Scores Of Companies Line Up To Buy Rights To Twinkies

More than 80 parties with interest in the rights to Twinkies snack cakes and other Hostess Brands Inc. products have signed confidentiality agreements with the bankrupt company that is selling rights to its iconic treats, the Dallas Business Journal reported Thursday.

Word of the agreements, a normal part of discussions when significant business assets are being negotiated, emerged Thursday during a proceeding in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York in White Plains, N.Y.

Joshua Scherer of Perella Weinberg Partners said that interest has been so intense that Hostess has not had time to contact possible buyers it had intended to contact, according to The Associated Press.

Besides the Twinkies, Hostess also owns and aims to sell the rights to such popular treats as Ding Dongs and Ho Hos plus Wonder Bread.

The company is seeking final approval for its wind-down, which was approved on an interim basis last week. Closing down Hostess Brands is expected to result in the loss of 18,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, the bakers union, Hostess’ second-largest union, has asked the judge to appoint an independent trustee to manage the liquidation, claiming the current leadership has been “woefully unsuccessful in its reorganization attempts,’’ the AP said.

Interest in buying Hostess brands has come from national packaged food makers, international companies, supermarket chains and big-box retailers.

The Irving, Texas-based company, which had gained wage and pension concessions from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its largest union, announced earlier this month that it was shuttering after failing to get concessions from the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.