LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Reuters) – Bankrupt Hostess Brands Inc, the maker of Twinkies, is in talks with potential buyers and unions as it tries to stave off liquidation of the once-iconic American baked goods company.

“We are in active negotiations with our unions and bidders,” said a company spokeswoman, declining to elaborate.

One source familiar with the negotiations said the outcome of talks was far from certain as any deal to sell the company would hinge on Hostess’ success in resolving labor issues.

Industry analysts believe private equity firms are likely suitors, while Hostess’s brands could also be a target for food companies such as Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo and U.S. baker Flower Foods Inc, which on Thursday it was looking for acquisitions in the industry.

“We are positioned to add new bakeries as needed, enter new geographic territories, and make acquisitions as we work to build shareholder value over the long term,” Flowers CEO George Deese said. When asked if Flowers was looking at Hostess, a Flowers spokesman declined comment.

A spokeswoman for Grupo Bimbo, one of the world’s biggest bakers, which bought Sara Lee Corp’s fresh bakery units in the United States last year, was unavailable.

“Given their iconic brands, Hostess’s parts are likely worth more than the whole. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone like a Flowers,” said Doug Ehrenkranz, managing director for consumer goods at executive search firm Boyden.

LOS ANGELES, May 9 (Reuters) – Hostess Brands Inc said it expects several interested parties to submit bids for the bankrupt maker of Twinkies by Wednesday’s deadline.

“There are interested parties. Bids are due today,” said a spokeswoman for Hostess, which late last week warned all of its 18,500 employees they may be laid off.

Potential investors in the privately-held company were not disclosed.

Hostess mailed out notices in accordance with the federal WARN Act that requires companies to give employees 60 days notice before closing a facility or ordering mass layoffs.

“It was a legal requirement to notify employees if a change of employment, sale or a wind down is possible in the future,” the spokeswoman said, but added that it does not mean that any of those events is definitely happening.

“Our goal is to emerge from bankruptcy as a growing company with a strong future, one that continues to provide good jobs with competitive wages and benefits,” she said.

Hostess’s fate relies largely on the outcome of its search for new capital as well as its labor negotiations.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The group that paid a record $2.15 billion to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team expects to boost the return on their investment by creating value with stadium improvements, aggressive investment on talent and by exploring a regional sports network after a TV contract with Fox ends.

“It’s a lot of money, but if we do our jobs right … the long-term point of view is that people will see that the value was there,” said Mark Walter, the team’s new chairman who is also chief executive officer of private equity firm Guggenheim Partners, at a news conference.

The investor group, which also includes Hall of Fame basketball player Earvin “Magic” Johnson, took control on May 1 after a 14-month drama that began with the divorce of former owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.

“Just because we paid a nice sum for the franchise, it doesn’t mean the fans will (have to) make that up,” said Johnson at the news conference in announcing the new owners had cut general parking fees from $15 to $10.

The Dodgers have a broadcasting agreement with News Corp’s Fox through 2013, giving owners – once the deal expires – a big opportunity to either launch a regional sports network in the country’s second largest market or to hold an auction for those future television rights, estimated to be worth $3 billion.

Hollywood producer Peter Guber, another partner in the investor group and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, told Reuters the team will explore all opportunities once the Fox deal ends, when asked if it would consider launching a regional sports network.

“Every opportunity will be explored to make it the best return on our investment,” Guber said.

By Sue Zeidler

(Reuters) – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ $2 billion sale creates a new game plan for loss-making sports teams hoping to command top dollar — file for Chapter 11.

The deal, sealed on Tuesday, saw the team sold to a consortium including basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, came after months of bickering and side-step efforts by Major League Baseball (MLB) to control the process.

Bankruptcy lawyers say it offers an example of how floundering, debt-laden American clubs can turn themselves into multibillion dollar franchises.

By filing in bankruptcy court, the Dodgers were able to thwart efforts by the league to control the sale process, they say, and to increase the price they likely would have gotten if the league had assumed its traditional role of handpicking the winning bid.

Other teams — and not just from baseball — in difficult financial straits are now considering following the Dodgers’ lead, which resulted in a finalized agreement for the team despite last minute-objections from the MLB.

“We’re seeing a sea change in the sales of professional sports,” said Tom Salerno, a partner with the Phoenix law firm of Squire, Sanders (US) LLP, who represented the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey team during their 2009 bankruptcy.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has won the tentative dismissal of some claims in the class-action lawsuit brought by owners of its vehicles over problems with sudden acceleration.

In what would be a victory for Toyota if the ruling becomes definitive, U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, California, said New York and Florida class representatives cannot bring claims under their states’ laws for lost value in their vehicles due to Toyota’s recalls for sudden, unintended acceleration.

Toyota, which had filed a motion to dismiss the claims, said it does not comment on tentative rulings.

Selna is expected to rule definitively sometime after hearing oral arguments on Monday.

“As set forth herein, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants Motion to Dismiss,” said Selna in court documents filed on Friday.

The case consolidates class actions across various states.

Selna in December dismissed a U.S. lawsuit brought by owners in 14 other countries who said their Toyotas lost value because of the sudden acceleration problems.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer-songwriter Carly Simon, 66, known for 1970s smash hits like “You’re So Vain,” is being honored this week with the prestigious ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Founders Award.

The award comes four decades after Simon released her first solo record, the self-titled “Carly Simon” with the break-through hit “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be,” followed quickly by her “Anticipation,” album and then “No Secrets” with the single, “You’re So Vain.”

The winner of multiple Grammys and an Oscar for her song “Let the River Run” from the 1988 film “Working Girl,” Simon is the daughter of the late Richard Simon, co-founder of book publisher Simon & Schuster. She also has penned five childrens books and is currently working on an autobiography.

Simon spoke with Reuters by phone from her house in Martha’s Vineyard about her upcoming book, her fear of performing and her battle with breast cancer in 1997-1998.

Q: Did having cancer affect your career, your creativity and writing?

A: “There’s a bigger story about the breast cancer than the cancer. It’s about relationships.”

Q: How did your relationships change?

/LOS ANGELES, April 13 (Reuters) – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ sale to a group led by basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson for $2.1 billion and the Major League Baseball team’s plan to exit Chapter 11 this month were approved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday.

The approval was needed by midnight to allow the team to exit bankruptcy by April 30 and provide the cash for outgoing owner Frank McCourt to meet a deadline for paying his ex-wife Jamie McCourt about $130 million.

Major League Baseball had waged a last-ditch effort at the hearing to delay the plan’s approval.

Tom Lauria, a lawyer for MLB, said the deal approved by the league’s other 29 owners was not the sale agreement laid out in documents presented by the team. In particular, the league was concerned about the control of parking around the stadium.

“These matters are serious,” said Lauria, “and they need to be resolved. And if not … we may have problems with this deal closing.”

Lauria said after the hearing that the league will have 14 days to decide whether to appeal.

The Dodgers have said Frank McCourt and certain affiliates of the buyers will form a joint venture to buy the stadium and surrounding land.

March 28 (Reuters) – He didn’t go to a Major League Baseball game until he was 20, yet at age 51, Mark Walter is leading the group buying the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record $2.1 billion.

Walter, CEO of financial services firm Guggenheim Capital LLC, is the money guy in a disparate consortium that includes basketball icon entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson, long-time baseball executive Stan Kasten and Hollywood heavyweight Peter Guber.

The group preempted an anticipated auction for one of baseball’s most storied franchises with a jaw-dropping offer that far exceeded expectations of near $1.5 billion, which rival bidders were prepared to pay.

Walter grew up in rural Iowa, near the location used to film “Field of Dreams.” He shuttles between New York and Chicago, where he is seen frequently at Cubs games with his young daughter.

A source close to Walter said he still plans to keep his season tickets for the Cubs, but will soon find a residence in Los Angeles. “Mark views this as a long-term investment in the tradition of baseball and something his daughter’s daughter may one day enjoy,” said one person who knows him.

While Walter handles the money, it’s expected that Kasten, who ran both the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals franchises, will oversee the team’s baseball and business matters. The gregarious Johnson will be the face of the franchise.

Guber, who ran Sony’s Columbia pictures movie studio in the early 90s, owns five minor league teams, none of which are affiliated with the Dodgers. Last year, he and Boston Celtics minority partner Joe Lacob acquired the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A group spear-headed by former basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson agreed to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for a record $2 billion, team owner Frank McCourt announced on Tuesday, capping a two-year drama that started with McCourt’s divorce and wound its way through bankruptcy court.

The buyers under the deal, unveiled hours before the storied franchise was scheduled to hold an auction with three bidders, were led by the investment banking firm Guggenheim Partners. Mark R. Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Capital, will be controlling partner of the ownership group.

As part of the deal, which if approved would lift the club out of bankruptcy, McCourt and certain affiliates of the buyers also plan to form a joint venture to acquire Dodger Stadium and the surrounding Chavez Ravine property for $150 million, the team said in a statement.

McCourt had separated the team from its real estate earlier in the process in a move opposed by some of the bidders, according to two people with knowledge of the bids.

Earlier on Tuesday, Major League Baseball owners had approved three bidders for an auction of the team that was expected to start Wednesday morning in New York, those sources also said.

The rival bidders approved by the league owners were a partnership that included hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen and biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong and a second group headed by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke from the National Football League (NFL).

In addition to Johnson and Walter, the purchasing group includes one-time Hollywood studio executive Peter Guber, former Washington Nationals baseball team president Stan Kasten and Guggenheim Partners President Todd Boehly, the Dodgers said.

March 19 (Reuters) – As bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers enters its final innings, News Corp’s Fox sports unit and Time Warner Cable are headed toward what could be a multi-billion dollar showdown over the rights to telecast the franchise’s games.

Time Warner, which announced an agreement last year to launch a pair of cable channels with the Los Angeles Lakers pro basketball team, has been talking with bidders still involved in the Dodgers sale, according to two sources with knowledge of the process.

Fox, which previously owned the Dodgers, has said it has no desire to own the team outright. Time Warner Cable spokesman Justin Venech declined comment.

Blackstone, the firm advising outgoing owner Frank McCourt on the sale, has been encouraging media companies to participate to boost the price, which has ranged from $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, said two other sources familiar with the bidding.

Fox Sports televises Dodgers games through the 2013 season and sued last year to block the Dodgers from negotiating a new TV contract with Time Warner or another company to boost the value. The future television rights have been estimated to be worth as much as $3 billion and are considered the team’s most valuable asset.

Fox or Time Warner Cable may want to take a financial stake in the bid of one of the five remaining contenders, who were vetted by major league owners at a meeting last week in Phoenix, Arizona, as a way to secure those future rights, two sources said.

Those bidders include hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, a group led by Major Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten, a group led by Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Tony Ressler,