CARTHAGE, Mo.—U.S. bed maker Leggett & Platt plans to buy Elite Comfort Solutions from Arsenal Capital Partners for $1.25 billion in cash.
If regulators approve, the deal will close in January 2019.
Arsenal started assembling Newnan, Ga.-based Elite in 2016. It combined Pacific Urethanes, Elite Foam, Peterson Chemical Technology, and other foam-pouring assets. It has a network of 16 facilities across the U.S. where it makes specialty foams and products.
The company's annual sales in the year to September 2018 were $611 million.
Leggett & Platt manufactures a range of products, including bedding components, adjustable beds and bedding industry machinery; automotive seat support and lumbar systems; components for home and work furniture; flooring underlay; and high-carbon drawn steel wire.
Karl Glassman, Leggett & Platt 's president and CEO, said the acquisition will make his company a stronger supplier to the bedding industry. "(We will) gain critical capabilities in proprietary foam technology, along with scale in the production of private-label finished mattresses," he said.
Tha acquisition also will help the company capitalize on current market trends, he added. These include the increasing use of hybrid and specialty grade foam technology in conventional and bed-in-a-box mattresses.
John Televantos, a partner at Arsenal, called the acquisition was a good fit for ECS, and noted that the company is well positioned for growth within the industry.
"We have built ECS to be the innovator in polyurethane foam and bedding markets," Televantos said. "We are delighted to see a great permanent home for ECS and its employees. Leggett & Platt is uniquely capable of continuing and strengthening the path we set for ECS, and we expect that the long history and great value they bring to the bedding industry will be enhanced with this acquisition."