Starting Monday, you can buy shares in Hostess’ Twinkies once again
Hostess Brands, the owner of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other snack food classics, will once again be a public company.
The Kansas City company will start trading Monday on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol TWNK. For the nearly 90-year-old Hostess, its return to the public market is an attempt to distance itself from a rollicking past that includes two bankruptcies and a long list of owners.
For the record:
5:10 a.m. May 14, 2024An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that C. Dean Metropoulos and Apollo Global Management bought Hostess Brands. They did not buy the entire company, only select brands. They also did not buy the bread business, or close down 11 Hostess bakeries.
Gores Group, the Beverly Hills private equity group, is now a major shareholder in the snack-cake maker. On Friday, Gores Holdings, a company created last year with the express purpose of acquiring a company with growth prospects, completed its acquisition of Hostess in a $2.3-billion deal.
“It’s a fantastic brand,” said Mark Stone, chief executive of Gores Holdings. “We think it’s an outstanding platform to extend Hostess further into food service or in-store bakery or snacking in general.”
Hostess is not going public through a traditional initial public offering. Instead, it is using an increasingly favored method that lets companies go public without the hurdles of an IPO. When Gores Holdings, which is already a public company, bought Hostess, it changed its own name to Hostess Brands and adopted the new ticker symbol.
“It’s a more effective and efficient way for them to become a public company,” Stone said. “They have certainty on timing and ownership.”
Alec Gores, chief executive of the Gores Group, said he sees “a lot of potential” for future growth in the snack food sector.
“Out of all the deals we looked at, it was by far the best we saw,” he said.
Billionaire food magnate C. Dean Metropoulos and New York private equity firm Apollo Global Management bought the iconic Hostess brands, including Twinkies and Ho Hos, in 2013 after the company filed for bankruptcy the year before. Metropoulos, who serves as executive chairman of Hostess, still holds a big stake in the company along with other family members.
Metropoulos worked to turn around the company by cutting down on distribution costs and also retooling recipes to extend shelf life for its products to 60 days from 26 days, Stone said.
Stone said that Hostess will look toward serving restaurants and cafeterias, as well as expanding into the fresh bakery section of grocery stores. He said the company could also roll out healthier options, but won’t turn its back on its history of offering highly caloric snacks.
“Hostess will not shy away from the fact it is an indulgent treat,” he said.
As for the new ticker symbol, Stone laughed and admitted that it was a subject that was “warmly debated” within the company. He said Metropoulos insisted on TWNK, however, because he considers it the foundation for Hostess.
“Everyone has their own opinion,” he said. “It’s almost like coming up with a company name.”
Follow Shan on Twitter @ByShanLi
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