Indiana’s Dormir acquires 15 sleep-therapy centers in Western U.S.

CARMEL, Indiana — Fresh off a $12 million fund-raise, sleep services and equipment provider Dormir Inc. has gone shopping, acquiring 15 sleep-therapy centers in the western United States for an undisclosed sum.

The deal establishes Dormir as the nation’s second-largest provider of sleep-diagnostic services and gives the company 15 new locations in California, Oregon and Utah. Dormir now operates a total of 44 sleep centers in 16 states, Chief Executive Tim Miller said.

Dormir purchased Pacific Sleep Medicine Services Inc. and Sleepwell Partners LLC from Avastra Sleep Centres Limited, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and bases its U.S. operations in Irvine, Calif. Dormir also picked up in the deal 10 outlets that sell equipment to treat sleep disorders.

Miller told the Indianapolis Business Journal in July that Dormir would look to acquire competitors that had been financially weakened due a change in Medicare rules that decreased reimbursement for medical equipment and non-hospital-affiliated sleep studies. However, he said he wouldn’t characterize Dormir’s newly acquired companies as financially weak.

Measured by number of available beds, Dormir trails only South Carolina-based SleepMed as the largest sleep-therapy provider in the U.S., Miller said. SleepMed is roughly twice Dormir’s size, Miller said.

In July, Dormir completed a $12 million Series A round of funding. Investors included Excel Venture Management, Noro-Moseley Partners and CHL Medical Partners, the latter of which lead the round.

The company plans to continue growing via acquisitions in 2010, Miller said.

Dormir’s sleep-therapy centers focus primarily on patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, which is characterized by repeated starting and stopping of breathing during sleep. The disorder is most often treated with continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, which involves a machine that delivers air pressure through a mask on a patient’s nose.

Dormir owns and operates subsidiaries MD Sleep and CardioSom. MD Sleep builds and trains the staff of sleep diagnostic centers. It promises to have facilities operating in less than five months and trains staff at its own four-week “MD Sleep University.” CardioSom offers home respiratory equipment and services in more than 30 locations throughout the country.