Baralaba implemented a Deed of Company Arrangement proposed by Liberty Metals and Mining Holdings, LLC (LMM) whereby LMM acquired the shares in Baralaba subsidiary Cockatiel Coal Pty Ltd (now known as Baralaba Coal Company Pty Ltd) and certain other nominated subsidiaries.

A separate sale process for the recapitalisation of the ASX listed shell entity is ongoing in order to provide shareholders with an opportunity to realise value in the future.

Baralaba has a large tenement portfolio with an estimated 64.3Mt of JORC Marketable Coal Reserves and 1,530Mt of JORC Coal Resources across the Bowen, Surat and Galilee Basins which is primarily used in the steel making industry.

The MinterEllison team was led by Michael Gajic (Corporate/M&A) and Michael Hughes (Restructuring), with support from Michael Scarf (Corporate/M&A) and Taline Chater (Restructuring).

MinterEllison worked closely with Jamie Harris, Shaun Fraser and Jason Preston of McGrathNicol who acted as joint and several deed administrators together with a team including Tim Duncan, Rajiv Goyal and Wendy Hooijer.

“It was a pleasure advising our long standing client on this critical and complicated transaction," said MinterEllison Partner, Michael Gajic. "Key to the successful implementation was the ability of the McGrathNicol and MinterEllison teams to work seamlessly together."

Advising McGrathNicol in relation to the sale and recapitalisation of Baralaba adds to the list of recent high-profile corporate restructure work undertaken by MinterEllison, including:

• Steinhoff Asia Pacific’s refinance and the circumstances involving its parent group Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.;
• the sale of commercial television station operator Ten Network Holdings to CBS;
• the buyout of Australian luxury fashion retailer Oroton Group; and
• the US$738 million recapitalisation of mineral exploration company Boart Longyear.