When I was operating my funeral home most of my energy went to taking care of the families I was serving, taking care of the staff I was leading, and taking care of the budget I was trying to meet.  Doing all of that didn’t always leave enough time to thoroughly look after the adminsitrative and regulatory burdens that needed attention from time to time.

As an owner of a funeral home and/or cemetery you have a fiduciary responsibility to those who deposit preneed funeral money, preneed cemetery merchandise money, and/or cemetery perpetual care money into your care.  You must acknowledge that responsibility and stay on top of the regulations, guidelines, and investment returns so that those funds deliver what they were intended for over time.

Sometimes that is difficult for funeral home or cemetery owners and/or directors to do simply because we are not schooled or trained in that environment. Most of those funeral home or cemetery operators also don’t have the extra time to pay detailed attention to all of those necessary issues. . . . .And, even if they do, most don’t have the expertise that is needed to operate those trust services in a fully competent and regulatory manner.

That’s where Regions Bank may come to help your business.  Regions Bank, as you can see from this explanation and video of their “Funeral Home and Cemetery Trust Services”, is one of the very few full-service financial institutions in the country to have a dedicated division serving the needs of funeral homes and cemeteries.

According to their website, Regions Bank operates in 37 states of the United States and is a national leader for “Funeral and Cemetery Trust Services”.  They operate in the following fields:

• Preneed Trusts
• Cemetery Merchandise Trusts
• Perpetual Care Trusts
• Pre-Construction Trusts

And, while you are busy operating your business on a day-to-day situation, Regions Bank will watch over your trust’s investment, legal, and administration situations.  From my perspective it may be the best way to make sure that your funeral home, cemetery, cemetery association, or other Death Care operation stays up to date with the fiduciary and regulatory responsibilities that is owed future clients.

Fow more information and who to contact at Regions Bank you can click here.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Funeral director discusses rising costs.  The New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)

“We count on people who care about the cemetery”.  The Sentinal (MN)

North Kingstown family helping to redifine funeral care for south county residents.  The Independent (RI)

Death Care sector faces dynamic shifts with new innovations.  Cointurk Finance

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I like to stay in the know about all of the National and Regional funeral home and cemetery acquisition and operating companies.  Sometimes though I’m surprised by the growth of these companies over time if I have not checked in regularly.

I had that feeling the other day about Milestone Funeral Partners when I read this article that the Maine-based company had hired a veteran Mergers & Acquisition employee.  The article begins by saying this,  “Milestone Funeral Partners, an Auburn (Maine)-based funeral, cemetery and crematory business, has hired an industry veteran with experience in mergers and acquisitions to lead the company’s next chapter. . . . . .Christopher Sasso has been named chief development officer. He will succeed Seb D’Appolonia, who was in the role for three years.”

What struck me was not the fact that a new hire had came on board, but the next paragraph of the article which made this statement, “A spokesperson for Milestone Funeral Partners told Mainebiz that since its founding in 2021, the company has acquired 64 partner firms across New England and New York.”

My surprise was that I had no idea that Milestone Funeral Partners had acquired 64 units of operation since the founding in 2021.  I would think, in anybody’s book, that’s a pretty quick ramp up of scale. . . .It’s a pace that is more than one acquisition property per month being added to the company.

And I’m guessing that the hiring of Sasso was not done to slow down that ramp-up.  Here’s what the press release says about the future, “With the addition of Sasso, the company is poised for future growth and expansion.”

Related — According to the website of Rosewood Private Investments, Milestone Funeral Partners is one of their portfolio companies.

Related —  Here is a March 2024 press release from Rosewood Private Equity that gives more information on their involvement

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  There is nothing unusual about the hiring of a M&A person by a funeral acquisition and operating firm.  However, I think the wider view of this type of hiring is the fact that there are companies, with cash available, that are expecting to grow from acquisitions in the Death Care realm.

Hiring people with the contacts and friendships of over 30-years in the business can help build relationships that may give a company an edge over a competitor when discussing options for an owner who is looking for a succession plan.

In my book, these types of hires continue to show that the acquisition-built companies have the knowledge that a lot of firms are, or soon will be, looking at divestiture.  And, if private equity is involved there is probably ample cash available which may bid up prices for the best properties.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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