Successful bidders are slated to pay a whopping $1.88 billion for 128 of bankrupt Yellow Corp.’s trucking terminals at auction — revealing which markets they view as strong investment opportunities.
Trucking carriers and other companies will scoop up properties across much of the country. Yellow will sell three or more terminals in Arizona, California, Georgia, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Some locations saw soaring valuations and back-up bids indicating immense interest. Estes Express Lines, which initially valued the full network at $1.525 billion, bid $33 million on a single Indiana terminal: 2530 S. Tibbs Ave. in Indianapolis. The property drew a back-up bid of $31.1 million from ArcBest Corp.’s real estate arm.
The auction is ongoing, with another 46 terminals still for sale, according to a court filing Monday.
Here’s a map showing which bidder submitted the top offer for each terminal, and a look at some of the top bidders’ investments.
Who’s buying which Yellow terminals?
XPO takes 3 Tennessee terminals
Total purchase price: $870 million
Total acquisitions: 26 terminals and two leases
XPO entered a bridge loan agreement for $870 million to pay for dozens of properties, according to a securities filing Tuesday.
The Greenwich, Connecticut-based carrier pounced on a chance to expand in Tennessee, and is set to pick up properties in Nashville, Jackson and Goodlettsville, nearly 15 miles north of Nashville.
It’s slated to acquire two terminals each in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania, as well as one owned and one leased terminal in Texas.
Estes to buy in New York and Ohio
Total investment: $248.7 million
Total acquisitions: 24 terminals
Estes, the stalking horse bidder for the properties, is poised to secure the most terminals in New York (four) and Ohio (three), among the two dozen for which it has submitted winning bids so far in the auction.
The Richmond, Virginia-based LTL carrier also could pick up two properties in multiple states, including Illinois, Iowa and Vermont.
In addition to the $33 million Indianapolis bid, it will spend more than $10 million per terminal in Olive Branch, Mississippi; Romulus, Michigan; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Boynton Beach, Florida. All five sites feature an eight-figure back-up bid.
Saia to add Midwest service centers
Total investment: $235.7 million
Total acquisitions: 17 terminals
Saia’s winning bids are spread across more than a dozen states, with at least two each in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Kentucky.
It put down a $4 million winning bid on a terminal in Duluth, Minnesota, which drew a $3 million back-up bid from ArcBest.
And it was the only bidder to win a facility in Laredo, Texas, one of the country’s busiest cross-border shipping hubs.
Knight-Swift shops thriftily
Total investment: $51.3 million
Total acquisitions: 13 terminals
Knight-Swift could get the most bang for its buck of any of the winning bidders.
The truckload giant could pay an average of less than $4 million per terminal to acquire more than a dozen properties in nine states.
It will add two facilities each in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Editor's note: The chart in this story was updated to better display the distribution of terminals by company.
