NEW YORK — Hostess is moving forward with the sale of Devil Dogs, Funny Bones and Yodels to the maker of Little Debbie cakes.
The bankrupt company says it picked McKee Foods as the buyer for the Drake’s cakes after nobody stepped forward to top its $27.5 million offer.
The auction scheduled for Friday will be canceled since there were no other qualifying bids, according to a filing in bankruptcy court. A hearing in bankruptcy court to approve the Drake’s sale is scheduled for April 9.
A representative for McKee said the Collegedale, Tenn.-based company isn’t projecting when it plans to have the cakes back on shelves.
Separately, Metropoulos &Co., which is joining Apollo Global Management to buy Twinkies and other Hostess cakes such as CupCakes, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, said it hopes to have the cakes back on shelves by this summer.
A source who requested anonymity because the sale process is private had said the pair of investment firms had expressed interest in Drake’s as well but that the offer ultimately did not qualify.
Hostess Brands Inc. had also canceled auctions for Twinkies and its major breads after nobody stepped forward with qualifying bids to compete for those brands. Flowers Foods was picked as the buyer for the breads, including Wonder. A hearing to approve those sales is set for March 19.
Hostess shuttered its factories in late November following a strike by its second biggest union. The company had been struggling financially for years.
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