Hostess seeks second extension of exclusive period for filing a plan

By Jim Witters

Wilmington, Del., July 25 - Hostess Brands, Inc. is seeking a second extension of its exclusive periods for filing a Chapter 11 plan and for seeking plan acceptances, according to documents filed July 24 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The request is to extend the exclusive period for filing a plan to Nov. 6 from Aug. 8 and the period for soliciting votes on the plan to Jan. 7, 2013, from Oct. 7.

The company needs an additional 90 days of exclusivity to restructure its collective bargaining agreements, a key component to the reorganization of the business, the motion says.

"In this regard, these cases are at a critical crossroads," court documents state.

Hostess, several key lenders and one of the primary labor unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, "have engaged in intensive negotiations, ... and the debtors are devoting maximum resources to these negotiations given their critical importance to the potential success of these cases," Hostess says.

An agreement with the Teamsters would allow Hostess to "quickly turn to negotiations with their other unions along the same framework," the company wrote in its motion.

"Taken as a whole, these negotiations would result in the framework for a plan of reorganization, which the debtors would seek to file swiftly thereafter," the motion states.

A hearing on the request is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 7.

Hostess Brands, an Irving, Texas-based operator of regional bakeries, filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 11, 2012. Its Chapter 11 case number is 12-22052.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.