Hostess Going Public After Bounce Back From Bankruptcy

Image courtesy of Great Beyond

Is having a box of Twinkies, Ho Hos, or Ding Dongs in the pantry not quite adequate in showing your love for Hostess? If that’s the case, you can have an actual piece of the company, as formerly bankrupt Hostess Brands announced Tuesday that it had reached a deal to take the snack maker public.

The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly four years after filing for bankruptcy, and three years after being bought out of liquidation, Hostess is making a strong comeback.

The road to becoming a publicly listed company was made possible by investments from special-purpose acquisition company Gores Holding Inc, which will provide Hostess with $375 million in cash, while other investors have committed $350 million in private placement.

As part of the deal, the WSJ reports that Hostess’s current owners — Apollo Global Management LLC and Dean Metropoulos and his family — will hold about a 42% stake in Gores Holding.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Hostess snack-cake brands out of liquidation for $410 million in 2013. Since then the company has brought the iconic brands back to store shelves, while streamlining the production process.

The company says the deal to go public will set it up for long-term growth by providing better capital to fund future innovations, the WSJ reports.

News of the company preparing to go public comes a year after Hostess CEO Dean Metropoulos squashed rumors that the company would put up shares in an initial public offering.

Hostess to Go Public After Purchase by Acquisition Company [The Wall Street Journal]

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