Arkansas Best Corporation – ABFS – Agrees To Acquire Premium Logistics Company Panther Expedited Services

Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS), a leading provider of freight transportation and logistics solutions, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Panther Expedited Services, Inc. (“Panther”), from Fenway Partners LLC, a leading middle market private equity firm. The total transaction value is approximately $180 million, subject to post-closing adjustments, with all of Panther’s outstanding debt being repaid as part of the transaction.

• Transaction Expected to Significantly Enhance Arkansas Best’s End-To-End Solutions Offering
• Offers Asset-Light Platform for Growth in $700 Billion Transportation and Logistics Market

The acquisition is scheduled to close on or about June 15, 2012, subject to customary conditions, including the funding of a new term loan agreement for Arkansas Best. Panther is North America’s largest independent expedited transportation and premium logistics provider. Panther reported approximately $215 million in revenue (unaudited) and $24 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”) in 2011. (“Adjusted EBITDA”, for this purpose, includes adjustments for management fees/expenses.) Panther’s specialized equipment, technology and expertise in expedited transportation, premium logistics and global forwarding will enhance Arkansas Best’s end-to-end solutions offering, providing more of the services that customers increasingly demand. The current Panther management team is expected to remain in place to manage and grow the business. “Panther Expedited Services is an excellent strategic fit for our company and our customers as we seek to offer end-to-end logistics solutions for progressively more complex supply chains,” said Arkansas Best President and Chief Executive Officer Judy R. McReynolds. “We are very enthusiastic about this unique transaction, which met all of our criteria for growth among many options we analyzed for several years.”

McReynolds added, “With Panther operating as a sister company to ABF Freight System, our core LTL business, we are better positioned to serve as a premier one-source logistics partner to our customers as their shipping needs rapidly evolve. Importantly, we are also creating a more flexible cost structure required to compete in today’s demanding global marketplace.”

About Arkansas Best Corporation – ABFS

Arkansas Best Corporation (ABFS), headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, is a freight transportation services and solutions provider. Through its various subsidiaries, ABFS offers a wide variety of logistics solutions including: domestic and global transportation of less than- truckload and full load shipments, expedited and time-definite delivery solutions, freight brokerage, oversight of roadside assistance and equipment services for commercial vehicles, and household goods moving market services for consumers, corporations and the military.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.