After filing for bankruptcy, Hostess Brands, the bankrupt maker of Wonder bread and Twinkies, has fingered Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers Foods as the lead bidder to get many of the company’s assets, including Wonder Bread.
Flowers Foods is the maker of brands like Nature’s Own bread and Tastycake snack cakes.
“We are pleased with the Flowers offers and look forward to a robust auction process that will allow these iconic brands to continue and to maximize value for all of the company’s stakeholders,” Hostess CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in a statement released Saturday.
Flowers also released statement in which the company said it has signed two asset purchase agreements with Hostess to become the “stalking horse bidder” for certain Hostess assets. The first agreement will be for the purchase of the Wonder, Nature’s Pride, Merita, Home Pride and Butternut bread brands. Additionally it calls for purchase of 20 bakeries and approximately 38 depots for a purchase price of $360 million.
The second agreement provides for the purchase by Flowers of the Beefsteak brand for $30 million, according to the company.
“The transactions are subject to a court-approved bankruptcy process being initiated by Hostess,” said the Flowers statement. “If Flowers’ ‘stalking horse’ bids are approved by the bankruptcy court, the bids would then be subject to a competitive auction process to be held several weeks from now. The company would expect to close the transactions shortly following court approval if it is selected as the winning bidder. The transactions also are subject to regulatory clearance.”
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