Trucking firm Estes Express submits $1.3 billion bid for Yellow’s shipment centers

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Trucking firm Estes Express has submitted a $1.3 billion bid to acquire bankrupt Yellow Corp’s shipment centers, attorneys said at a Thursday bankruptcy court hearing.

Yellow’s attorney Allyson Smith said that the Estes proposal was received while Yellow was negotiating several offers for bankruptcy financing. Yellow has decided to move forward with a $142.5 million loan provided by hedge fund Citadel and MFN Partners, which is Yellow’s largest shareholder, Smith told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Goldblatt at a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware.

Citadel stepped into the picture in recent days, buying out approximately $500 million in pre-bankruptcy debt that Yellow owed to Apollo Global Management (NYSE:).

Yellow filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 6 with just $39 million cash on hand, which the company said was not enough to run a months-long bankruptcy sale for its 12,000 trucks, real estate holdings and other assets.

Yellow blamed its collapse on a labor dispute with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The union, which represents about 22,000 Yellow employees, said the Nashville, Tennessee-based company “mismanaged” its way to bankruptcy.