Whitehaven Coal is gaining an increasing amount of attention among those in the special situations community after its share price more than halved since the start of this year.
Some believe it may need to raise equity.
The thermal and metallurgical coalminer, with more than four operating mines in NSW and Queensland, now has a market value of almost $890m, but its net debt is $787.5m, with $106.8m of cash on the balance sheet.
Whitehaven counts Grant Samuel as its long-term adviser and like other companies is known to have held discussions with its lenders.
As is the case with other coal-related companies, Whitehaven is suffering from a fall in the price of the commodity and also lenders’ trepidation about coal due to environmental concerns.
Market experts say the company still has reasonable liquidity and is not at risk of breaching its debt covenants, but investors have such stocks on watch.
Last month, Coronado Global Resources raised $239m through Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Citi at a time that its market value was $807.4m and its net debt was $US404.9m ($555m).
Its major shareholder, Energy and Minerals Group, which held 80 per cent of the stock, did not participate and the raise at 60c per Chess Depositary Interest came after it handed down a $US123.2m loss.
In May, Coronado, which has coalmines in Australia and the US, received a waiver agreement from its lenders until February.
It listed two years ago with a market value of $3.87bn.
The coalminer was listed by its private equity owners in 2018, shortly after acquiring coking coalmines from Wesfarmers for a value far less than what they were worth when listed.
Other companies still expected to tap the markets include Crown Resorts and Treasury Wine Estates due to the trading challenges with China.
Another is Scentre Group, with suggestions in the market it could be raising about $1.8bn.
Some suspect that Morgan Stanley could be on standby for Scentre for a raise.
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