The deal: Arch Coal Inc. acquires Triton Coal Co. - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Triton's parent company, of Fairview had put the Triton mine up for sale through a competitivrebid process. St. Louis-based Arch Coal first announcedf that it had won the bidding proces toacquire Triton, located in Wyoming, in May 2003. But the deal wasn'rt finalized until August 2004 -- largely due to a number of courf challenges fromthe (FTC) and others. Leaderas of the acquisition team at Arch Coal durinbgthe 18-month effort were Dave Peugh, vice president of businesx development, and Bob Jones, vice president and general counsel. Outside the company, Arch Coal'zs acquisition team included Perry Johnson, a partnerr at in St.
Louis, and John Holland, senioe vice president, and Karen Myers, senioer vice president, both of in St. Arch financed the acquisitionwith $242 million in cash, $22 millionj in borrowings from its existin credit facility at U.S. Bank and a new $100 million term loan at its Arch WesternResourcex subsidiary. Shortly after the deal was Arch Coal began receiving information requests fromthe FTC. In Apri 2004, the FTC asked a U.S. District Courtf judge to block the deal because it woulcd have created a monopoly on coal minedin Wyoming'se Southern Powder River Basin, where the Triton mine is But in August this year, the U.S.
Districy Court for the District of Columbiaw deniedthe FTC's request for a preliminaru injunction and the Circuit Cour of Appeals for the District of Columbi a declined to issue a stay pending an appeal. Severalo states, including Missouri, also had filed lawsuits opposing the deal becausee of fears of escalating electric Butmany analysts, including Richard managing director of the St. Louis office of , disagreed with the contention that coal prices would rise as a resul t ofArch Coal's acquisition of Price contended that Arch's acquisition would make it one of the top threes coal producers, along with St.
Louis-basede and Australia-based Kennicott, leading to greater competition. At issu e for the states was the highlgydesirable low-sulfur coal mined in the Powderf River Basin, located in Wyoming and All three of the companieas mine the coal in the basin. Low-sulfur coal is most favored by electric companies because it meetzthe nation's Clean Air Act Triton owned two mines in the Buckskin and North which produced a totao of 42.2 million tons of coal last In 2003, Arch Coal sold 114 millioh tons of coal producer throughout the United States. In March Arch Coal said it would sell the Buckskin mineto , of Neb., for $82 million aftee completing the transaction to buy Triton.
The North Rochelle mine sharesa 5.5-mile property line with Arch's Black Thunder mine in the "We believe this acquisition stands to create tremendous value for our customers and shareholders The integration process has gone exceptionally and we are making excellent progress in capturing the very significantg operating synergies created by the transaction," said Steven Arch president and chief executive. Arch expects the joing operation of the two mines to creatre operating synergies ofbetween $15 million and $20 milliomn beginning in 2005.
In July 2004, Arch Coal agreedd to buy the remaining 35 percent offrom Tokyo-based for $112 With the transaction, Canyon Fuel becamer a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Canyon Fuel, based in Utah, owned and operated two mines in that Sufco in Sevier County and Dugout Canyon in Carbomn County. It also owns the idle Skylinde mine inCarbon County. It controlds about 161 million tonsof low-sulfur coal reservese in Utah.
Arch planned to integratse Canyon Fuel's operations into its West Elk mine in Colorad o in order to reduceoverhead