Motor carrier holding company Comcar Industries announced on Sunday, May 17, that it has filed for court-supervised bankruptcy protection and plans to liquidate by selling off its five trucking companies.
In terms of size, Comcar was bigger than Celadon when it filed bankruptcy in late 2019, but the prepackaged bankruptcy that Comcar has organized will be more structured and seamless than the abrupt shutdown of Celadon.
Three of the company’s buyers were identified in the disclosure:
– Flatbed hauler CT Transportation will be acquired by PS Logistics, which since the end of 2018 has also bought Celadon Logistics, Riechmann Transport and Robinette Trucking.
– Chemical carrier CTL Transportation will be acquired by Service Transport Co. or STI. STI is a broad-based carrier based in Houston.
– MCT Transportation will be sold to White Willow Holdings, a private equity firm backed by New York investment house Luminus Management LLC. MCT Transportation is a refrigerated carrier that also provides dry van services. Earlier this year FreightWaves reported that White Willow sought to acquire holdings out of the Celadon bankruptcy.
Earlier this month it was reported that White Willow was in discussions to buy Celadon’s Mexican assets.
Comcar also said it has entered into a letter of intent to sell CCC Transportation, a bulk carrier and CTTS Repair. The identity of the intended purchaser was not disclosed.
According to the company’s website, Comcar dates its history back to 1953. CCC was the original company that launched what ultimately became Comcar, which was sold to private equity in 2016.
Comcar is filing under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code in a pre-packaged action that is also governed by the section 363 sale process. Under the 363 sale process, the announced buyers of the Comcar assets are considered to be “stalking horses” that ultimately could be outbid for the assets in an auction process supervised by the bankruptcy court.
In a prepared statement attributed to Comcar senior management, the company said it decided to file for bankruptcy protection “to better enable us to find homes for our customers, people and assets.”
The company said in its filing, “Prior to this decision, we worked diligently to find a solution that would reduce our debt, enhance our liquidity and best position all Comcar holdings for the future. After evaluating options to address our capital structure and conducting extensive negotiations, we determined that a sale of all companies would be the best path forward to maximize their value.”
The individual companies will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process, Comcar said in its statement.
Randy Clark, Comcar’s CEO, who was appointed to head the company just last year, died unexpectedly in early April. According to a story about his death in the Jacksonville Business Journal, Clark had been an executive at DHL and Polar Air Cargo, and the CEO of Streamlite and Towne Transportation.