§ Sir Paul BeresfordTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what are the current financing arrangements of Coal Products Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary of British Coal.
§ Mr. EggarFollowing a financial restructuring of Coal Products Ltd. (CPL) involving a write-off of £120 million of loans and cancellation of £22.5 million of preference share capital, the then Secretary of State for Energy said in a parliamentary answer on 17 March 1988 at column641 that it was intended that no further financial assistance should be given to the company by the Government or via British Coal, whether in the form of loans or guarantees. This year, however, the banks who had been financing 904W CPL's operations indicated that they were no longer willing to extend their loans to the company without guarantees or letters of comfort being given by the Government or British Coal. In this situation, and given the difficult circumstances that the coal industry was facing, it was decided in August that British Coal should be authorised to finance repayment of the outstanding commercial loans.