Interstate to get exit financing

Interstate Bakeries Corp., the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, said Monday that it had arranged $400 million in financing to fund a bankruptcy-exit plan that would cancel the company’s stock. Company shares plunged 77%.

The money would be provided by Silver Point Finance and would be part of a funding plan sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co., McDonnell Investment Management, Quadrangle Master Fund Ltd. and Silver Point Capital, Interstate said.

The funding plan requires Interstate to win concessions from the Teamsters union, which represents 10,000 of its 25,000 workers. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company has said that a previous round of labor cuts in 2005 wasn’t enough to make it a viable business. Without changing the way the Teamsters deliver goods, the company might be forced to liquidate, it said.