Six big industry names have agreed to pay Yellow Corp. nearly $83 million to take over the shuttered less-than-truckload carrier’s leases on 23 properties in 13 states.
A filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware details the sales, which constitute the second round of an auction of the real estate holdings of Yellow, which abruptly closed its doors in late July after a threatened International Brotherhood of Teamsters strike led customers to flee. The first phase generated $1.9 billion early this month and covered 130 properties, although only two of those were leases.
The biggest winner in this round of the auction was Saia Inc., which submitted winning bids totaling $7.9 million for 11 leases in Western states. Saia executives already have committed to pay $236 million for a portfolio of 17 properties owned by Yellow that is concentrated in Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states. Their newly won leases will expand the company’s network in California, Montana, Nevada, the Dakotas, Utah, and Wyoming.
Other names high up on the FleetOwner 500 list of top for-hire fleets (many of them having submitted winning bids for owned Yellow terminals) also figured in this latest round of the auction, which Yellow’s attorneys are looking to have approved Jan. 12:
- Estes Express Lines, No. 11 on this year’s FleetOwner 500, is ponying up the largest dollar amount of this phase: $35.3 million for five leased properties in California, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, and Washington.
- Making its first appearance in Yellow’s auction is package giant FedEx Corp., which has agreed to pay $22.5 million to take over the lease on a 15,900-square-foot terminal in Sparks, Nevada.
- An arm of R&L Carriers will pay nearly $9 million for three leased properties in Colorado, Illinois, and Washington.
- A unit of ArcBest Corp. bid more than $7.7 million for a 13,300-square-foot facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
- Spending a relative pittance in comparison is Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc., which submitted winning bids for two terminals in Montana and Washington worth $417,150.
More than 110 leased properties across the United States and Canada remain on Yellow’s books for the company’s leaders and advisors to auction. The defunct company also owns another 46 pieces of real estate.
