Hostess

NEW YORK -- A bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Twinkies to a pair of investment firms, one of which has said it hopes to have the cakes back on shelves by summer.

Hostess Brands Chief Executive Officer Greg Rayburn said Thursday that initial or stalking-horse bids for assets of the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder bread now total $858 million, with about $100 million more for sale.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Hostess shutdown did more than just cut off Twinkie supplies — Utah officials say it put a state-run nutrition program in a Wonder Bread bind.

OGDEN — Dillon Christensen stood in line with his 2-month-old daughter Kamryn at Thursday’s job fair for displaced Hostess workers.

“I tried to find a baby sitter, but couldn’t,” said Christensen, 19, from South Ogden. “My wife went back to work from her maternity leave, so I hope we will be OK for a while. I figure we can last at least 2 months, but it sure makes it harder to pay the bills.”

Christensen was one of about 600 workers — half in Ogden and half in Salt Lake City — who lost their jobs Nov. 16, when word came that the company could not resolve strike issues and would liquidate.

Hostess Brands, the baker of Twinkies and Wonder bread, began firing employees after winning interim court approval to shut down and start selling assets that a financial adviser said may bring in $1 billion.

Hostess Brands Inc. must return to a "liquidation scenario" after mediation with its bakers’ union failed to avert a shutdown that would eliminate more than 18,000 jobs, the judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy said.