Liles' Backing Fails to Materialize

William “Jack” Liles III is on the threshold of losing KLLM Transport Services to Robert E. Low of Prime Inc., as Liles’s financing to buy the company has fallen through.

Low, president of Prime, moved to buy KLLM in April with an offer of $7.75 a share.

That was countered by Liles, the chairman and president of KLLM, with a bid of $8.25 a share. He could afford to do so because he won the backing of Bernard J. Ebbers, president of MCI Worldcom, also a Mississippi-based company.

In a May 19 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, though, Liles said he was “forced to withdraw his bid when one of his financial backers withdrew financial support for the bid for reasons not related to [KLLM] or [Liles].”

For the full story, see the May 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.