Fairfax to buy retailer Sleep Country in $1.24 billion deal

(Reuters) -Insurance-focused conglomerate Fairfax Financial on Monday agreed to buy retailer Sleep Country Canada Holdings in a deal valued at C$1.7 billion ($1.24 billion).

The offer price of C$35 per share represents a 28% premium to Sleep Country stock's last close. The company's shares have risen 6.5% so far this year as of Friday.

The deal will help Fairfax expand its non-insurance operations and comes months after a clash with short-seller Muddy Waters Research.

Founded in 1985 by Canadian-Indian billionaire Prem Watsa, who is known as "Canada's Warren Buffett", Fairfax is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance.

Sleep Country, which sells mattresses, pillows and sheets, operates 307 corporate-owned stores and 18 warehouses across Canada, while also having an e-commerce operation.

CIBC Capital Markets and Blair Franklin Capital Partners advised the special committee of independent directors that oversaw the deal.

($1 = 1.3744 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)