgical coal with U.S., Canadian, and U.K. assets, including Alabama underground mines, a coke plant, natural gas operations, and a workforce with significant union representation and retiree-benefit exposure.
The restructuring path identified at filing centered on a Restructuring Support Agreement with creditors, a debt-to-equity conversion of more than $1.8 billion, and a potential section 363 sale process, with the company’s ability to execute dependent in part on obtaining labor and retiree-benefit concessions under Bankruptcy Code sections 1113 and 1114 as described in the . The context pack does not include a confirmed plan, sale order, effective-date notice, or current hearing calendar; the latest cited docket materials are appeal submission sheets filed in October 2015 and January 2016, including the and later .
