Walter Energy Locks Up Western Coal

Walter Energy agreed to buy Canada's Western Coal for 3.3 billion Canadian dollars ($3.3 billion).
By Joseph Woelfel ,

TAMPA, Florida (

TheStreet

) --

Walter Energy

(WLT)

agreed to buy Canada's

Western Coal

for 3.3 billion Canadian dollars ($3.29 billion).

Walter Energy will buy Western Coal for C$11.50 a share in cash or 0.114 of a Walter Energy share. Western Coal shareholders are getting a 56% premium to the stock's closing price on Nov. 17, the day before

Walter Energy said it had submitted a bid

for its Canadian counterpart.

Walter Energy said the transaction creates the "world's leading, publicly traded, 'pure-play' metallurgical coal producer with total coal reserves of about 385 million tons."

The combined company expects to produce more than 20 million tons of coal by 2012.

Walter Energy said the deal is expected to be accretive to its per-share earnings in the first full year following the close of the transaction, which is expected by the second quarter of 2011.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

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