Restructuring of Kompania Węglowa

Kompania Węglowa (2016 - 2017)

A&O advised Bank Zachodni WBK, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Alior Bank, Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski and Węglokoks on the restructuring of Kompania Węglowa’s PLN 1,148,111,000 (EUR 270,000,000) debt under bonds issued by Kompania Węglowa. At the time of the restructuring, Kompania Węglowa was the largest mining company in Poland.

For this transaction, A&O designed a tripartite rollover mechanism which was a special method of transferring Kompania Węglowa’s debt under the bonds to Polska Grupa Górnicza, a new entity established to carry out the mining operations of Kompania Węglowa. This was an innovative approach which required not only purely mechanical structuring of the debt transfer, but also an in-depth analysis of the consequences which that mechanism could have under the insolvency and restructuring law to ensure that all risks were properly mitigated.

“Legal and political significance for the Polish market”

Partner Piotr Lesiński commented: "Given that the transfer of Kompania Węglowa’s indebtedness was an exceptional transaction, our approach also had to be exceptional. The tripartite rollover mechanism we designed was a pioneering tool and the closing of the transaction was a huge success for the entire team. We are even happier given the strategic importance of this transfer to the Polish coal mining sector as a whole."

The A&O Team

The restructuring involved the following team from A&O Warsaw: capital markets partner Piotr Lesiński, counsel Tomasz Trocki, assisted by senior associate Konrad Zawistowski, and associates Anna Polz, Weronika Neja and Katarzyna Idczak.