Thompson Reuters News: Panther Expedited Services is for sale

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Full story here

Excerpt:

Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. logistics firm Panther Expedited Services Inc is trying to sell itself, three months after scrapping its IPO plans, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Panther, owned by private equity firm Fenway Partners, is being advised by J.P. Morgan -- which was one of the several underwriters for the initial public offering -- the sources said.

The sources did not want to be named as the sale process was private.

XPO Logistics and several private equity firms are eyeing Panther, one of the sources said.
 
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davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I could certainly see Jacobs having an interest because of the many verticals they seek to expand in. Could be a good thing but something worth following to see what happens.
 

E-OneDog

Active Expediter
Interesting Phil!

I sold a waste company to Jacobs, United Waste in 1997 and the whole thing went very smooth. Anyone who deals with him will be pleased with the results as far as the deal goes. I don't invest in public stocks anymore but I wouldn't advice anyone against betting on Jacobs. However a warning, its about a seven year deal so my advice if you buy XPO get out within that windrow. When he moves on to his next deal the stock price stagnates or drops a little to a lot. Actually I would advice no more than five years.

Panther was the one company I suppected would be a target and I hope it happens. Panther needs better management, period! IMHO!
 

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
I don't know what to think about this. Looks like Load1 will get bigger if this happens as many people will not run for $1.12 a mile. I know we won't, so I guess it may be time to start looking for another carrier just in case this does happen.

Thanks Phil for the heads up sir. :)
 
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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I don't know what to think about this. Looks like Load1 will get bigger if this happens as many people will not run for $1.12 a mile.

What $1.12 per mile are you talking about? What does that figure mean?
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Might not be a good idea to just assume Load 1 or any other carrier will be all that accepting to any and everyone who comes a running. It's not like these people will be bringing Panther's customer base with them. That'll only happen with whomever buys Panther.

Crack your checkbook, John. :D
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
The Reuters piece is based on unnamed sources and we don't know who will buy Panther if anyone buys the company at all. Nevertheless, since talk about possible buyers has already begun, it might be instructive to review what happened when Conway decided to get out of the expedite business a few years ago and sold their expedite division, Conway Now, to Panther.

I heard little about it after the deal was closed. Perhaps others know. Did anything good come out of that transaction? Did Panther get its money's worth? Where did the Conway contractors, fleet owners and drivers go, and how did they fare?

One difference between the Conway Now sale and any Panther sale that may come to pass is that the Conway drivers only learned of it after the deal was done. Their first word came via a Qualcomm message notifying them that the deed was done. In this case, word of a possible Panther sale is preceeding whatever deal may come to be.
 
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Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
Might not be a good idea to just assume Load 1 or any other carrier will be all that accepting to any and everyone who comes a running. It's not like these people will be bringing Panther's customer base with them. That'll only happen with whomever buys Panther.

Crack your checkbook, John. :D

I was talking about the people that may not like Express 1 or don't want to run for $1.12 a mile they pay. I don't know if that is still what they pay, I may be wrong on the rate too. I guess I should check it out first before I post something. My bad.
 

tenntrucker

Expert Expediter
I don't know what to think about this. Looks like Load1 will get bigger if this happens as many people will not run for $1.12 a mile. I know we won't, so I guess it may be time to start looking for another carrier just in case this does happen.

Thanks Phil for the heads up sir. :)

Didn't you just sign a truck on with tryhours?

Sent from my DROID X2 using EO Forums
 

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I think they moved the 1.12 straight truck rate to 1.24plus FSC last month. Still below Panther's current rate structure.
 

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
Didn't you just sign a truck on with tryhours?

Sent from my DROID X2 using EO Forums

Yes, because my older brother and his wife likes Try Hours and I had a truck sitting that really wasn't the best for a two man team with Panther.
 

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
I think they moved the 1.12 straight truck rate to 1.24plus FSC last month. Still below Panther's current rate structure.

Would need to come up a lot more for our trucks and reefer trucks.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Could be a bad sign for those hoping for compensation on the class action. It will be interesting to see what happens.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
One difference between the Conway Now sale and any Panther sale that may come to pass is that the Conway drivers only learned of it after the deal was done. Their first word came via a Qualcomm message notifying them that the deed was done. In this case, word of a possible Panther sale is preceeding whatever deal may come to be.
Yes, we all know this one is coming, because of how Fenway has operated in the past. They buy a company, get what they can out of it (usually for about 5 years), then sell it off, usually keeping it in sound financial condition when they do. So that Panther was looking to IPO or is now looking to be sold isn't a surprise at all.

When we got word via the QC that Panther had bought Con-Way NOW, we had to reply on the QC to announce our intentions to stay with Panther or have the contract with Con-Way NOW dissolved right then and there. There was a phone number to call for questions, and a Web site that had details and all the answers to the FAQs. I guess it was the fleet owners who had to respond in some way for those who were not driving their own trucks.

The majority of drivers and trucks stayed on at Panther, at least for a few months. A few refused outright, immediately, mostly because of proper relationships with Panther. Like, the one straight truck team who had just finished their first week with Con-Way NOW, after having left Panther the previous week. That one was pretty funny. Others stayed at least long enough to get their stay-on bonus (which was 30 days, IIRC). For some the differences between Con-Way NOW and Panther operations was just too much, and they decided to leave Panther. Some left quicker than others. Others stayed. There are still several who are still there.

Those who immediately went to other carriers, many of them were able to get signed on quickly with other carriers, as those carriers were already looking to lease on new trucks, especially already experienced drivers. Others had to wait for natural turnover to open up some spots. Some got out of the business altogether, since they were going to anyway and they chose to speed up their exit. Some stayed and then after realizing Panther wasn't for them, began the process of choosing a new carrier.

Did Panther get their money's worth? I think so. For, I think is was $9 million, Panther got a rather large and varied customer base, particularly in places where they were previously not very strong, like out west, a lot of already paid for and installed Qualcomm units that they continued to charge us for, and they got a fleet of mostly experienced professionals added to their own. No orientation was given or necessary. Driver handbooks and lettering were sent out to to drivers in the field, and the transition was rather smooth (read, cheaper than having to recruit all those people, that's for sure). It was a wild weekend and the first week was a little crazy, but it was quickly business as usual, for the most part.

Three days before the buyout I brought my new Sprinter on with Con-Way NOW, and my paperwork on that hadn't really even filtered through Con-Way NOW at that point, so when the buyout happened, Panther had nothing on me and didn't have a clue who I was when I called in. Rather than deal with all of that over the phone, I drove from Davenport to Seville and reported in on Monday to get everything squared away. It took all day. It was organized chaos, to say the least. Contract, insurance, all the normal paperwork was done. Finally at 5PM I was issued a truck number and we took off the old lettering (which was really easy after only three days) and installed the new lettering. Got my first load with Panther the next morning.

There were a few Con-Way NOW customers who were Con-Way NOW customers because they had left Panther specifically for Con-Way NOW, and they quickly left Panther again, much like the straight truck team mentioned earlier. One important customer in particular they had to court for a couple of years before they got them back. I would imagine that if another carrier buys Panther, the same thing will happen with several of their customers, too. The buyer may not lose as many drivers and trucks initially, or they may lose more, as Panther is very fleet owner oriented, so large numbers of trucks could stay, or bail, en masse. I'm sure incentives to stay on for owners, and maybe drivers, will accompany any sale, though.
 

E-OneDog

Active Expediter
Expeditor Services left E-1 a few months back, that will be interesting.

I was with Con-Way Now and was on my way thru Cleveland to Woodhaven to meet a salesperson about a new truck when I got the call. I cancelled the meeting and went staight to Panther got my paperwork done and got running right away(don't remember now exactly when). I figured I needed to give it a few months before I commited to a new truck and got one a couple months later.

Ran rather well for a couple years then things went to pot in early 2009 and I switched to E-1. Would be fine with me if the sale happened and E-1 fired every Panther emmpolyee, know that won't happen!!!

By the way I absolutly LOVED Con-Way Now as did almost every driver they had. I think that was what was so hard for us when they sold it so abruptly.
 
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