Three coal companies objected to Cambrian Coal Corp.'s decision to assume and assign executory contracts and unexpired leases, citing concerns about the debtors' or potential assignees' ability to meet the conditions under their agreements, according to documents filed Sept. 13 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Cambrian Coal, a subsidiary of Booth Energy Group, filed for bankruptcy protection in June and plans to sell off its coal assets.
Buchanan Energy Co. LLC, Contura Coal Sales LLC and Enterprise Mining Co. LLC filed objections with the court, citing royalties and potential agreements with the debtors. Cambrian provided information Sept. 12, "which each bidder purported was evidence of its ability to perform in the future under the executory contracts and unexpired leases proposed in its bid to be assumed by the debtors and assigned to the bidder," according to court documents.
While that information is confidential, "the information provided did not provide details regarding the bids or the executory contracts and unexpired leases proposed in each bid to be assumed by the debtors and assigned to the bidder."
The companies requested that the court require the debtors to pay the full obligation amount under the leases, meet tax obligations and satisfy cure obligations. They also asked that the court require the debtors to assume and assign all the benefits and burdens of the leases to single assignees and require adequate assurance of future performance.
Natural Resource Partners LP, a fellow coal producer with several separate real property coal mine leases with Cambrian, wrote in a July objection that the debtors' proposed timeline did not meet fundamental due process requirements, including identifying leases and executory contracts the debtors planned to assume and assign.
