FTC’s bid to halt mattress deal sheds light on vertical mergers

Federal Trade Commission lawsuit to block Tempur Sealy International Inc.Purchase plans Branded Mattress for $4 billion will take a closer look at how courts evaluate vertical transactions between two companies at different levels of the supply chain.

Last week, the FTC voted unanimously to file a lawsuit seeking to halt a takeover that would see the maker of leading brands such as Tempur-Pedic, Sealy Posturepedic and Stearns & Foster merge with Mattress Firm, a U.S. specialty retailer with thousands of brick-and-mortar stores.

The case is the FTC’s first investigation into a vertical transaction since the agency reached an agreement with the Justice Department in December…