There was a day when someone that used the fictional Jones Funeral Home in Anytown, USA, knew that it was the Jones family that had the ownership and pride in that business.  They knew if there was anything in their small community that pertained to Death Care business, the Jones family would know about it.

Over the years, like so many other business’, that has changed.  The fictional Jones Funeral Home may be owned by a regional or national consolidator. . . . I’m not saying that is good, bad, or otherwise. . . .it is just the way it is.

It’s interesting, however, that that change of ownership does not just happen in the local funeral homes, but it happens in the national and sometimes global world of Death Care, too.  Just since I’ve been publishing Funeral Director Daily we’ve seen formerly public companies StoneMor, Batesville, InvoCare, Dignity plc, Assurant Preneed, Park Lawn Corporation, and more change ownership. . . . . and those mentioned are only the companies that dealt in the public stock ownership realm.

Those companies, or segments of companies such as Batesville as a segment of Hillenbrand Industries, have all ended up in private company ownership at this time.  That’s been a loss for me because when they were public companies I could look at their quarterly and annual earnings on a somewhat comparative nature with my company and see where my funeral home stood — on such items as revenue per case, preneed sales, or cremations vs. interments.

Going from public company to private company is not so unusual.  Here is an article I found titled, “10 of the most famous public companies that went private”.  You’ll recognize some of the names X (Twitter), Heinz, Burger King, Dell Computer, Hilton, and Panera Bread to name six of them.

It happens the other way too —  Companies “go public” to raise funds to build their companies and they also “go public” when acquired by an existing public company.  For instance, the fictional Jones Funeral Home was a “private” company until they get acquired by a “public” company such as Service Corporation International or Carriage Services.  They then become part of a “public” company — where stock ownership can be bought and sold on the open market.

Here’s a couple of Death Care companies that, to my knowledge, are now parts of public companies:

Global Atlantic Preneed —  Global Atlantic Preneed is a segment company of KKR & Company (KKR).  According to Seeking Alpha KKR is described as such:

“KKR & Co. Inc. is a private equity and real estate investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. It specializes in acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, credit special situations, growth equity, mature, mezzanine, distressed, turnaround, lower middle market, and middle market investments. . . . . The firm typically holds its investment for a period of five to seven years and more and exits through initial public offerings, secondary offerings, and sales to strategic buyers.”

Interestingly enough, Global Atlantic Preneed has its origins in the Forethought Funeral Insurance brand.  It was purchased by Global Atlantic in 2014 and had originally started as part of Hillenbrand Industries, also the original parent company of Baesville.

Related Article — “KKR completes acquisition of remaining 37% of Global Atlantic”.  January 2, 2024

Wilbert, Inc. — Wilbert, Inc. is a segment company of Warren Buffet led Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A. BRK.B).  According to Seeking Alpha Berkshire Hathaway is described as such:

“Berkshire Hathaway Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses worldwide. The company provides property, casualty, life, accident, and health insurance and reinsurance; operates railroad systems in North America; generates, transmits. . . . .Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.”

Related Articles —

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Over my business history I’ve been involved as an owner or board member of acquisitions and divestitures in the funeral business, health care, banking, and insurance businesses.  What I’ve come to find is that it is not necessarily who owns the business as to how the business succeeds, but the leadership, culture, and long-term strategies that come with that ownership that can make a business thrive or fail.

Planning, and especially long-term planning that can be re-directed when needed, is essential.  Buying a business for buying’s sake or selling for selling’s sake makes little sense unless you can show how the transaction will play into the best interests of the long-term plans of the organization, or in the case of family funeral homes, the family.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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Back in early June of this year (2024) many of us were surprised by this announcement that public funeral home and cemetery operator Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) had agreed to be acquired and taken private by a group known as Veridian Holdings.  Probably most consequential in that announcement was that one of the partners in the buy-out agreement was preneed funeral home insurance company Homesteaders Life.

The announcement revealed that Canadian private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners Management would join Homesteaders Life as partners in the limited partnership.

The published price for the buy-out and take private move was CAN$ 26.50 per share making the transaction total about CAN $1.2 billion, which when equated to the US dollar at the time would equal a trasaction valued at about US $871 million.

On August 9, 2024, a press release from Park Lawn Corporation announced that the transaction had been concluded and Park Lawn Corporation would now be operating as a private company owned by a group that included Homesteaders Life and Birdh Hill Equity Partners Management.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  This marks the 2nd straight year that our “Business Story of the Year” involved a take private movement involving a private equity company.  Here’s a re-cap of our story for 2023 when Batesville was sold to private equity group Long Range Capital for a reported $761 million.

There seems to be a lot of money in private equity at this time as other Death Care companies had preceeded the Park Lawn Corporation sale.  In prior years we have seen the following public funeral home and cemetery operating companies be purchased by private equity groups:  StoneMor (now re-named Everstory), Dignity plc, and InvoCare.

Related Article:  Private Equity 2024 Mid-Year Report.  September 2024.  Cherry Bekaert

What makes the Park Lawn Corporation sale interesting is that one of the major parties to the acquisition is a preneed insurance provider — Homesteaders Life.  My guess is that management of that company sees a lot of synergies in owning funeral homes and has moving forward plans of not only bringing in more premium dollars but seeing an interesting path to deploy those premium dollars in investments that can then bring in more premium dollars. . . . . I can see the opportunities. . .

On the other hand, the partnership is not without risk for Homesteaders Life. . . . .some family funeral home owners now may see the company as a competitor (in the funeral business) and not as an ally (as a preneed partner).

In any regard. . . . there are enough sides to this story to be named our “Funeral Director Daily Business Story of the Year”.

Here’s some Funeral Director Daily articles that were published on this transaction:

June 4, 2024:  Park Lawn drops a bombshell:  Company announces it is going private

June 11, 2024:  Is Park Lawn now “In play”?

June 14, 2024:  A Seeking Alpha opinion on the proposed Park Lawn sale

June 18, 2024:  Will SCI take a run at Park Lawn Corporation?

July 10, 2024:  Will Carriage Services be next?

July 29, 2024:  It’s July 29.  Will Park Lawn be going private?  What does that mean for Homesteaders Life?

July 31, 2024:  Park Lawn shareholders approve sale, take-private move.

August 19, 2024:  Where was SCI?

Final Thought:  One thing that occured to me as I looked back over these articles is that for those of you who read Funeral Director Daily to keep tabs on the bigger companies in Death Care, we certainly covered this transaction from all possible angles that we could think of. . . . . certainly more than any other publication.  I think that is part of the reason that Funeral Director Daily continues to move to the forefront of Death Care business readership. . . . . In essence, we don’t just publish the press releases as they come in, we analyze, look into, theorize, and hypothesize almost all that could happen. . . Wondering what could happen and why  . . . . . that’s what makes us different.

Just writing that last paragraph reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. . . .and it is even Death Care related coming from the Ted Kennedy eulogy of his brother Robert (RFK) at his funeral. . . . I’ve thought of it often in my own life. . . . Here is that part of the eulogy:

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

“Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Join me as we move into 2025 by dreaming big for our nation and world and asking “Why not”?

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”