(UPDATE) Hostess / Closure with 18,500 Layoffs

How Hostess Failed: Hedge Funds V. Unions

When Hostess Brands announced that it would close up its operations,the forces most responsible for that decision were two hedge funds that control hundreds of millions of Hostess debt and which have finally decided they won’t squeeze any more filling into the Twinkie.

The funds, Silver Point and Monarch, are what are known as distressed debt investors. They buy the debt of troubled companies—usually at steep discounts. Some consider them white knights who are willing to take make risky investments in companies on the verge of failure. Others say they are “vulture funds.”

Only Silver Point and Monarch could have kept Hostess out of liquidation and kept the Twinkie bakery ovens firing. But they were, ultimately, unable to reach a deal with the unions that represents the workers who make and deliver products like Twinkies, Wonderbread and Ding Dongs. Without large union concessions—what some would say, total union capitulation—the hedge funds decided Hostess would have to die.

This is not the first time Hostess Brands has entered bankruptcy. Weighed down by an balance sheet heavy with debt and pension obligations, costly labor rules, and declining sales, the company sought bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in 2004…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via How Hostess Failed: Hedge Funds V. Unions – Business Insider.

Failing to persuade striking employees to return to work, Hostess Brands disclosed plans on Friday to liquidate its assets and lay off most of its 18,500 workers, bringing the 82-year-old maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies to the end of its line.

The painful decision to wind down the Irving, Texas.-based private company follows a nationwide strike that Hostess said severely constrained its operations.

Hostess said delivery of its products, which include Ding Dongs and CupCakes, will continue and its retail stores will keep their lights on for several days to sell already-baked products.

“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said in a statement…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via Hostess to Liquidate, Lay Off 18,500 After Crushing Union Fight | Fox Business.