Silentnight Holdings is in discussions with Spring Ram Corporation with a view to buying the Rest Assured bedding business.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of January for a purchase price of around £3 million.

Silentnight, the Salterforth-based group which closed its Sutton bed-making factory three years ago with the loss of 90 jobs, is the UK's largest bed manufacturer and maker of cabinet furniture. In October it announced a 19 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to August 2. Sales in 1996 were £113.5 million.

Rest Assured is an established brand based at Batley. In 1996 it reported a loss of £581,000 on sales of £8.4 million.

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