The deal includes 33,000 acres containing an estimated 43 million tons of high-quality thermal and industrial coal reserves in the Central Appalachian coal basin. Middlesboro will mainly serve industrial coal markets, while maintaining Appolo customer relationships; Bayside is an affiliate of investment firm H.I.G. Capital.
JW Resources is a management and holding company focused on identifying, acquiring and operating U.S. coal mining assets. The company also currently operates Straight Creek thermal coal operations in eastern Kentucky, acquired in Q1 2013.
Through combined Straight Creek and Middlesboro assets, JW Resources now controls 81,000 acres containing some 85 million tons of thermal coal reserves serving utility and industrial markets.
Bayside Capital officials are enthused over the opportunity to acquire “premiere” low-cost assets. “We established JW Resources to participate in the strong long-term global utility and industrial environment as a world-class operation,” said Bayside Managing Director Sean Ozbolt.
After acquiring the Straight Creek operations, he added, Bayside evaluated more than 50 more add-on opportunities, ultimately targeting Appolo owing to inexpensive operations, a complementary customer base and proximity to Straight Creek.
