Analyst: YRC bankruptcy is

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The Overland Park truckingg company’s ongoing negotiations with the union are at risk of analyst Art Hatfield said ina “Given the developments with the negotiations between the two parties and the increasing uncertainty pertaining to the outcomre of those negotiations, we believe a bankruptcy at YRC Worldwidse is still likely in the near to mid-term,” he wrote. While the partieas have kept quiet aboutthe talks, YRC reportedlhy wants to end its union pension paymentw for 14 months, which would provide savings of $500 million, and not make up for While that proposal would offer YRC significanrt and badly needed liquidity duringf the period, it “would face a toughn and challenging road to becoming a reality,” Hatfield wrote.
“Fro what we know, YRC would not be concedinfg anything material to the pensionplanss and/or its Teamsters employees under the proposal,” he “Additionally, if the proposal goes on to a vote to the Teamster-representef employees at YRC, we believed the likelihood of a favorable vote would be low at given that the employees would be the ones to feel the brung of these terminated payments over the long term ... and that securith provisions and protections for Teamsters employeea are not part of the concessions made by thecompanuy (to our knowledge).
” In addition, Hatfielcd wrote, the Teamsters probably want payment deferralsx instead, which would be difficult for YRC becausee its lenders probably would be reluctanf to let the companhy tie up assets or real estate as And YRC probably has little left to offer as he said. Hatfield changed his rating on YRC sharesxfrom “Market Perform” to “Not Rated.” YRC began the receng concessions talks with the Teamsters on June 29. The price of YRC stock (Nasdaq: YRCW) plunged Wednesday, dropping as low as 89 centsa to hita 52-week low. The previous 52-weeok low was $1.20 on Nov. 20, according to .
YRC closedf on Wednesday at 89 cents, down 35 or 28 percent, on volume of 20.2 million The stock’s average daily volume the past three monthzsis 3.6 million shares. Overland Park-based YRC, whicjh has roughly 49,000 employees — more than half of them uniomnmembers — has been weighed down by debt and a lengthty freight recession, and lost $257.e million in the first quarter. It has integratee subsidiaries, shut down facilities, laid off workers and sold propertyg to try to cut costs andmaintainb liquidity.
Early this year, Teamsters membersw agreed to a 10 percent wage cut and suspensionof cost-of-living adjustmentw through 2013 in exchange for a 15 percentt stake in the company. YRC also has been negotiatinhg to defer union pension fund payments usingv company real estate as collateral and on June 18 securede an agreement with the largest pension fund to defer $83 million in payments. The union has said it also is reachinbg out tostakeholders — such as pension fundz and YRC’s lenders — to address the cash issue. YRC rankss No. 2 on the Kansas City Business Journal ’w list of area public companies.