Press Releases

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) today announced that it has acquired a 5.1 percent equity interest in Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd. in a series of purchases of Winsway's shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  The move further strengthens the strategic partnership between the two companies.

Peabody and Winsway currently operate a joint venture in Mongolia that holds coal and uranium licenses in Mongolia and is conducting an active exploration program in the South Gobi region and throughout the country. In addition, Peabody and Winsway have recently entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture to market coal in China and the Asia-Pacific region.  Deutsche Bank served as broker on the purchases.

Winsway is one of the leading suppliers of imported coking coal in China and the largest supplier of Mongolian coal into China. It distributes and transports coal from Mongolia and other countries into China through its integrated service platform, which includes logistics parks, coal washing plants, and road and railway transportation capabilities along the coast, rivers and inland borders of China, including Inner Mongolia. 

Mongolia is the largest and fastest-growing exporter of metallurgical coal to China. 

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues, Peabody Energy fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions that the company believes are reasonable, but they are open to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These factors are difficult to accurately predict and may be beyond the company's control. The company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect results include those described in this press release as well as risks detailed in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:
Beth Sutton
(928) 522-7008

SOURCE Peabody Energy