Tempur-Pedic’s purchase of Sealy unlikely to affect consumers

Tempur-Pedic International’s planned acquisition of rival mattress-maker Sealy isn’t likely to spur an expansion of a popular memory-foam material into Sealy’s bedding products, industry experts say.

Tempur-Pedic said Sept. 27, 2012, that it would acquire Sealy in a deal that would pair the manufacturer of Tempur-material foam with the maker of major innerspring-mattress brands.

Experts tell Consumers Digest that Tempur-Pedic’s motivation for the deal is to increase the types of mattresses that it sells rather than to expand the use of its Tempur material into other brands.

At this point, it’s unclear whether Tempur-Pedic will create Sealy mattresses that use Tempur material, says Melina Cordero, who is an analyst at market-research company Euromonitor. If Tempur-Pedic does incorporate Tempur material into a Sealy mattress, it likely would be in one of their premium brands, such as Stearns & Foster, because it would be the most cost-effective option for Tempur-Pedic, says Doug Kelly, who is an analyst at market-research company IBISWorld. Cordero says it would be plausible for Tempur-Pedic to create a Tempur material mattress for Sealy or to incorporate Tempur material into a Sealy mattress top.

Kelly agrees with Cordero that it could be at least 2 years before Tempur-Pedic determines whether it will make any changes to any of the mattress brands that are involved in the proposed acquisition.

Tempur-Pedic didn’t specify any details about its plans for the Sealy brand once the deal for Sealy closes, which Tempur-Pedic expects to happen during the first half of 2013.

– K. Fanuko