Twinkies Down, But Not Out

by InvestorPlace Staff | January 11, 2012 1:39 pm

Twinkies might not live forever, but they’ll at least be around a little longer. Hostess Brands on Wednesday said that despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, business will continue “as normal,” meaning the cream-filled snacks will keep rolling down the line for the foreseeable future.

The privately held company — which also carries the Wonder Bread and Nature’s Pride breadmaker labels under its umbrella — owes more than $1 billion across a range of 50,000 and 100,000 creditors, according to its bankruptcy filing. The largest chunks belong to pension funds, including a claim of $994 million by the Bakery & Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund.

Hostess also owes its own employees about $21 million for “services rendered.”

A few publicly traded companies also list among the creditors, including Manpower (NYSE:MAN[1]) and Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE:GT[2]), each for several hundred thousand dollars.

The company said during the process, it will continue to roll out products such as its Twinkies — which have been churned out for more than 80 years — as well as Ho Hos, Zingers, Sno Balls and the rest. The company also said it does not plan to lay off any of its 19,000 workers.

According to Reuters, Hostess previously reached out to J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM[3]), Kraft (NYSE:KFT[4]), BlackRock (NYSE:BLK[5]) and KKR (NYSE:KKR[6]) about possible deals.

— Kyle Woodley, IP.com Assistant Editor

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/01/twinkies-hostess-brands-chapter-11-bankruptcy/

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