White & Case is advising the New World Resources group (NWR), the central European hard coal producer, on the restructuring of its balance sheet via a UK Scheme of Arrangement and a Rights Issue and Placing.
According to the firm, “a key milestone in the restructuring was achieved on July 29, with the UK courts granting NWR permission to hold creditors’ meetings where the group’s noteholders can vote on the restructuring."
London-based White & Case Partner Rebecca Campbell, who co-led the team of lawyers which advised NWR, said: "Our cross-border and multi-disciplinary legal team has been supporting NWR through a prolonged period of depressed pricing in the coal sector and we’re very pleased to have helped ensure the restructuring is on track for completion by the end of September. By combining the Firm's experience and capabilities in mining, restructuring, debt and equity capital markets, corporate and tax we were able to manage a restructuring process involving multiple financial and non-financial stakeholders which will allow NWR to focus on its operational turnaround. Because its business operations are principally in the Czech Republic and NWR is listed in London, Prague and Warsaw, a complex restructuring was required to ensure that, in each jurisdiction, the transaction complied with the applicable capital markets rules and gained regulatory approval."
The White & Case team that advised NWR was led by Campbell and London-based Partner Christian Pilkington, and included London-based Partner Philip Broke and Prague-based Partner Petr Panek, with support from London-based Associates Boris Docekal, Kevin Heverin, Tim Lees, Narinder Surae, Jasmine Grewal, Johanna Hayward, Wes Budler, and Richard Pogrel, and Prague-based Karel Petrzela.