Hostess Brands Inc. began contingency planning for a liquidation more than a year before irate bakers went on strike, court records show.
The bankrupt snack maker has consistently said that a strike by the bakers — members of its second-largest union — pushed it into liquidation mode. The bakers have countered that the company’s woes predate the strike.
Clearly, planning for a possible liquidation predates the strike and even predates union votes in the fall on the company’s last best and final offer.
A 32-page document filed last week in Hostess’ bankruptcy case shows that in July or August 2011 the Irving, Texas-based company hired a consultant who estimated that the liquidation value of the company’s assets, on the high end, was about $522 million. The report is dated Aug. 30, 2012, and parts of it have been reported earlier.
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