BIDDEFORD — With no competing bids, a Thomasville, Ga. bread company’s $360 million offer to purchase most of Hostess Brands’ bread brands and 20 bakeries, including the one in Biddeford, was accepted Thursday.

An auction for those assets, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled because Flowers Foods’ stalking horse bid, made in January, was the only bid made. A stalking horse bid sets the minimum bid level.

For the sale to go through, it must be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court next month.

Flowers Foods’ bid was for the bread brands Wonder, Nature’s Pride, Merita, Home Pride and Butternut.

“We are pleased Flowers won the bid for Hostess’ primary bread brands and bakeries without the need for an auction,” said George Deese, Flowers Foods’ chairman of the board and CEO. “Now we move forward with the next step, which is the bankruptcy court review. Following that, the transaction will continue through the regulatory process before it can be finalized. We expect it could be several months yet before it’s finalized.”

In the last year or two, Flowers has been aggressively growing its product line and national reach, he said.

On Monday, the company announced the completion of its acquisition of the Sara Lee and Earthgrains brands for sliced breads, buns, and rolls in the state of California from BBU, Inc., a subsidiary of the Mexican company Grupo Bimbo.

In addition, according to the company website, in the last year Flowers has purchased Tasty Baking and Lepage Bakery based in Auburn.

Since 2004, said Deese, Flowers has expanded the reach of its baked goods from 38 percent of the U.S. population to more than 70 percent. Last year, according to the website, the company’s sales were $3.05 billion. It operates 44 bakeries and its top brands are Nature’s Own and Tastykake.

It’s unclear what the new ownership will mean for the nearly 400 workers who lost their jobs in November when the Biddeford facility, along with the Hostess company, closed.

The closure followed a strike by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. Striking workers said they were upset about a new union contract being forced on them that would include wage reductions and an increase in the cost of benefits.

Also, they said they were even more upset that Hostess had stopped putting money in a workers’ pension plan in 2011.

Flowers hasn’t announced plans for the bakeries it has purchased, should the sale go through all the regulatory hurdles.

John Jordon, the union representative for the bakery union members who worked at the Biddeford plant, said he hopes Flowers will reopen the local plant.

In addition, he said, “We want to let them know we have a qualified workforce.”

Rehiring the former Hostess workers could save the owner money in training costs and other areas, he said. Although some of the employees have found new jobs or are going to school and studying for new careers, Jordan said he believed “a great majority” would be available to work for Flowers.

Flowers had also hoped to purchase Hostess’ Beefsteak bread brand for $30 million, but was outbid by Grupo Bimbo, which purchased the brand for $31.9 million at auction, according to Reuters News Service.

Later this month, most of the rest of Hostess’ assets are scheduled to go on the auction block. A $410 million bid made jointly by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. is the “leading bid for the iconic Twinkies brand, the Dolly Madison line of snacks, as well as five bakeries and some of the equipment,” according to Reuters.

With a $27.5 million offer, McKee Foods Corp. is the high bidder for Hostess’ Drake’s brand and some of its equipment, according to reports. Drake’s products include Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs and Yankee Doodles, as well as its coffee cake.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.