Twinkies and Ding Dongs To Come Back To Wall Street

Hostess Brands, the company and maker behind Twinkies and Ding Dongs, will be a publicly traded company once again.
It’s been four years since the company had sought bankruptcy protection under a barrage of labor issues.

Hostess Brands, which first emerged in 1919 with the Hostess CupCake, has had two different owners since seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time back in 2012.

The Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. are the company’s latest owners and they will sell the majority of the company, valued at about $2.3 billion, to Gores Holdings, an acquisition company run by the private equity firm, The Gores Group.

The Gores Group, will be putting up $375 million in cash and Gores CEO Alec Gores, Dean Metropoulos and others have committed an additional $350 million.

In the deal, Apollo and Metropoulos will hold a 42 percent combined stake when the deal is completed. The deal is expected to be completed during the third quarter.

Metropoulos will continue on as executive chairman while William Toler will remain as Hostess CEO.

Last year Hostess posted revenue of about $650 million.