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Englewood, Colorado and Columbus, Ohio – October 16, 2014 – Westmoreland Coal Company (NasdaqGM: WLB, “Westmoreland”), Oxford Resource Partners, LP (NYSE: OXF, “Oxford”) and Oxford Resources GP, LLC, the general partner of Oxford (“Oxford GP”), today announced that Westmoreland will acquire Oxford GP and contribute certain royalty bearing coal reserves to Oxford in return for Oxford common units. As a result, it is believed that Oxford will be able to resume quarterly distributions at $0.2000 per common unit (post-reverse split, as discussed below) and has secured a commitment to refinance its existing credit facilities on better terms, including additional credit capacity to fund future acquisitions. Following these transactions, Oxford will continue to operate as a stand-alone, publicly-traded master limited partnership (“MLP”) and Westmoreland will own 77% of the fully-diluted limited partner interests in Oxford.
“Westmoreland has long felt that our long-term cost-plus and cost-protected contracts make us ideally suited for a MLP structure,” stated Keith E. Alessi, Chief Executive Officer. “We have explored various ways to take advantage of the benefits of a MLP. The Oxford transactions provide us with an expeditious path to enter the MLP space and immediately recognize the advantages of owning a general partner. Additionally, the existing Oxford business has many of the characteristics of Westmoreland’s business and we feel that we are well positioned to partner with its customers. We look forward to Oxford’s employees joining the Westmoreland family.”
“Oxford is very excited about this opportunity with Westmoreland,” said Oxford’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Charles C. Ungurean. “Since early in 2012, we have been pursuing various strategic alternatives in an effort to bring increased value to our unitholders. This transaction represents the culmination of that effort and we believe that this represents a great opportunity for our company, unitholders, employees and customers, as well as providing a MLP vehicle for Westmoreland and its shareholders. This transaction is a win for all stakeholders.”
The board of directors of Oxford GP unanimously approved the transactions, including the equity restructuring of Oxford through the amendment and restatement of Oxford’s partnership agreement described below. The transactions have also been unanimously approved by Westmoreland’s board of directors.