TORONTO, Ont. —  Vitran has reached an agreement to divest its Supply Chain Operation (SCO) division to Legacy Supply Chain, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for U.S. $97 million in cash, subject to certain working capital adjustments.

Vitran intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from this transaction to fully reduce its outstanding debt under its senior revolving credit facility and to support the development of its LTL business. Vitran’s Board of Directors is also evaluating various options for the use of the remaining net proceeds.

“We are extremely excited at finding an excellent fit for our SCO business with Legacy Supply Chain. Together, SCO and Legacy Supply Chain will become a formidable and diversified supplier for customers requiring North American supply chain solutions,” Vitran’s President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Gaetz stated in  a release.”..We will continue the recovery and growth of our existing business and believe we have positioned Vitran to be a formidable LTL transportation provider in North America. Our LTL team is energized to aggressively develop the Company into the future.”

Legacy Supply Chain Chief Executive Officer Ron Cain stated, “We are delighted to have SCO join Legacy Supply Chain and are excited at the prospects for our combined company moving forward. We are very pleased with Vitran’s SCO business, employees and the cultural fit between our two companies.”

Legacy Supply Chain has obtained written commitments from certain financial institutions to provide sufficient debt financing to close the transaction. The financing is subject to customary conditions and the financial institutions’ completion of confirmatory due diligence. The sale of the SCO business is expected to close by March 1, 2013, upon completion of the Legacy financing, and is subject to customary conditions for this type of transaction.

BB&T Capital Markets acted as exclusive financial advisor, and McMillan LLP acted as legal counsel, to Vitran