YRC Worldwide Inc. announced today it has finalized an agreement with Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund ("Central States") in which the company will provide certain of the company's real estate as collateral in lieu of making pension contribution payments during the second quarter. The estimated combined contribution payment deferral to Central States is approximately $83 million, YRC Worldwide said, and the agreement calls for the company to repay the deferred contributions over three years beginning in January 2010.
Central States is the largest of the company's International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) multi-employer defined benefit pension funds and represents 58% of the company's monthly pension funding obligations. YRC Worldwide also said it is finalizing discussions with its other IBT multi-employer pension funds to join as participants in this same agreement. Currently, the company has deferred about $50 million related to these other funds.
YRC Worldwide also announced it finalized an amendment to its credit agreement with its lenders that permits the company and its subsidiaries to grant second priority liens on certain owned real estate in conjunction with the pension deferrals described above. The amendment also releases escrow funds of $73 million, generated from the company's prior real estate transactions, to pay down the revolving credit facility without reducing the company's borrowing availability under the facility, said YRC Worldwide.
The company noted that it continues to close on its sale and financing leaseback agreements, with $94 million closed quarter-to-date through June 16. The company expects to close approximately $77 million of additional sale and financing leaseback transactions that are currently under contract.
"These transactions are especially critical as we continue to face substantial headwinds from the global economic recession," said Bill Zollars, chairman, president & CEO YRC Wordwide. "Today's announcement marks important milestones, which are part of our overall strategy to provide us with greater financial flexibility during the economic recession, giving us additional liquidity and the ability to use our cash to support the business.
"Most importantly, we continue to improve the level of service to our customers, while we focus on making our cost structure more competitive with others in our industry, strengthening our balance sheet and reducing our short-term cash obligations," Zollars added.
At May 31, 2009, the company's cash and cash equivalents, excluding restricted cash of $61 million, was $155 million compared to $151 million at April 30, 2009. The aggregated cash balance and available unused capacity under the credit agreements was $242 million at May 31, 2009, compared to $221 million at April 30, 2009.
YRC Worldwide Inc. is the holding company for YRC (new brand name for the combined Yellow Transportation and Roadway network), YRC Reimer, YRC Logistics, New Penn, Holland, Reddaway and YRC Glen Moore.
