A group of investors is proposing to buy trucking giant Consolidated Freightways Corp. (CF) out of bankruptcy and return the company's trucks to the road.
Rollin' International, a company created specifically to make the purchase, has offered $500 million for the 73-year-old trucking company, including its air freight division, spokesman Frank Snell said.
Snell would not identify the investors behind Rollin' International, but said 40% of the group comes from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with the rest coming from investors elsewhere in the U.S. as well as Mexico.
"We believe that the company, properly managed, will be a profitable company," Snell told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Our objective is to get operations back, get trucks on the road in some form or fashion by November. 1"
According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Rollin' is the only firm that has come forward that is attempting to resume CF's operations. All other interested buyers intend to liquidate the assets.
"Rollin' has indicated its interest in maintaining the unionized, Teamster workforce," Teamster freight director Phil Young said. "While it’s very early in the process, this is the best hope to get CF Teamsters' jobs back."
Snell said Rollin' International's representatives met this weekend with union officials to reach a tentative deal that would include rehiring some Teamsters, with pay cuts and changes in work rules.
He added that Rollin' International's acquisition bid contains two potential prices – less than $500 million for the status quo and more than $500 million if the company has resumed some operations by the time of purchase.
CF shuttered operations on Labor Day, September 2, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly after. It has 350 terminals and 30,000 trucks in North America. CF spokesman Mike Brown said the company hasn't stated a preference between selling its entire business or dismantling it. Several potential buyers have expressed interest in Consolidated's assets, although none has proposed a full-scale purchase. The company has cooperated with Snell's inquiries but knows little about Rollin' International's intentions, Brown said.
