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Twinkies May Find Buyer, Hostess CEO Says (Several expressions of interest on the table)
ABC News ^ | 11/18/2012 | Linsey Davis and Taylor Behrendt

Posted on 11/19/2012 2:54:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Hostess Brands, the maker of the iconic Twinkies snack cakes, may find a buyer when it heads to bankruptcy court today to liquidate the 82-year-old company, the company’s CEO says.

“I think we’ll find buyers,” CEO Gregory F. Rayburn told ABC News on Sunday. ”A few have surfaced already since Friday expressing interest in the brand to acquire them.” Con Agra and Flowers Foods are among the companies that have expressed interest in Hostess, but Mexican company El Grupo Bimbo may have an edge, the Christian Science Monitor reported Saturday. Grupo Bimbo, headed by Mexican billionaire Daniel Servitje Montull, is the largest bread-baking company in the world.

Economists say part of the reason Hostess struggled was due to high sugar tariffs meant to protect local producers, the Monitor reported. Grupo Bimbo could take advantage of lower sugar prices in Mexico.

Hostess makes Twinkies as well as popular snacks including Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Suzy Qs, Sno Balls and Wonder Bread.

Last week the company announced it would close after it imposed wage and benefit cuts to its workers, prompting a bitter nationwide strike.

“The problem has always been the cost structure, the union rules, the pension legacy, the pension cost and the cost structure,” Rayburn told ABC Sunday.

On Friday he announced the company would close, saying in a statement: “We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike. Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hostess; twinkies

1 posted on 11/19/2012 2:54:56 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

ConAgra gets all sorts of government subsidies, they might have an edge.... Corn Syrup Twinkies?


2 posted on 11/19/2012 2:57:10 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: SeekAndFind

wonder if they have a ‘successorship’ clause in their labor contracts....


3 posted on 11/19/2012 2:58:11 PM PST by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hostess... SELL TO NON-UNION!


4 posted on 11/19/2012 3:01:59 PM PST by Safrguns
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To: SeekAndFind

As predicted here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2881047/posts?page=14#14


5 posted on 11/19/2012 3:11:25 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: SeekAndFind

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought when a company goes bankrupt, they just disappear into the ether! I mean that’s what would have happened to GM, right?


6 posted on 11/19/2012 3:12:03 PM PST by andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)
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To: Safrguns

Doesn’t matter if another buyer is found. I try as much as possible to not buy anything made with union labor.


7 posted on 11/19/2012 3:29:19 PM PST by voicereason (The RNC is the "One-night stand" you wish you could forget.)
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To: voicereason

It’s not over yet. A judge has ordered a mediation.


8 posted on 11/19/2012 3:30:31 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: andyk
Useful assets are sold off to willing buyers who think they can use them. Sometimes that will include entire operating divisions ~ employees, lock, stock and barrel~

The point about the American form of bankruptcy is to get useful and productive assets back into business as soon as possible to go about the business of improving life for everyone.

Older forms of bankruptcy were used to allocate residual assets, or the value thereof, to the investors ~ frequently without consideration of where they could be used, or why. Entirely too many things were sold as junk under the older philosophy.

Still, some businesses, GM for example, have already been gutted by the former management team and probably ought to be sold for the value of the scrap iron and dirt.

9 posted on 11/19/2012 3:30:55 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: SeekAndFind

this is a liquidation sale, not a restructuring sale.

it is likely, someone is bidding to buy the brand and intellectualy property only. it the bid is high enough, it would be accepted, and the physical assets sold as scrape.


10 posted on 11/19/2012 3:37:57 PM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: rigelkentaurus

I kind of expected our fearless leader, the great and powerful O, to step in and declare this bankruptcy unpatriotic and demand that the rich, white, corrupt owners continue to operate,at a loss, while paying all the employees what ever they demand.


11 posted on 11/19/2012 3:52:35 PM PST by cotton
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To: SeekAndFind
"...but Mexican company El Grupo Bimbo may have an edge...Grupo Bimbo...is the largest bread-baking company in the world."

There ya go. Bimbo Twinkies has a ring to it. LOL!

[Avoid junk food, too.]


12 posted on 11/19/2012 4:18:06 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Or Bimbo Ho Hos...or Bimbo Ding Dongs. LOL!


13 posted on 11/19/2012 4:18:56 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting, let El Grupo Bimbo purchases “Hostess Brands”, maybe that can be a precedent for the “undocumented” going back to Mexico for work. Perhaps boycotting union iron-fisted companies may run them into bankruptcy! If our economy is continuing into the tank, affording other such luxuries will eventually diminish. Learn to be more self-sufficient. The recipe is online, make your own.


14 posted on 11/19/2012 4:30:59 PM PST by seraphim (Going Galt is the only way now.)
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To: Safrguns

A company like Conagra has lots of union plants and lots of non-union ones, even in the same state. Anyhow, the call to mediation has interrupted this eBay Twinkie auction.


15 posted on 11/19/2012 4:43:40 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: SeekAndFind

At this point, I’ll only eat them again it:

1. They are non-union
2. They are made in China, not the U.S.


16 posted on 11/19/2012 4:51:25 PM PST by gotribe
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To: gotribe

RE: They are made in China, not the U.S.

More likely Mexico, would that be acceptable to you?


17 posted on 11/19/2012 4:56:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes, as long as no unions are involved. If they open back up in the U.S. the union gets to declare victory.


18 posted on 11/19/2012 5:00:17 PM PST by gotribe
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To: SeekAndFind
"Hostess makes Twinkies as well as popular snacks including Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Suzy Qs, Sno Balls..."

Teeth hurt just reading that.

19 posted on 11/19/2012 5:09:31 PM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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