Hostess Brands Inc. said private equity firms Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. have set a baseline offer of $410 million to buy the company's snack cake brands, which include Hostess Twinkies and Dolly Madison, Reuters reported yesterday. The stalking-horse bid by the private equity firms does not require Apollo and Metropoulos to assume any of Hostess Snacks' liabilities or other obligations. Hostess said yesterday that it would select the winning bidders for the assets of the bread and snack cake businesses at the conclusion of various auctions. The company has requested that the bankruptcy court in New York authorize it to proceed with an auction for the majority of the assets of the snack cake business on March 13.
