Yellow Terminals Sold for $1.9 Billion in Bankruptcy Auction

XPO, Estes Express Lines, and Saia were among less-than-truckload companies that purchased Yellow terminals during a recent court-supervised auction following the company’s bankruptcy. About 75% of Yellow’s properties will be sold, for nearly $1.9 billion.

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December 5, 2023

Yellow Terminals Sold for $1.9 Billion in Bankruptcy Auction — Many of the terminals owned by Yellow have been sold as part of a bankruptcy auction.
Photo: YRC/Yellow

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Several less-than-truckload carriers bought truck terminals in a court-supervised action that liquidated 75% of Yellow’s properties, according to a filing Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Combined, the properties sold for slightly under $1.9 billion.

The bids still must be approved by the court. However the court has scheduled Dec. 12 hearing to approve those bids, reported U.S. News & World Report.

Yellow filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August while owing $1.3 billion to secured creditors that was due to be repaid in 2024. The outstanding debt included $729.2 million to the federal government for a CARES Act loan it received during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yellow’s terminals were appraised at about $1.1 billion before the auction. About 90% of the terminals were sold to about a dozen less-than-truckload carriers, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Top Purchasers

Some of the companies that will be acquiring Yellow properties, once approved by the court, include:

XPO — The third-largest LTL will purchase 28 properties for a total of $870 million.
Estes Express Lines — The major LTL carrier entered the action with a bid of $1.5 billion for all of Yellow’s properties, but in the auction only secured 24 terminals for $249 million.
Saia — A Georgia-based LTL, will be paying $236 million for 17 of Yellow’s properties.

According to Yellow’s 2022 annual report, the company owned 166 transportation service facilities. About 130 of those have been sold through the recent auction. The same annual report noted Yellow, at that time, also owned 12,700 tractors and about 34,000 trailers.