Photograph: The Canadian Press
Sleep Nation Canada Holdings Inc. says it has agreed to be bought to Fairfax Monetary Holdings Restricted for round $1.7 billion. Pedestrians stroll previous a Sleep Nation Canada retailer on Yonge Road in Toronto on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Evan Buhler
Sleep Nation Canada Holdings Inc. says it has agreed to be bought to Fairfax Monetary Holdings Ltd. for round $1.7 billion.
The deal introduced Monday would see a subsidiary of the Toronto-based monetary holding firm purchase all issued and excellent frequent shares of Sleep Nation for $35 per share.
A press launch asserting the settlement didn’t element Fairfax’s plans for the mattress retailer, which can be headquartered in Toronto and counts 307 shops and 18 warehouses throughout its assortment of manufacturers. These manufacturers embody retailers Sleep Nation and Dormez-vous, bed-in-a-box corporations Endy, Casper Canada and Silk & Snow, premium bedding chain The Relaxation and blanket enterprise Hush.
Sleep Nation president and chief government Stewart Schaefer mentioned the transaction “clearly demonstrates the value and strength of our brands and organization.”
Christine Magee, who co-founded Sleep Nation in 1994 and now chairs a particular committee of impartial administrators, added the deal was the product of “extensive negotiation” and has gone by means of a complete evaluation course of.
She feels it’ll present “immediate value to shareholders” who she thinks will see the deal as “fair” and of their “best interests.”
Fairfax is finest identified for offering reinsurance and property and casualty insurance coverage in Canada, the USA, and different worldwide markets.
The enterprise run by billionaire Prem Watsa, who’s known as the “Canadian Warren Buffet,” usually dabbles in retail offers. Fairfax purchased Toys “R” Us Canada in 2018 for $300 million after the toy retailer chain reorganized below the Firms’ Collectors Association Act. (Fairfax bought the enterprise to HMV-owner Putman Investments in 2021.)
Fairfax inked a deal in 2022 to buy and take non-public Recipe Limitless Corp., a Vaughan, Ont.-based firm behind greater than 20 fast-food manufacturers together with Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and The Keg.
It has additionally owned athletic retailers Sporting Life and Golf City.
The Sleep Nation deal will solely add to Watsa and Fairfax’s retail prowess.
Watsa, chairman and chief government of Fairfax, mentioned in a press launch that his firm appears ahead to working with Schaefer and Sleep Nation “to further develop this remarkable Canadian success story over the long term.”
Sleep Nation has additionally left the door open to entertain different presents. It says the deal provides the enterprise the precise to terminate the settlement and settle for a superior proposal in some unspecified circumstances, although Fairfax could have the precise to match any provide.
Within the occasion a greater suitor surfaces and Sleep Nation takes its provide as a substitute, the corporate pays Fairfax a termination payment of $36.5 million.
Ought to Sleep Nation proceed to maneuver ahead with Fairfax, it expects the deal to shut within the fourth quarter of 2024. The settlement is topic to courtroom approval and different customary situations, together with a shareholder vote.
As soon as accomplished, Sleep Nation says it’ll apply to have its frequent shares delisted from the Toronto Inventory Alternate.
Information of the deal pushed Sleep Nation’s share value up virtually 28 per cent, or $7.51, to $34.79 in Monday morning buying and selling. Fairfax’s share value rose lower than one per cent to $1,599.91.
