Tuesday, December 28, 2010

YRCW New Counsel Notable For CEO Stint

YRC Worldwide hired a former CEO as its general counsel.  It touts his background in external affairs as a nod to the cooperation they'll need from creditors in recapitalizing YRCW's balance sheet.  A deeper reading of this is that his experience merging Embarq into CenturyTel may come in handy if YRCW is secretly looking for an acquirer.  Embarq was Sprint Nextel's local phone service, carrying data traffic over local private line switches.  That sounds almost like the telecom equivalent of an LTL trucker. 

Speculation means nothing at this stage.  Any potential suitor would face just as many financial and operational headaches as the current turnaround team.  Note that one of the keys to CenturyTel's acquisition of Embarq was its agreement to assume $5.8B of the target's debt.  It is not clear whether Arkansas Best or Con-Way or some other suitor would be so willing to save YRCW. 

Full disclosure:  No positions in YRCW, ABFS, or CNW at this time.