Rice Energy Inc. announced it will buy the natural gas assets of bankrupt coal company Alpha Natural Resources Inc. for $200 million if no higher bidders emerge at an auction.

The Canonsburg-based oil and gas firm, which once had Alpha’s CEO on its board of directors, said it will pay for the acquisition by selling 20 million shares of its stock.

Alpha’s natural gas assets, which the company once thought were among its most valuable holdings, include 27,400 undeveloped acres in Greene County with Marcellus and deep Utica shale rights, and about 3,000 acres that Alpha currently leases to Rice.

On its website, Rice said it is in the best position to get the oil and gas assets because it already controls the areas adjacent to Alpha’s holdings and has performed “substantial due diligence on the assets and the sale process generally.” Rice and Alpha previously partnered on a joint venture of other oil and gas properties in southwestern Pennsylvania.

If it does not seal the deal, Rice said it will use the proceeds of its stock sale for general purposes and possibly to fund its 2017 capital budget. Another Rice stockholder, an affiliate of Natural Gas Partners, which currently controls 10.5 percent of Rice’s common stock, is also offering up to 3.5 million shares in the sale.

Rice’s stock price has soared 45 percent higher over the past month, closing on Tuesday at $16.66 per share.

Virginia-based Alpha, which owns the Cumberland Mine in Western Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy in August. Earlier this year, it secured a so-called stalking horse bid of $500 million for its best coal and gas assets from a group of its debtors who set the floor for a public auction.

Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.

First Published: April 12, 2016, 10:00 p.m.