The Federal Trade Commission has approved an application by Service Corporation International (SCI) to divest certain funeral and cemetery assets, as required under the FTC’s December 2013 proposed order settling charges that SCI’s acquisition of Stewart Enterprises, Inc. would be anti-competitive. In total, the proposed order requires the combined SCI/Stewart to divest 53 funeral homes and 38 cemeteries to ensure competition is maintained in 59 communities throughout the United States.
Through this action, the FTC has approved the divestiture of funeral home and cemetery properties in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas to Signature Funeral and Cemetery Investments LLC, as detailed in SCI’s March 20, 2014, petition to the Commission.
The Commission vote to approve the application was 5-0. (FTC File No. 131-0163, Docket No. 4423; the staff contact is Elizabeth A. Piotrowski, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623)