Yellow Corp. is considering a sale of assets and real estate through a bankruptcy filing, which may come as soon as this weekend, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Assets of the beleaguered trucking company have already piqued the interest of a potential financial bidder, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. The Chapter 11 process could later transition into a liquidation, the people said.
The situation, however, is still evolving and nothing has been finalized. A representative at Yellow didn’t reply to request for comment.
The less-than-truckload carrier, which accepts shipments that don’t fill a whole trailer, has been teetering toward bankruptcy in recent weeks and told workers Monday it was shutting down, according to the labor union that represents Yellow’s drivers. The company has more than $1 billion of debt maturing next year that it has struggled to refinance.
Creditors led by Apollo Global Management Inc. are nearing a deal to provide Yellow with fresh cash during a coming bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.
In the case of a bankruptcy, the US government will likely be Yellow’s biggest creditor due to a controversial $700 million lifeline it provided during the pandemic. Yellow said it expects to repay the government loan in full, citing collateral on all of the company’s real estate and vehicle stock.
Yellow is the third largest less-than-truckload carrier in the US and has some 30,000 employees. Shippers of that kind rarely avoid liquidating when they file for bankruptcy, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lee Klaskow said in a July 27 note.
