Apollo gets in bed with FXI to bid on foam-mattress maker

Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management is teaming up with a foam maker in a bid for foam-bed maker Innocor, two sources close to the situation told The Post.

FXI, the company Apollo is getting in bed with, was formerly known as Foamex.

The auction for Innocor, which generates $100 million in Ebitda and is expected to sell for up to $800 million, is also attracting other big-name private equity firms, sources said.

Bain Capital, the owner of Bob’s Discount Furniture, is on the hunt, too, sources said.

Arsenal Capital Partners is interested as well, sources said. One Arsenal partner used to be chief executive of Foamex.

West Long Branch, NJ-based Innocor (formerly Sleep Innovations) is taking final bids next week, sources said.

Innocor makes foam beds for the likes of Costco, Sam’s Club and Kohl’s, and provides foam for bed makers.

Black was head of mergers at Drexel Burnham Lambert in the 1980s when he helped Marshall Cogan buy Foamex from Firestone Rubber.

Later, after Drexel collapsed, Black formed Apollo and took a major stake in Cogan’s then-publicly listed Foamex.

Foamex in September 2005 filed for bankruptcy, and has since renamed itself FXI.

Apollo believes combining FXI and Innocor will help it gain scale and improve profits, a source said.

Sun Capital owns Innocor and declined comment.

Apollo and Bain declined comment. FXI could not be reached for comment.

http://nypost.com/2016/12/02/apollo-gets-in-bed-with-fxi-to-bid-on-foam-mattress-maker/