Arkansas Best’s ‘White Knight’ Eases Deadline After Power Loss

The “white knight” that rescued Arkansas Best Corp. from a hostile takeover bid with a friendly merger agreement says it was tendered about 85% of the trucking and furniture company’s stock by a deadline of midnight Thursday.

But Kelso & Co. extended its deadline until 4 p.m. EDT Monday because a power failure prevented delivery of all the shares and convertible debentures of Arkansas Best that had been tendered.

The private merchant-banking firm had earlier extended the deadline until 3 p.m. EDT Friday, and announced later that day a second extension to Monday.

Kelso, which has offices in New York, San Francisco and Newport Beach, Calif., said it had been tendered about 9.3 million shares of Arkansas Best by the midnight deadline. The company’s later announcement used the same figure for shares tendered by 3 p.m. Friday.

According to the first announcement, payment for the shares and securities tendered will begin Monday.

Kelso’s tender offer was announced in June after its officials reached a merger agreement with officials of Arkansas Best. The agreement stemmed from Arkansas Best’s attempts to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by Razorback Acquisition Corp., a group of New York and New Jersey investors.

In early May, Razorback made a tender offer to Arkansas Best stockholders of $20 a share. That was later raised to $23 a share, and the price being offered for the Arkansas firm’s subordinated debentures was also increased.

Kelso, in its formal offer made June 24, offered $26 a share and also topped the price offered for the debentures.

In its news release, Kelso said that, as of midnight Thursday, about a $24.9-million aggregate principal amount of convertible subordinated debentures of Arkansas Best had been tendered and not withdrawn.