Greatwide Logistics to be acquired by investor group

To implement the transaction, Greatwide will sell the company under Section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

The Trucker News Services

10/21/2008

DALLAS — Greatwide Logistics Services, a national provider of non-asset-based transportation and third-party logistics services intends to enter into an agreement to be acquired by an investor group comprising its first lien secured lenders, including affiliates of Centerbridge Capital Partners and the D. E. Shaw group.

Greatwide believes that the transaction will allow it to complete its financial restructuring “while providing an efficient way to address the company's capital structure needs with no disruption to its operations or customer service,” the company stated.

"We have been pursuing measures to substantially strengthen our capital structure, and we believe the planned acquisition will accomplish those objectives," said Raymond B. Greer, Greatwide president and CEO.

"Greatwide's fundamentals are solid. We believe the proposed transaction is a prudent and necessary step to significantly reduce our debt and interest burden in order to enhance our flexibility to continue to invest and grow."

To implement the transaction, Greatwide will sell the company under Section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Other parties will have an opportunity to submit higher and better offers to purchase the company under this Court-supervised process and Greatwide anticipates the sale transaction will be completed early next year.

"We believe this process is the best and most certain way to complete our financial restructuring," said Greer. "Greatwide is a strong company and we expect that moving forward quickly with this transaction will put the company in a significantly stronger overall financial position, which is good news for our company and those we serve."

In conjunction with this process, certain members of Greatwide's existing first lien lender group will provide $73.6 million in new "debtor in possession" financing to support the business through the 363 sale process.

Upon receiving the necessary approvals, the financing facility will be used to fund ongoing operations. In addition, the company will continue to meet all of its obligations to its customers, employees, independent contractors, agents and capacity providers.

Greer concluded that, "We are fortunate that we have a solid and profitable business model and an outstanding blue-chip customer base. We expect that the new financing facility will allow us to continue to meet the needs of our customers, employees, contractors, agents and capacity providers. We look forward to continuing to operate our business as usual while we take this important step to make Greatwide stronger financially."

Founded in Dallas, in 2000, Greatwide Logistics Services is a privately held, $1 billion third-party logistics services company. The company is ranked No. 22 in the Commercial Carrier Journal 250 and No. 24 on the Traffic World Top 100 lists. The company has four primary lines of business: dedicated transport, truckload management, freight brokerage and distribution logistics.