Twinkies Sale Approved: Hostess’s Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Ding-Dongs Could Re-Appear On Store Shelves As Early As June
The sale of Twinkies was approved by a bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday, March 19.
Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread will soon be back in stores after their sale of several iconic Hostess brands was approved, according to Reuters.
Buyout firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulis & Co. teamed up to buy Hostess's snack cake brands. The companies paid $410 million for Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs and Donnettes.
One of the investment firms has expressed its hope to have the cakes back on shelves by this summer.
Evan Metropoulos, a principal of Metropoulos & Co., said in an interview that he wants to have the cakes in stores by June, including new flavors and product extensions.
Metropoulos said, "There's no mistake, we've got to move smartly, we've got to move quickly."
Metropoulos has already selected pitchmen he'd like to advertise the Hostess brands. He said that Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are at the top of his "wish list".
Flowers Food Inc., makers of Tastykakes, bought most of Hostess's bread branches, including Wonder and Nature's Pride for $360 million, reported Reuters.
Mexico's Grupo Bimbo S.A.B de C.V., the world's largest bread maker, bought the Beefsteak brand of bread for $31.9 million. Bimbo already owns Entenmann's, Arnold bread and Thomas' English Muffins.
United States Bakery won the bid for additional bread brands including Eddy's, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie's at $30.9 million.
Hostess brands were put up for sale after Hostess filed for bankruptcy last year.
A Hostess spokesman said that all together, 29 of Hostess's 36 bakeries had been sold as part of the transactions, according to The Associated Press. The new owners will have to decide whether to hire back the bakers who lost their jobs when Hostess went out of business.
The bakers union stated on Tuesday that its members would be "indispensible partners" in restarting former Hostess facilities under the new owners and in getting products back onto shelves.