SCS to sell Jevic, move headquarters to Georgia

SCS Transportation Inc. has found a buyer for its troubled Jevic Transportation Inc. subsidiary in a deal that will move the trucking holding company’s headquarters to Georgia from Kansas City.

An affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc., a private investment firm, has acquired Jevic for $40 million. Jevic, based in Delanco, N.J., is a hybrid truckload and less-than-truckload carrier that has struggled and negatively affected SCS’s earnings over the past several quarters.

Bert Trucksess, chairman and chief executive of SCS, said the sale allows the company to focus on Saia Motor Freight Line Inc., an LTL carrier based in Duluth, Ga. Saia has continued to perform well for SCS during Jevic’s struggles.

With SCS becoming a holding company with one unit, Trucksess said the company will eventually change its name to Saia.

In addition, SCS’s administrative headquarters in Kansas City will be closed by the end of the year, Trucksess said. The administrative office has seven employees, and Trucksess said he and another executive are the only ones moving to work in Duluth.

Saia has a terminal in Kansas City with about 120 employees that will continue operating.

Also at year’s end, Trucksess will take on a non-executive chairman role with the company. Rick O’Dell, Saia’s president, will succeed him as CEO of the holding company. O’Dell also was named president of SCS today.

O’Dell has been Saia president for six years and is a natural successor to the top post, Trucksess said.

“I had recommended Rick for this role, whether we stayed a multi-carrier company or became single-segment carrier,” Trucksess said. “He is a very talented and very capable individual.”

SCS Transportation was formed in 2002 when YRC Worldwide Inc. (then called Yellow Corp.) spun off its regional trucking units. Trucksess has been its only chairman and chief executive.

In January, Starboard Value and Opportunity Fund Ltd., one of SCS’s biggest shareholders, suggested the company sell Jevic to boost shareholder value. SCS eventually hired an investment firm to explore strategic alternatives, leading to Friday’s announcement.

SCS had $1.1 billion in revenue in 2005.

In trading on the Nasdaq, SCS shares closed down 18 cents at $27.53. Shares were up 18 cents to $27.71 in early after-hours trading.