Sleep
Country Canada (TSX: Z.UN) is a major mattress
retailer in Canada, with 148 stores operating in British
Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario."My business partner Steve Gunn and I were involved in investment banking, and one of the transactions that we had done was the leveraged buyout of the Simmons Canada mattress company. We bought that company in 1990 with the financial backing of CIBC Wood Gundy and the Mannix family of Calgary. Through our involvement with that, we focused on the fact that the distribution channels to the consumer (for mattresses) were not particularly effective. So, we decided to sell out ownership in Simmons in 1994 and set up Sleep Country Canada."
Lownds went on to say,
"We had known Christine in her days as a banker at National Bank, where she was actually a lender for a couple of buyout transactions we had done. For a number of reasons, we were looking for a third partner who longer-term could take over and run the business on a permanent basis. She fit the bill on a number of fronts. I was convinced that she wasn't a lifelong banker because she had more entrepreneurial spirit than I would expect in a banker." Sleep Country Canada is a major mattress retailer in Canada.
In 1994, the three partners Christine Magee, Steven Gunn and Gordon
Lownds launched the first four Sleep Country locations in Vancouver.
By 1996 the chain had expanded to Toronto with 19 new stores. Growth
continued at quick rate. By 2001, the company had 72 stores in six
regional markets and an estimated 40% of the market in regions where
it operated. In 2003, Sleep Country converted in to an income trust.
This raised nearly $130 million (C$) in an initial public offering.
In 2006 the company made two acquisitions. In January, it purchased
Dormez-vous Sleep Centres Inc. with five stores in Montreal. In
March, it added 32 stores in the US through the completion of an
acquisition of Sleep America Inc., the leading mattress retailer in
Arizona.