H.I.G. Capital Merges ABI Enterprises, Inc. With Spring Air Partners North America-Forms Consolidated Bedding, Inc.
2/14/2005 – H.I.G. Capital, based in Miami, announced today that it has merged ABI Enterprises, Inc. (“ABI”) with its existing portfolio company, Spring Air Partners – North America, Inc. (“SAPNA”), to form Consolidated Bedding, Inc. (“CBI”). Located in Tampa, Florida ABI is the second largest licensee of the Spring Air brand of mattresses. In addition to the manufacturing, marketing and selling of Spring Air branded products, ABI also produces and sells mattresses under several private brands as well as high-end latex mattresses and pillows under its proprietary Nature’s Rest brand. Founded in 1954, ABI operates plants in Tampa, Texas, Ohio and California.
SAPNA manufactures, sells and distributes a broad range of Spring Air licensed mattresses and branded Chattam & Wells mattresses to furniture stores, sleep shops, department stores and other retail customers. SAPNA is the largest licensee, in terms of aggregate sales volume, of the Spring Air brand of mattresses. SAPNA maintains the exclusive right to manufacture Spring Air branded products in 7 territories, covering 21 states and provinces across the U.S. and Canada. The Company currently operates 6 manufacturing facilities in North America. H.I.G. Capital acquired SAPNA in September 2004.
CBI was formed by H.I.G. to pursue the consolidation of the Spring Air brand, which in aggregate is the fourth largest mattress brand in North America. After merging ABI and SAPNA, CBI will represent approximately 65% of the wholesale revenues of the overall Spring Air brand. H.I.G. plans to use CBI as its platform to continue the consolidation of the franchise by pursuing further acquisitions in an attempt to create a unified operation that will more efficiently and effectively compete with the other leading mattress companies in North America.
“Consolidated Bedding’s geographic footprint along with its array of strong brands including Spring Air, Chattam & Wells, Nature’s Rest and several other private brands will allow CBI to better service customers across the United States and provide products of the highest quality across all price points” stated Steve Antinori, Chairman and Executive Vice President of CBI. “My family and I are extremely excited to partner with H.I.G. to pursue the long-overdue consolidation of the Spring Air brand in order to grow and drive profitability for the Spring Air franchise.”
John Black, Managing Director of H.I.G. Capital, LLC stated “We believe CBI will emerge as a strong force in the bedding industry based on the strength of the Spring Air franchise as well as its demonstrated success in developing and marketing high quality, profitable, proprietary products in the United States and Canada.”
About H.I.G. Capital:
H.I.G. Capital LLC (“H.I.G.”) is a leading private equity and venture capital investment firm with more than $1.5 Billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses, and in promising early-stage technology companies. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding, H.I.G. has completed in excess of 70 transactions. The firm currently manages a portfolio of more than 40 companies with combined revenues in excess of $5 Billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.