After winning a bidding war with Manitoulin Transport, TransForce is buying the Canadian assets of Vitran Corp, TransForce announced Monday.
Alain Bédard, chairman, president and CEO of TransForce said: "We are delighted to have reached agreement with Vitran for what represents the acquisition of an important strategic asset for TransForce with considerable synergistic benefits in the near term and into the future. We are looking forward to leveraging the strengths of both companies to enhance our service offering for our customers and welcoming the Vitran employees to the TransForce team."
On Dec. 9, Manitoulin entered in an agreement with Vitran to buy their Canadian assets for US $6.00 per share, beating TransForce previous offer of US $4.50 per share. Then, on Dec. 20, TransForce offered Vitran a “superior offer” of US $6.50 per share.
Manitoulin had five business days to make Vitran a better offer yet, but they did not, so the deal is off the table, Manitoulin gets a termination fee of $4 million and TransForce gets the grand prize— Vitran’s Canadian assets.
The transaction is estimated to be worth US $128 million and that’s after accounting for Vitran’s total debt of US $29 million.
Right now, TransForce owns 19.95 percent of Vitran’s shares.
The current agreement between TransForce and Vitran is subject to applicable regulatory approvals including approval under the Competition Act, and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
