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Hostess Brands received an all-cash $33 per share offer from an unidentified US food company prior to accepting its deal with The JM Smucker Co. As FoodBev reported last month, JM Smucker signed a definitive agreement to acquire Hostess, the owner of the Twinkies snack brand, for approximately $5.6 billion. This week, a filing has been disclosed in which details of the offer’s background have shown an unidentified packaged food company – referred to as ‘Party A’ in the filing – made a bid of $33 per share in cash in mid-August. The filing reveals that the CEO of the unidentified bidder made a phone call to Hostess Brands’ president and CEO, Andrew Callahan, on 16 May, expressing interest in commencing discussions with respect to a potential acquisition. The original expression of interest saw Party A’s CEO propose a transaction in the range of $31 to $33 per share. On 14 August, the bidder then provided a revised indication of interest, including a proposal of $33 per share. The filing also revealed that on 10 September, just before the deal with JM Smucker was announced, Party A was considering a further revised offer of $34 per share. Hostess’ deal with JM Smucker is set to be finalised in the third quarter of JM Smucker’s current fiscal year, which ends on 30 April 2024. Both of the companies’ boards have unanimously approved the transaction.