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Yellow searching for better bankruptcy financing terms

Apollo may be replaced by Estes, MFN Partners on debtor-in-possession financing

Yellow Corp. may get better terms on its bankruptcy financing package. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Yellow Corp. is reported to be in talks with multiple parties to obtain improved terms on its bankruptcy financing package, according to Reuters.

A Wednesday hearing in a Delaware court revealed the company will not move forward with a $142.5 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing agreement with Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO), one of the company’s current lenders. Boston hedge fund MFN Partners, which recently acquired a more than 40% ownership stake in Yellow, and former competitor Estes Express Lines are reported to be potential lenders.

Apollo’s proposed DIP financing would have placed the private equity firm ahead of other secured creditors on a larger slug of the company’s debt, including unencumbered and certain other assets. The firm already holds first-lien position on the remaining $501 million it’s owed under a term loan agreement and the $337 million outstanding on the first tranche of a COVID relief loan issued by the Treasury.

Monday filings said the Apollo offer represented the best available to the company.


“Following extensive canvassing of the market and several days of around-the-clock and arm’s-length negotiations, the Debtors and the DIP Lenders agreed to the DIP Facility, which, as presented to the Court today, represents the best possible debtor-in-possession financing facility that the Debtors could realistically obtain.”

A high fee structure, the right to reject smaller transactions and a 90-day window to complete the asset dispositions were cited as some of the reasons to go with another lender.

Yellow (NASDAQ: YELL) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday with the plan of liquidating assets to pay off lenders. The filing listed $2.15 billion in assets and $2.59 billion in debt.

Estes declined to comment on the matter.


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5 Comments

  1. Robert

    Estes already owns a bunch of yellow terminals. Yellow freight has never owned Estes. Estes has been family owned since 1931. They are largest family owned LTL company the country.

  2. Joshua Gonzales

    100 percent ! That company is an employee owned entity as I see it.. billions ! Billions of wages and benefits, pension.. 30 thousand employess.. x an average of 3 family members. 90 thousand American working forces families suffering!.
    SO PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA JOE BIDEN ! What are you even doing to try to help the families..
    This definitely needs to be investigated and every single employee that has given back should be compensated.. you yellow freight have stated thats the only way we would progress and that we would be getting everything back for our and our families sacrifices for the success of the company for the better of the whole.. we give back to just get robbed . Knowingly.. Yellow thinks it has the right to lie, cheat, to the point of trying to sue the union the ones who gave the most .WE WANT BACK WHAT WE WE WERE PROMISED A CONTRACT IS A CONTRACT RIGHT YELLOW ? . And ESTES ? Lol omg yellow bought them also long ago under our investment proceeds.. and what let me guess …Estes will be running around according to plan long ago .. the work the logistics for yellows freight you just wait and see… its a plan yall to get rid of teamsters . And unions of any sort to enslave us ladies and gentlemen. This is the future. Keep making the greedy society richer. We know and see this.. and it needs to be addressed..
    GOOD OLD JOE IM SURE HAS NOT A DAM THING TO SAY …. DO SOMETHING ALREADY ! AS A PRESIDENT THAT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG WHILE THROUGH ALL THIS WORKER RIGHTS AGE .. AND YET YOU DONT SHOW ANY TYPE OF SYMPATHY… EMPATHY. YOU SAY YOUR FOR THE WORKER.. MY ASS

  3. Dennis Marion Safrit Sr.

    Well again if anyone would have listen to what any of the employees had to say back in 2022 we might not be in this situation but more than likely we would. after all the money that the employees gave up and then the company didn’t give the 60-90 day notice it just goes to show the company never cared about the customers much less the employees. I hope that the union can get the rest of our money back to the people that sacrificed all the time and hard work that us the employees put into helping the customers and that someday we’ll be recognized as the backbone of our company and not the ones that screwed the pooch!!

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Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.