Flying J Sells Insurance Arm Bucker buying unit of bankrupt truckstop operator
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OGDEN, Utah -- Flying J. Inc., trying to raise cash to emerge from bankruptcy, has agreed to sell its insurance subsidiary for an undisclosed price, reported The Salt Lake Tribune. The Buckner Co., a Salt Lake City-based insurance brokerage firm, will buy Flying J Insurance Services on January 1, it said.
"We have been looking at ways of building up our business, and they were entertaining the idea of selling their insurance business," Buckner spokesperson Teresa Elias told the newspaper.
Flying J Insurance gathers about $25 million of insurance premiums annually. Buckner collected $134 million in premiums last year.
In a statement cited by the newspaper, President Terry Buckner said the recession provided his company an opportunity to expand through acquisitions of vulnerable businesses.
"While the trucking industry is down right now, we are confident in the long-term growth of the economy, and we think that trucking will play an important role in that recovery," Buckner said.
Flying J Insurance has been selling insurance policies to the trucking industry since 1997. Its parent company, Ogden-based Flying J, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last December, citing a liquidity crunch brought on by falling crude oil prices, as well as trouble finding credit. The bankruptcy also applied to Flying J's Big West refining and Longhorn Pipeline subsidiaries. Flying J Insurance and other subsidiaries were not part of the insolvency filing.
Flying J has been marketing many of its assets to generate cash that will allow it to pay off debts and bring itself out of bankruptcy, said the report.
Last month, the company put its crude-oil refinery in North Salt Lake up for sale. Flying J also has sold its Longhorn subsidiary, put its refinery in Bakersfield, Calif., up for sale and announced plans to merge its Flying J truckstops with rival Pilot Travel Centers.
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"While the trucking industry is down right now, we are confident in the long-term growth of the economy, and we think that trucking will play an important role in that recovery," Buckner said.