Old Dominion ups ante with $1.5B bid on Yellow’s terminals

LTL carrier’s offer exceeds previous $1.3B Estes bid

Old Dominion trumps Estes' offer for Yellow's terminals. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line entered a $1.5 billion bid for Yellow Corp.’s terminals, according to a Friday filing in a Delaware bankruptcy court. The new offer exceeds the $1.3 billion bid from LTL peer Estes Express Lines, which was revealed at a Thursday status update.

The offer for the 166-terminal portfolio is a stalking horse purchase agreement, wherein the bidder sets the floor for the value of the assets to be sold out of a bankruptcy estate. The properties will still undergo a marketing and sale process in which higher offers from other parties may be accepted.

The terms provide a maximum breakup fee of $26 million and up to $2 million in expense reimbursement. Old Dominion (NASDAQ: ODFL) is required to make a 5% deposit. The bid remains effective for 180 days.

The Thursday court proceeding also named bankruptcy financing lenders.

Hedge funds Citadel and MFN Partners will provide $142.5 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, which will give Yellow’s estate the funds necessary to liquidate assets. The deal also includes an additional commitment from MFN for a delayed draw of up to $70 million.

MFN acquired a 42.5% equity stake in Yellow ahead of its shutdown.

Citadel recently bought Yellow’s term loan from Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) after superior DIP financing offers came forward following Yellow’s Aug. 7 bankruptcy filing. Apollo’s DIP deal was said to be the only viable offer provided to Yellow prior to the Chapter 11 petition.

A representative from Old Dominion was not immediately available for comment.

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden

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Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.