Yellow Nets $14M in Terminal Sales, Sets Up Saia to Further Expand US Footprint
Yellow Corp. is selling off another 10 terminals as the former less-than-truckload (LTL) company continues to liquidate its real estate.
Private sales of the terminals generated $14.25 million for the administrators handling the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Three of the terminals will be acquired by Saia, a longtime Yellow rival that already bought 28 locations from the insolvent company during its first two real estate auctions in late 2023.
In a series of moves announced on May 5, the Johns Creek, Ga.-based trucking firm is scooping up three terminal leases for $6.5 million—a 72-door center in Orlando, Fla.; a 54-door location in Deer Park, N.Y.; and a facility with 21 doors in Calexico, Calif. The deal will not be approved before May 29, according to a bankruptcy court filing.
Approval for the deal had been held up by insurance provider Chubb Cos. before legal paperwork was amended. Judge Craig Goldblatt will review the amended agreement on May 29.
Saia acquired 17 service centers for $235.7 million in the first auction in December 2023, which netted $1.88 billion for Yellow as the company’s administrators sought to pay off its pre-bankruptcy debt. Later that month, Saia won 11 sites for a combined $7.9 million. That second auction saw 23 properties awarded to new bidders for $82.9 million.
As of April, Saia operates 213 terminals, having opened 21 of the terminals it bought from Yellow last year. The trucking company has acquired the second-most of Yellow’s terminals since they’ve been put on the market, with Saia’s now-31 facilities only falling behind the 36 scooped up by Estes Express Lines. XPO acquired 28 sites.
According to Saia CEO Fritz Holzgrefe, the company’s revenue growth was concentrated in its newer markets.
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“We’re beginning to see the benefit of a national network that allows us to serve our customers’ needs more immediately than has been the case in the past, evidenced by our shipment growth in those new markets,” said Holzgrefe during the company’s earnings call on April 25.
The company expects to open five or six more of the locations in 2025, Holzgrefe said in a February earnings call.
The bankruptcy court approved the sale of seven terminals outside the Saia transaction, all to companies that haven’t made purchases of Yellow real estate before.
One 80-door terminal in Pontiac was sold to trucking company Moon Star Express for $10 million. That deal was the most valuable of the transactions, and was approved May 14.
The remaining six deals were relatively small in comparison. Baldor, a Maine-based specialty foods distributor, bought an 18-door terminal in Westbrook, Maine, for $1.6 million. An affiliate of Northland Towing, Borg Enterprises, is acquiring a 27-door terminal in Fargo, N.D., for $1.6 million.
Gale Group acquired a terminal in Hubbard, Ohio for $140,000; while Midas Vantage Partners Management bought a service center in Mobile, Ala. for $480,000. United Holdings Group grabbed an Atlanta, Ill. terminal for $450,000, while Goodland Partners obtained a site in Goodland, Kan. for $25,000.
Throughout the rolling private sale process, other trucking firms including LTL players like Knight-Swift, A. Duie Pyle, TFI International, ArcBest’s ABF Freight and R+L Carriers have struck deals to buy Yellow’s terminals.
Yellow’s estate has sold more than 180 terminals for more than $2.2 billion since it first got the nod to liquidate its assets in late 2023. With the recent terminal sales, as well as the offloading to Saia pending approval, Yellow has roughly 79 combined owned and leased terminals still under its estate.
The company filed for bankruptcy in August 2023, less than a week after officially ceasing operations. On the surface, the firm’s downfall was rapid as its 22,000 Teamsters employees threatened strike action, spooking many Yellow customers to shift freight to other LTL carriers. The strike never occurred, but it was too late for the century-old carrier.
Fallout over who is getting paid, and how, has held up the bankruptcy process for nearly two years.
While Yellow agreed with many of its creditors on an amended Chapter 11 plan that would substantially reduce billions in claim amounts by its pension funds, its largest shareholder still hasn’t backed a deal. In late April, hedge fund MFN Partners asked the bankruptcy court to convert the trucking company’s Chapter 11 plan to a trustee-controlled Chapter 7 liquidation.
MFN has argued that Yellow has spent too much money as it works to sell off assets and resolve litigation, and that it needs an independent trustee to oversee the remainder of the proceedings. According to the asset management firm, Yellow spent $10.9 million in fees across March and April.
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