MONTREAL, (Aug. 26, 2003) — Canada’s largest trucking outfit just got bigger after the successful acquisition of Calgary-based Canadian Freightways.

TransForce — Canada’s largest for-hire carrier — announced it had won a bid to purchase substantially all assets of Canadian Freightways for CDN $69.6 million plus assumption of loans and credit facilities of $15.0 from Consolidated Freightways, which unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy last year.

CF had reported it had received a $90 million US offer for its independently-operated division earlier this summer, but the United States Bankruptcy Court ruled that the sale would have to go to the highest bidder at auction, which was completed yesterday. TransForce’s acquisition is expected to close before the end of this year.

“Canadian Freightways is a profitable, well-managed enterprise and adding this company to the TransForce group will provide unparalleled coverage to our customers across Canada and beyond,” TransForce president and CEO Alain Bédard said in a press release.

Bédard said his company intends to operate Canadian Freightways as an independent division and will retain current management and staff of 1,500 employees under the direction of Canadian Freightways president Darshan Kailly. The company’s operations include LTL, truckload, sufferance warehouses, customs brokerage, international freight forwarding, and logistics management. Combined revenues reported for the last fiscal year were CDN $236 million.

TransForce, whose main subsidiaries already included TST Overland Express and Cabano Kingsway, has acquired a host of trucking assets over the last two years, including Canpar and Tri-Line Expressways.