Hostess Brands Being Eyed By Creditor And Private Equity Firms, Twinkie Among Snack Cake Brands Of Interest

By Carey Vanderborg | March 11 2013 10:29 AM

Silver Point Capital and hedge fund Hurst Capital are looking to keep the Hostess brand alive as both firms are rumored to be interested in buying some of the troubled snack cake brands, including Twinkies.

Reuters

Silver Point Capital and hedge fund Hurst Capital are looking to keep the Hostess brand alive as both companies are rumored to show interest in buying some of the troubled snack cake brands, including Twinkies.

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According to the New York Post, Silver Point Capital has sent a letter to Hostess' bankers expressing interest in buying all or part of the business. Hurst Capital, which said in November it wanted to buy Hostess' business, has formed a partnership with other private equity firms to make an offer, the Post reports.

In November 2012, Hostess announced that it was ceasing plant operations and laying off most of its 18,500 employees. It stated that it intended to sell off all its assets, including the well-known brand names.

While Hostess has entertained a number of asset purchase offers from such companies as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Target (NYSE: TGT), Kroger (NYSE: KR), Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) and Grupo Bimbo, private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. set a baseline offer of $410 million in January to buy the company's snack cake brands, including Twinkies and Dolly Madison.

Popularly referred to as a stalking horse bid, the offer by the private equity firms serves as the minimum proposal for the business and could still be topped by others.

Hostess has since auctioned off its Beefsteak bread brand to Mexico's Grupo Bimbo and its Wonder Bread and some other brands to Flower Foods.

Grupo Bimbo is also seen as a candidate to bid for Hostess' snack cake brands, sources told Reuters previously.