Allied, Wheaton Want Global Van Lines

Global Van Lines in Orange, which has fallen on hard times, has found itself the subject of a bidding war between two other movers.

Allied Worldwide, formerly based in Fort Wayne, Ind., has offered to buy Global for $1.65 million to $2.5 million, depending on how many of Global’s independent agents agree to affiliate with Allied, said Stephen Bell, Global’s president.

At the same time, Wheaton Worldwide Moving in Illinois has offered “around $3 million” for Global, said Stephen Burns, Wheaton’s chairman.

“We’re in a bidding war for the name and agency system,” said Burns. Wheaton posted around $75 million last year in its commercial residential business, its biggest division, Burns said.

Executives at Allied, which posted $2 billion in revenue last year, declined to comment on the deal. Each company is privately owned, and financial information about it is scarce.

Allied and Wheaton found themselves competitors after Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and soon received letters of intent from each company, Bell said.

Though Global chose to accept Allied’s offer, it also opted for a legal procedure in which Wheaton can continue to compete for the company.”[The letters of intent] were so similar that what we decided to do was leave it up to our agents,” Bell said.

Wheaton and Allied are each now trying to persuade the 134 independent movers who work exclusively for Global to agree to work for them. When all three parties appear March 20 before a bankruptcy judge in Santa Ana, Allied will announce the value of its offer--based on the number of agents it has signed up--and Wheaton will then have the chance to top it, Bell said.

“Wheaton fully intends that when the sale motion is heard March 20 . . . Burns, the CEO and chair, will put forth an overbid, over and above the Allied offer,” Bell said.

Burns, not inclined to tip his hand, nearly concurred.

“We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to help put these Global agents in the best position,” he said.

Allied became the world’s largest moving company when it merged with the Fort Wayne-based North American Van Lines in November in a deal worth $450 million.

Allied, based in Naperville, Ill., concentrates on high-end specialized moving.