The makers of Thomas’ English muffins and Tastykake snacks are emerging as two of the bidders for Wonder Bread and other Hostess bread brands as the company tries to sell off its assets under bankruptcy-court oversight, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
The Wall Street Journal said Hostess Brands Inc could reveal as early as this week that Flowers Foods Inc and Grupo Bimbo SAB are in discussions to acquire its bread brands, which also include Nature’s Pride. The report said the brands could command US$350 million.
Grupo Bimbo’s brands include Arnold breads, Thomas’ English muffins and Entenmann’s cakes. Flowers Foods Inc’s brands include Nature’s Own breads and Tastykake snacks.
Hostess sells Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, along with Dolly Madison cakes, which includes Coffee Cakes and Zingers. Hostess also sells Devil Dogs, Funny Bones and Yodels under the Drake’s brand.
Hostess, which is based in Irving, Texas, announced in November last year that it was shutting down its business and selling its bread, snacks and cakes brands along with its 33 bakeries and other operations.
The company’s demise came after years of management turmoil and turnover. Workers said the company failed to invest in updating its snack cakes and breads. Hostess filed for its second bankruptcy protection in less than a decade last year, citing steep costs associated with its unionized workforce.
The company was able to reach a new contract agreement with its largest union, the Teamsters, but the bakers union rejected the terms and went on strike on Nov. 9 last year.
A week later, Hostess announced its plans to liquidate, saying the strike crippled its ability to maintain normal production. In 2011, the company’s revenue was US$2.5 billion.
Hostess declined to comment, as did Grupo Bimbo’s US division, Bimbo Bakeries USA. Bimbo’s parent company is headquartered in Mexico. A message left with Flowers Foods, which is based in Thomasville, Georgia, was not immediately returned.
Hostess said in bankruptcy court proceedings last month that it was narrowing down the bids it had received and that it expects to sell off its snack cakes and bread brands to different buyers.
Hostess said last month that it expects to file binding bids for many of its brands this month, followed by a four-week auction process to allow competing bids. Closings for many brands could come as soon as mid-March, according to Joshua Scherer of Perella Weinberg Partners, which is advising Hostess.
An attorney for Hostess said in court last month that 1,100 employees had been retained to shut down plants and perform other tasks as it winds down its operations.
The liquidation of the company will ultimately mean the loss of 18,000 jobs, not including those shed in the years leading to the company’s failure.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure