With the ink not even dry on his retirement papers as chairman & CEO of Phoenix-based truckload carrier Swift Transportation – a company he founded in 1966 – Jerry Moyes has made an unsolicited buyout offer for Waco, TX-based LTL Central Freight Lines for $2.25 per share.
Moyes and certain Moyes family trusts already own approximately 31.5% of Central’s common stock and are offering cash for the rest of the company, the carrier said. Central added that it has formed a special committee to review Moyes’ offer, along with independent legal counsel and Morgan Keegan & Company, its financial advisor.
Moyes has a somewhat rough-and-tumble history with non-union Central, removing himself from its board of directors last year after clashing with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters over his role in directing business from Central to some of the other freight companies Moyes owns.
That said, Central’s executive team welcomes the buyout proposal as it has skated on thin fiscal ice of late – highlighted by a recent deal with its lenders to gain $5 million in additional funding for its turnaround efforts. The carrier lost $8.3 million in the second quarter this year as revenues dropped 8%, compared to a loss of $1.1 million in the same period in 2004.
“We believe the transaction proposal announced today demonstrates Jerry Moyes’ continuing support for Central, as well as his confidence in Central’s future,” said Central’s President & CEO Bob Fasso.
