On Tuesday, September 17, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S. Sontchi approved the sale of most of Allied Systems Holdings assets to Jack Cooper Transport. In a ruling from the bench, Judge Sontchi indicated his preliminary approval saying he was “more than happy” to approve the Jack Cooper sale subject to review of the final documents and would sign the sales motion “as quickly as possible.”

This sales approval now clears the way for a review of the transaction by the U.S. Justice Department. The revised sales documents now have the transaction closing no later than December 31, 2013, not October as we had previously reported.

“This is as good an outcome as we could have hoped for,” said Roy Gross, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division. “Our members were almost collateral damage in the fight between the two groups of lenders. The judge acknowledged that this was ‘a very difficult case’ and that Allied was in danger of ‘dying on the vine’ while Black Diamond/Spectrum fought for control of the lending group from Yucaipa. He further acknowledged that other stakeholders were able to focus on a resolution to the bankruptcy and separate that task from the lender dispute ultimately preserving over a thousand jobs.”

“As I stated before, I thank our Teamster Allied members for the professionalism and patience as the bankruptcy unfolded. There is now light at the end of the tunnel and we’ll continue to focus on the sale to Jack Cooper and now turn our attention to the operational issues that will unfold as Cooper figures out how to incorporate or integrate Allied's customers,” Gross said.

The Teamsters Union will continue to provide updates on the bankruptcy process and business integration issues as they become available. For updates, visit www.teamster.org/Allied.

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