Hostess Brands
| Company type | Public (formerly) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Bakery |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Lenexa, Kansas , United States |
Area served | United States, Canada |
Key people | Andy Callahan (CEO) |
| Products | Snack cakes, wafers, cookies, bread |
| Parent | The J.M. Smucker Company (since November 2023) |
Hostess Brands Inc. is a U.S.-based bakery enterprise founded in 2013. Its principal subsidiaries include Hostess Brands, LLC and Voortman Cookies Limited.
The organization manages multiple bakeries across the United States that manufacture snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison labels. Meanwhile, its Canadian division, Voortman Cookies Ltd., produces wafers and cookies marketed under the Voortman name. Headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas, Hostess reported revenues of $1.358 billion and net earnings of $164 million in 2022.
On September 11, 2023, The J.M. Smucker Company announced an agreement to purchase Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion through a combination of cash and stock, with the transaction concluding in November.
History
Hostess was created in June 2013 by Apollo Global Management alongside C. Dean Metropoulos and Company through acquiring assets from the defunct Interstate Bakeries (Old HB), which had undergone bankruptcy proceedings. These assets encompassed four bakery facilities located in Georgia, Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois; the Illinois plant ceased operations in October 2014.
In July 2016, Hostess revealed intentions to become a publicly traded company with an estimated valuation of $2.3 billion. Apollo and Metropoulos transitioned to minority shareholders as The Gores Group assumed majority ownership. Rather than pursuing a conventional initial public offering (IPO), Gores Holdings completed a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction by acquiring Hostess, subsequently rebranding itself as Hostess Brands, Inc., and listing on NASDAQ under the symbol TWNK.
Andy Callahan was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in April 2018.
The J.M. Smucker Company finalized its $5.6 billion acquisition of Hostess on November 7, 2023, thereby broadening its product lineup with Hostess’s renowned snack cake brands.
Mergers and acquisitions
Hostess executed its first post-relaunch acquisition on June 14, 2016, by purchasing Superior Cake Products.
On February 1, 2018, the company broadened its brand portfolio by acquiring Big Texas and Cloverhill Bakery from Aryzta.
Superior Cake Products was divested to Sara Lee Frozen Bakery for $65 million on August 1, 2019.
On December 2, 2019, Hostess announced it would acquire Canadian firm Voortman Cookies Limited from Swander Pace Capital for roughly US$320 million (C$425 million), with the transaction closing in January 2020.