Greatwide Logistics Services, Dallas, announced that it intends to enter into an agreement to be acquired by an investor group made up of its first lien secured lenders,
including affiliates of Centerbridge Capital Partners and the D.E. Shaw group.

Greatwide says the transaction will allow it to complete its financial restructuring expeditiously while providing an efficient way to address the company's capital structure needs with no disruption to its operations or customer service. Greatwide "expects the sale to reduce its debt and interest burden, enhance its competitiveness and position the company for continued growth and profitability," according to the announcement.

"We have been pursuing measures to substantially strengthen our capital structure, and we believe the planned acquisition will accomplish those objectives," said Raymond B. Greer, president and CEIO. "Greatwide's fundamentals are solid. We believe the proposed transaction is a prudent and necessary step to significantly reduce our debt and interest burden in order to enhance our flexibility to continue to invest and grow."

To implement the transaction, Greatwide will sell the company under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Other parties will have an opportunity to submit higher and better offers to purchase the company under this court-supervised process and Greatwide anticipates the sale transaction will be completed early next year.

In conjunction with this process, certain members of Greatwide's existing first lien lender group will provide $73.6 million in new "debtor in possession" financing to support the business through the 363 sale process.

Founded in Dallas in 2000, Greatwide Logistics Services is a privately held, $1 billion third-party logistics services company. The company is ranked No. 22 on the Commercial Carrier Journal 250 and No. 24 on the Traffic World Top 100 lists. The company has four primary lines of business: dedicated transport, truckload management, freight brokerage and distribution logistics.