Summit Global Logistics files under Chapter 11

Summit Global Logistics files under Chapter 11 Summit Global Logistics Inc., a publicly traded non-vessel-operating common carrier and logistics company, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code.
   The company also announced a financial restructuring in which it would go private and the assets of Summit and its operating subsidiaries, including TUG USA and FMI International, would be acquired by TriDec Acquisition Co. Inc. for $56.5 million.
   TriDec, Summit said, would be owned by certain founders of Summit’s operating companies, members of senior management and the company’s existing senior secured lenders, which include Fortress Credit, Ableco Finance arm of Cerberus Capital Management, and Plainfield Direct.
   It said the proposed restructuring transaction must be approved by the bankruptcy court.
   “Due to the difficult market and the difficult way of trying to start up a publicly traded company, we felt the best way to right the ship was to buy the company back and privatize it,” said Thomas Wyville, director of marketing.
   Summit said it “intends to continue to operate its facilities and offices in the ordinary course of business through the transaction process.”
   “Summit’s top priority is serving our valued customers,” said Robert Agresti, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “We expect ‘business as usual’ in all of the regions where we do business.”
   In papers filed with the bankruptcy court in Newark, N.J., the company estimated its assets at $50 million to $100 million and debt at $100 million to $500 million.
   Summit listed its 10 largest unsecured creditors and the amount they are owed as follows:
   ' Maersk, $2.80 million.
   ' First Insurance Funding, $1.63 million.
   ' Port LA Distribution II, $596,034.
   ' Alvarez & Marsal, $498,993.
   ' Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, $408,457.
   ' Ace American Insurance, $314,450.
   ' Fort Pitt Consolidators, $314,693.
   ' Staffing Systems, $253,221.
   ' Aetna, $250,000.
   ' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, $218,194.
   Summit had a loss of $31.9 million on revenue of $215 million in the first nine months of 2007.
   Agresti is one of several former P&O Nedlloyd executives who helped form Summit in 2006 in the wake of the merger of P&O with Maersk in 2005. They helped engineer the merger of their company with several other companies — FMI, TUG, SeaMaster Logistics, and AmeRussia to form an independent logistics company.
   The company gained some star power last year when Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander and 2004 candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, served as the company’s chairman from February until his resignation in December. Clark is chairman of the investment company Rodman & Renshaw. ' Chris Dupin