YRC extends debt tender offer to Monday; exchange appears to make progress

YRC Worldwide Inc. said last Thursday that it has extended until today an offer to its bondholders to exchange more than $530 million in debt for more than 1 billion shares of newly issued equity and effective control of the troubled less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier.

The extension, the fourth in a month, comes as YRC reported that 80 percent of bondholders had agreed to tender their shares as of Dec. 23, which had been the most recent deadline. That figure represents an improvement over the 57 percent of bondholders that had agreed to the swap as of several days ago. Analysts said the number of bondholders agreeing to tender would increase as the clock ticked down to the Dec. 23 deadline.

YRC's lenders had originally stipulated that 95 percent of bondholders tender shares before they would free up $106 million in a revolving credit line that would allow YRC to make a $19 million payment in interest and fees by Dec. 31. Without access to those funds, YRC said it would be unlikely to make the payment by that date. Such a scenario would leave YRC little choice but to file for bankruptcy protection.

It has been reported that YRC's lenders may accept a ratio of less than 95 percent of bondholder approval in return for freeing up the funds. About 80 percent of bondholder approval is a ratio that analysts have speculated may be acceptable to the banks.

The newest deadline is 11: 59 p.m. New York time on Dec. 28.