Yellow bankruptcy sparks bidding war, $1.5 billion bid submitted for trucking terminals

Thomasville, North Carolina-based Old Dominion Freight Line submitted a $1.5 billion bid to purchase newly bankrupt Yellow Trucking’s North American holdings, according to reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Old Dominion’s bid comes in nearly $200 million more than a bid submitted by Richmond, Virginia-based Estes Express Lines and would trigger a potential court-supervised auction.

If the properties go for the amounts proposed, the winner will get a network of 169 trucking terminals and Yellow would get more than the needed money to pay off loans brought on before filing chapter 11.

Yellow, a nearly 100-year-old company, struggled to remain afloat as mounting debt and a struggle with unionized workers turned bitter.

The trucking company filed bankruptcy in a Delaware court and estimated assets and liabilities of up to $10 million.

The filing also come years after former President Trump’s administration bailed the company out with $700 million, to save its roughly 30,000 workers.

The company said it still plans to fully repay the bailout, despite nearly 100,000 creditors and $1.3 billion in debt payments coming due in 2024.

Yellow, formerly known as YRC Worldwide Inc., has struggled with financial woes for several years. The company's acquisitions of other carriers over the past few decades grew it to become the fifth-largest trucking firm in the nation and the third-largest less-than-truckload carrier. However, the low-cost carrier struggled with its debt load.

An attorney for Yellow explained during a court hearing that Estes was competing to finance the bankruptcy of its rival, but instead agreed to place a bid for the assets and possibly get better proposals at a court-supervised auction, the WSJ reported.

Yellow also reportedly took an offer from Citadel and Boston hedge fund MFN Partners for a $142 million bankruptcy loan that could fund operations while the company sells its assets.