Tempur Sealy to Sell Sleep Outfitters, Mattress Firm Stores Amid FTC Takeover Challenge

By Dean Seal

Tempur Sealy International has reached a deal to sell dozens of Mattress Firm locations and the Sleep Outfitters retail chain to Mattress Warehouse as it works through a regulatory challenge to its planned acquisition of Mattress Firm.

The world's largest mattress supplier and manufacturer said Monday that it has entered into a purchase agreement with a Mattress Warehouse holding company that calls for the sale of 73 Mattress Firm retail locations and all 103 specialty mattress retail locations and seven distribution centers tied to the Sleep Outfitters subsidiary.

The divestiture plan is conditioned on the closing of Tempur Sealy's proposed $4 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm and was drawn up as part of Tempur Sealy's engagement with the Federal Trade Commission, Chief Executive Scott Thompson said.

The regulator said when it voted to block the deal in July that a vertical acquisition of Mattress Firm would widen Tempur Sealy's footprint considerably, allowing it to suppress competition and raise mattress prices for millions of customers.

"Through emails, presentations, and other deal documents, Tempur Sealy has made it abundantly clear that its acquisition of Mattress Firm is intended to kneecap competitors and dominate the market," said Henry Liu, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

Tempur Sealy maintains that Mattress Firm holds a small fraction of U.S. brick-and-mortar bedding stores.

The next round of hearings in the litigation process is scheduled to begin on Nov. 12. Tempur Sealy said Monday that it believes the process can be successfully completed in the coming months and that the transaction can still close in late 2024 or early next year.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2024 07:54 ET (11:54 GMT)

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