March 1, 2006 9:20 AM, EST

Transport Corp.’s Shareholders Approve Firm’s Acquisition

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

ruckload carrier Transport Corp. of America’s shareholders voted Tuesday to approve the company’s acquisition by a private firm in a cash-for-stock deal.

Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. and TCAM announced the vote late Tuesday and said the deal was effective immediately.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, TCAM’s shareholders will receive $10 per share in cash, without interest, for each share of stock they hold.

TCAM’s stock closed at $10.02 per share on Tuesday, a 12-month high. Shares have traded at between $9.77 and $10 this year.

"We love investing in Minnesota and we love helping take companies from the public market to the private markets,” said Joe Heinen, vice president of Goldner Hawn. TCAM is based in Eagan, Minn.

“Sarbanes Oxley [accounting rules], quarterly earnings pressures and compensation issues all conspire to distract management from the important business of growth and job creation,” he said in a statement.

Transport Corp. of America is ranked No. 76 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.

TCAM, which also has a brokerage business, in early February reported a fourth-quarter loss of $445,000 or 7 cents a share, in part related to the proposed acquisition.

(Click here for previous coverage.)