LISLE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SXCP) has reached an agreement in principle to acquire the assets, specified liabilities and business operations of Lakeshore Coal Handling Corporation for a proposed purchase price of $29.6 million. This is expected to be an all cash transaction and is anticipated to close on July 31, 2013, subject to execution of a definitive agreement and customary closing conditions.
Fritz Henderson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SXCP, said, “The acquisition of Lakeshore is consistent with our overall vision to grow SXCP by increasing our presence across the steel value chain. We expect this acquisition will be immediately accretive to SXCP’s cash flows and earnings, supporting future increases in distributable cash flow per unit.”
Lakeshore, located in East Chicago, Indiana, is a unit of privately held Beemsterboer Corporation and provides coal handling and blending services to SunCoke Energy, Inc.’s (NYSE: SXC) Indiana Harbor cokemaking operations. SXCP intends to maintain Lakeshore’s current operations and anticipates retaining its current staff. As a result of the Lakeshore acquisition, distributable cash flow per unit is expected to increase by approximately 6 percent on an annualized basis.
ABOUT SUNCOKE ENERGY PARTNERS, L.P.
SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SXCP) is a publicly-traded master limited partnership, which manufactures coke used in the blast furnace production of steel. Our advanced, heat recovery cokemaking process produces consistently high-quality coke, captures waste heat to generate steam or electricity, and reduces environmental impacts. Our General Partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SXC), the largest independent producer of coke in the Americas, with 50 years of cokemaking experience and an international reputation for leadership, innovation and environmental stewardship in our industry.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements included in this press release constitute “forward looking statements.” Such forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as the words “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “project,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “may,” “will,” “should” or the negative of these terms or similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting SXCP’s business, as well as uncertainties related to the outcomes of pending or future litigation, legislation, or regulatory actions. Among such risks are: changes in levels of production, production capacity, pricing and/or margins for metallurgical coal and coke; variation in availability, quality and supply of metallurgical coal used in the cokemaking process, including as a result of non-performance by our suppliers; changes in the marketplace that may affect supply and demand for our metallurgical coke products, including increased exports of coke from China and increasing competition from alternative steelmaking and cokemaking technologies that have the potential to reduce or eliminate the use of metallurgical coke; our dependence on, relationships with, and other conditions affecting, our customers; severe financial hardship or bankruptcy of one or more of our major customers, or the occurrence of a customer default and other events affecting our ability to collect payments from our customers; volatility and cyclical downturns in the carbon steel industry and other industries in which our customers operate; our ability to enter into new, or renew existing, long-term agreements upon favorable terms for the supply of metallurgical coke to domestic and/or foreign steel producers; our ability to develop, design, permit, construct, start up or operate new cokemaking facilities in the U.S.; our ability to successfully implement our international growth strategy; our ability to consummate investments under favorable terms, including with respect to existing cokemaking facilities, which may utilize by-product technology, in the U.S. and Canada, and integrate them into our existing businesses and have them perform at anticipated levels; unanticipated developments that may negatively impact the Partnership; receipt of regulatory approvals and compliance with contractual obligations required in connection with the Partnership’s operations; age of, and changes in the reliability, efficiency and capacity of the various equipment and operating facilities used in our cokemaking operations, and in the operations of our major customers, business partners and/or suppliers; changes in the expected operating levels of our assets; our ability to meet minimum volume requirements, coal-to-coke yield standards and coke quality requirements in our coke sales agreements; changes in the level of capital expenditures or operating expenses, including any changes in the level of environmental capital, operating or remediation expenditures; our ability to service our outstanding indebtedness; our ability to comply with the restrictions imposed by our financing arrangements; nonperformance or force majeure by, or disputes with or changes in contract terms with, major customers, suppliers, dealers, distributors or other business partners; availability of skilled employees for our cokemaking operations, and other workplace factors; effects of railroad, barge, truck and other transportation performance and costs, including any transportation disruptions; effects of adverse events relating to the operation of our facilities and to the transportation and storage of hazardous materials (including equipment malfunction, explosions, fires, spills, and the effects of severe weather conditions); changes in the availability and cost of equity and debt financing; impact on our liquidity and ability to raise capital as a result of changes in the credit ratings assigned to our indebtedness; changes in credit terms required by our suppliers; risks related to labor relations and workplace safety; changes in, or new, statutes, regulations, governmental policies and taxes, or their interpretations, including those relating to the environment; the existence of hazardous substances or other environmental contamination on property owned or used by us; claims of our noncompliance with any statutory and regulatory requirements; changes in the status of, or initiation of new litigation, arbitration, or other proceedings to which we are a party or liability resulting from such litigation, arbitration, or other proceedings; historical combined and consolidated financial data may not be a reliable indicator of future results; incremental costs as a stand-alone public company; changes in product specifications for the coke that we produce; changes in insurance markets impacting costs and the level and types of coverage available, and the financial ability of our insurers to meet their obligations; changes in accounting rules and/or tax laws or their interpretations, including the method of accounting for inventories, leases and/or pensions; changes in financial markets impacting pension expense and funding requirements; and effects of geologic conditions, weather, natural disasters and other inherent risks beyond our control. Unpredictable or unknown factors not disclosed in this release also could have material adverse effects on forward-looking statements.
The Partnership has included in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission cautionary language identifying important factors (but not necessarily all the important factors) that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by the Partnership. For more information concerning these factors, see the Partnership’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. The Partnership does not have any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statement (or its associated cautionary language) whether as a result of new information or future events, after the date of this press release except as required by applicable law.
