Rocor International, Oklahoma City, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection petition this week in anticipation of the sale of the refrigerated carrier, possibly within the month.

Rocor is the largest motor carrier in Oklahoma and the 87th largest in the United States. According to published reports, it has 850 trucks and 1,100 trailers in its fleet and employs about 1,000 people, down from about 2,400 trucks and drivers in 1999.
For more than a year, Rocor has worked on downsizing the company to make it profitable and attractive to potential buyers. The company has streamlined its operations, eliminating its logistics division, selling or closing regional operations and expanding its freight brokerage operations. It does not plan to make any further cuts, but plans to sell the company.
Although the company has pared its operations to a profitable core of routes and major customers, it is burdened with more than $100 million in debt, according to court records, approximately $40 million of that unsecured. Much of that unsecured debt, Rocor says, stems from residual contract amounts owned to equipment lenders after returning equipment before the end of contract terms during the company’s downsizing. Rocor listed its assets at between $10 million and $50 million.
CHM Acquisitions LLC, a local investment company, has offered to acquire substantially all of the company’s operating assets. The group indicated it would pay cash in addition to acquiring enough tractors and trailers from Rocor’s existing equipment lenders. Rocor is considering the offer.