Consolidated Auctions Successful; Texas Buyers Still Hopeful
Bankrupt trucking giant Consolidated Freightways has begun auctioning its network of closed terminals, raising questions about whether a group of investors will be able to revive the company and save thousands of jobs
Bankrupt trucking giant Consolidated Freightways has begun auctioning its network of closed terminals, raising questions about whether a group of investors will be able to revive the company and save thousands of jobs.
The company closed its doors on Labor Day, throwing more than 15,000 people out of work.
On Monday, the trucking company sold terminals in Long Beach, Calif.; Long Island, N.Y.; South Chicago, Ill.; and several other locations, raising $53 million, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
"It was a very successful auction," Consolidated spokesman Mike Brown said.
The company, based in Vancouver, Wash., has another round of terminals tentatively scheduled for auction Dec. 9.
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.), said FedEx Corp. and Crown Enterprises were among the winners in the bankruptcy auction for Consolidated terminals in several major cities.
Federal Express bought a terminal in the Chicago area for $10 million, paid $4.55 million for one in Des Plaines, Ill., and $1.6 million for another in Madison, Wis.
Crown Enterprises bought a terminal in Hayward, Calif., for $2.9 million, a facility in Bethpage, N.Y., for $4.1 million and one in St. Cloud, Minn., for $600,000.
Roadway Express Corp. purchased a Southern California facility in Long Beach for $7.63 million.
The most expensive property was a $ 14.75 million terminal in Brooklyn, which was bought by a company called B & H Photo. Attorneys did not know much about that buyer, but the judge was told the company put up double its required deposit, according to the Press-Enterprise.
Meanwhile, a group of private investors that wants to buy Consolidated out of bankruptcy and restart operations says it is still trying to get a meeting with the company's board of directors and creditors' committee.
The group had offered $500 million to buy Consolidated, including the portions in the auction. It had formed a new company called Rollin' International to resume operations, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The investor group's offer expires Friday, but a spokesman, Frank Snell of Fort Worth, Texas, said the group plans to submit a new offer within days.
"There will be some things in the new offer which I think will get (the company's) attention," Snell said. He declined to elaborate.
Snell said he was disappointed that the company didn't show more interest in the group's proposal. "You would think they would try to figure out how to make it work, as opposed to just trying to kiss it off, so to speak," he said.
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