** Peabody Energy BTU.N shares down 0.6% premarket to $26.19 as coal miner looks to raise capital to reduce some debt

** St. Louis, Missouri-based firm privately offering $225 mln convertible bonds (CBs) due 2031

** Co intends to use net offering proceeds to repurchase a portion of its outstanding 3.25% CBs due 2028, any remainder for general corporate purposes

** It also plans to use proceeds to fund cost of capped calls, derivative transactions employed to offset potential dilution

** Co has $3.2 bln market cap based on 121.8 mln shares outstanding

** BTU shares closed up 1.7% on Weds, trimming YTD loss to ~11%

** 5 of 7 analysts rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy", 2 "hold"; median PT $34, per LSEG data