African family firm to buy Sleepy's parent




Family-owned Steinhoff International Holdings NV, based outside Cape Town, South Africa, has agreed to buy Mattress Firm Holding Corp., the corporate parent of Sleepy's, for $2.4 billion,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.


The acquisition is Steinhoff's first in the U.S. Previously, it had been expanding in Europe and Australasia, the


Journal


article said.


Mattress Firm operates 3,500 company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states, the article said.


Bruno Steinhoff founded his company in 1964 as a retailer of inexpensive furniture from West Germany to East Germans. The company expanded after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The family acquired a stake in a South African furniture company in 1997 and listed the combined company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1998. It recently moved its primary stock listing to Frankfurt and retains a secondary listing on the Johannesburg exchange, the


Journal


article said. For the nine months ended March 21, the company posted a 45% increase in revenue to €9.93 billion, the article said.

- Advertisement -


In July, Steinhoff agreed to pay £597 million ($793.77 million) for British retailer Poundland Group PLC, which sells most of its merchandise for a pound. Last year, Steinhoff bought South African clothing discounter Pepkor Holdings Proprietary Ltd. for 62.8 billion South African rand (about $5.7 billion at the time), the


Journal


article said. (Source:


Wall Street Journal


, Aug. 7, 2016.)

About the Author(s)

This is your 1st of 5 free articles this month.

Introductory offer: Unlimited digital access for $5/month
4
Articles Remaining
Already a subscriber? Please sign in here.

Related Articles

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

The Family Business newsletter. Weekly insight for family business leaders and owners to improve their family dynamics and their businesses.