United States Bakery Said to Win Bid for Hostess Breads

United States Bakery Inc. won the auction for four of Hostess Brands Inc.’s bread brands with a bid of $30.85 million, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

United States Bakery raised its offer by $2 million for the Sweetheart, Eddy’s, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie’s bread brands, four bakeries, 14 depots and certain equipment, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the auction results aren’t yet public.

Danny Pettey, spokesman for United States Bakery, didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment on the auction results.

Hostess, founded in 1930, is liquidating after failing to reach an agreement with striking bakers on concessions to help the company emerge from its second bankruptcy.

No rivals challenged McKee Food Corp.’s $27.5 million bid for the Drake’s snack-cake brand and an auction planned for today for those assets was canceled.

Previously known as Interstate Bakeries Corp., Hostess left an earlier bankruptcy in 2009 under the control of buyout firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC and lenders. The company, based in Irving, Texas, entered bankruptcy again in January 2012.

The case is In re Hostess Brands Inc., 12-bk-22052, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (White Plains).

To contact the reporters on this story: Dawn McCarty in Wilmington, Delaware, at dmccarty@bloomberg.net; Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net; Jeffrey McCracken at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net