Mattress Firm acquires Sleep Train for $425 million

Sep 4 2014
DALE KASLER
The Sacramento Bee

The Sleep Train Inc., the homegrown mattress retailer that’s become a West Coast powerhouse with its name on an NBA arena, was sold to a Texas chain Thursday for $425 million.

In the latest sale of a Sacramento-area corporation, Sleep Train agreed to a takeover by Mattress Firm Holding Corp., a fast-growing Houston chain that’s intent on building a national company. The deal is expected to close in late 2014.

Dale Carlsen, the affable founder and chief executive of Sleep Train, said the Sleep Train brand will remain in place, along with most of the 70 headquarters jobs at Sleep Train’s Rocklin offices. “I’m not going anywhere,” said Carlsen, who will become president and chief strategy officer of Mattress Firm. “I’m a Sacramento boy.”

Still, the deal represents the disappearance of another Sacramento-area corporate headquarters. SureWest Communications, AgraQuest and RagingWire Data Centers have all sold to out-of-state companies in the past two years.

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