YRC extends debt-to-equity deadline through Wednesday

YRC extends debt-to-equity deadline through Wednesday    YRC Worldwide on Wednesday extended for a third time this week, and sixth time this month, the deadline for creditors to swap debt for equity in the company as it tries to stave off bankruptcy.
   The giant less-than-truckload carrier faces due dates for huge debt payments incurred through several large acquisitions and consolidation efforts and is offering bondholders 95 percent of the company's common stock to avoid the payments and retain access to a credit line. The unionized carrier has said its liquidity could be jeopardized if it has to make a $19 million payment on Jan. 1.
   YRC said 84 percent of the company's outstanding notes, which total $537 million, had been tendered for equity, up from 81 percent on Tuesday and 80 percent a week earlier but still below the threshold it says is required.
   The offer had been set to expire at midnight on Monday, but YRC decided this morning to move the deadline until midnight on Wednesday in an effort to convince more bondholders to participate.
   YRC said 94 percent of the aggregate principal amount of the 5.0 percent and 3.375 percent notes and 59 percent of the 8.5 percent notes had been tendered into the exchange offers. The shortfall in debt conversions means the company still needs to raise about $20 million to retire notes due in April, according to Wall Street news reports.
   Part of YRC's problem is that some hedge funds have placed bets that the company will collapse and stand to make more money on financial maneuvering than if they convert.
   The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents YRC truck drivers and terminal workers, called on holdout bondholders to accept the YRC deal. It named hedge funds Brigade Capital Management and JMB Capital Partners, and banks such as UBS, Barclays and TD Bank, as not having tendered debt for equity. The union said it will hold a rally Wednesday in front of Brigade Capital's New York office to urge the hedge fund to exchange or sell its position.

Hoffa

   'All bondholders need to recognize that the livelihoods of 30,000 Teamster members depend on their willingness to take part in the exchange,' Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. 'The workers, the pension funds, the secured lenders, a majority of bondholders and other stakeholders have made sacrifices and contributed to the restructuring.
   'Now it is time for the remaining bondholders to recognize what is at stake and do their part. The company's customers need to know there is a light at the end of this tunnel.'
   Last week union officials asked the Securities and Exchange Commission, state attorneys general, state insurance commissioners and Congress to investigate the activities of bondholders and traders in the exchange, claiming those with derivates are trying to cash in from the company's collapse.
   An unnamed Brigade Capital official told Reuters that the company does not own YRC bonds and is not involved in thwarting the exchange. ' Eric Kulisch