May 26, 2016 2 min read

A bankruptcy court judge in Richmond, Va., approved the sale Thursday of Alpha Natural Resources’ natural gas assets in Greene County to Vantage Energy, according to documents filed on the bankruptcy website.

Vantage earlier this month was determined to be the successful bidder for Alpha’s 27,400 acres of undeveloped Marcellus and Utica shale holdings, offering a cash bid of $339.5 million.

Consideration of the sale of Alpha’s core coal assets, however, was not addressed by the court Thursday, but instead postponed and will be considered at the hearing on the confirmation of Alpha’s reorganization plan, according to court documents.

Alpha has proposed seeking confirmation of the reorganization plan in early July.

As part of its reorganization, Alpha is selling off core assets to raise money to cover its liabilities.

Among those assets are Alpha’s Cumberland and Emerald mine properties and coal reserves as well as coal reserves for its proposed Foundation Mine near Holbrook.

An auction of the assets held May 16 yielded no other “qualified” bids for the core coal assets other than a stalking horse bid presented by the company’s first lien lenders for $325 million.

Because no other qualified bid was received, the company said, the assets are to be sold to the stalking horse bidder. A stalking horse offer, agreement or bid is an attempt by a bankrupt debtor to test the market for the debtor’s assets in advance of an auction of them. The intent is to maximize the value of its assets or avoid low bids.