Hostess Brands Inc. announced on March 12 that the stalking horse bid submitted by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC, New York, and Metropoulos & Co., Greenwich, Conn., for the majority of the company’s snack cake business, which includes both Hostess and Dolly Madison branded products, will be the bid presented for approval to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court as no other qualified bids were received for those assets.

Apollo and Metropoulos have agreed to pay $410 million to purchase the brands, five bakeries and certain equipment. Among the products included are Hostess’ Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Donettes snack cakes. The company will ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to approve the transaction at a hearing on March 19.

“The agreement results in significant value for our stakeholders, and we look forward to putting the proposed transaction before the Court next week,” says Hostess Brands chairman and CEO Gregory F. Rayburn.

As previously announced, Flowers Foods Inc., Thomasville, Ga., has agreed to pay $360 million for the majority of the bread business assets. The agreement includes, in addition to the brands, 20 bakeries, 38 depots and other assets. In a separate transaction, Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V., Mexico City, was selected as the winning bidder for the assets related to Hostess’ Beefsteak bread business at the conclusion of a Feb. 28 auction. Grupo Bimbo has agreed to pay $31.9 million for the Beefsteak assets. The court will also consider approval of these brands at the same March 19 hearing for the Hostess and Dolly Madison brands.

On March 15, Hostess Brands will conduct an auction for its Drake’s snack cake business and Sweetheart, Standish Farms, Grandma Emilie’s and Eddy’s bread businesses. The combined stalking horse bids for those assets total approximately $56.6 million.

Source: Hostess Brands Inc., PR Newswire