Sealy
__During 1906, after much success as an advertising executive, Earl
Edwards purchased the patents and gained manufacturing knowledge from
Haynes. Edwards took the name "Sealy" for his new company and expanded
it to a national market.
Due to lack of funding for manufacturing, Sealy expanded using a licensing-expansion similar to Coca-Cola. By 1920, Sealy had 28 licensed plants and became the first mattress company to expand using a licensing program.
During the Great Depression the mattress industry was hit hard. Sealy lost most of its licensees and narrowly escaped bankruptcy itself. During this time Sealy consolidated with the surviving licensees and created what is now known as Sealy, Incorporated.
Sealy became privately held in an April 1989 leveraged buyout. First Boston made a bridge loan to the buy-out firm just as Drexel Burnham Lambert was running into trouble and the junk bond market was drying up, and was stuck with the loan. This led to a dramatic slow-down in leveraged buy-outs.
Bain Capital and a team of Sealy's senior executives acquired the company in 1997. In 2004, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and a team of Sealy management. The deal was valued at $1.5 billion. The company operated as a privately held corporation until 2005. On June 30 of that year, it announced an initial public offering of common stock. The company said proceeds from the IPO would go to paying down debt, funding global operations and paying private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to “terminate our future obligations under our management services agreement.”
Sealy's corporate headquarters are located in Trinity, NC. According to Sealy's website, they are the largest manufacturer of mattresses in the world. Sealy sells the majority of its mattresses under its three main brands, Sealy Posturepedic, Stearns & Foster and Bassett.
Due to lack of funding for manufacturing, Sealy expanded using a licensing-expansion similar to Coca-Cola. By 1920, Sealy had 28 licensed plants and became the first mattress company to expand using a licensing program.
During the Great Depression the mattress industry was hit hard. Sealy lost most of its licensees and narrowly escaped bankruptcy itself. During this time Sealy consolidated with the surviving licensees and created what is now known as Sealy, Incorporated.
Sealy became privately held in an April 1989 leveraged buyout. First Boston made a bridge loan to the buy-out firm just as Drexel Burnham Lambert was running into trouble and the junk bond market was drying up, and was stuck with the loan. This led to a dramatic slow-down in leveraged buy-outs.
Bain Capital and a team of Sealy's senior executives acquired the company in 1997. In 2004, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and a team of Sealy management. The deal was valued at $1.5 billion. The company operated as a privately held corporation until 2005. On June 30 of that year, it announced an initial public offering of common stock. The company said proceeds from the IPO would go to paying down debt, funding global operations and paying private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to “terminate our future obligations under our management services agreement.”
Sealy's corporate headquarters are located in Trinity, NC. According to Sealy's website, they are the largest manufacturer of mattresses in the world. Sealy sells the majority of its mattresses under its three main brands, Sealy Posturepedic, Stearns & Foster and Bassett.