Late on Thursday Carriage Services issued two press releases indicating that they had closed the purchases of two funeral firms in the corridor between Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado.  The public death care company announced that they had acquired Carroll-Lewellen Funeral and Cremation Services in Longmont, Colorado and also acquired the Viegut Funeral Home in Loveland, Colorado.

Mel Payne, Chairman and CEO of Carriage services stated,   ” . . . We have always wanted to enter Colorado but have been patiently waiting for the right partners in the right markets.  With our two announcements today, we can now accelerate our success in the rapidly growing area.”

Carriage Services operates 174 funeral homes in 29 states and 32 cemeteries in 11 states.

Funeral Director Daily take:  When Funeral Director Daily commented on Carriage Services 3rd Quarter results in our October 26 edition, we commented that Carriage had mentioned that they were awaiting the final closings of coming acquisitions that would bring over 3000 services to the company as well as introductions into some very strategic markets.  These acquisitions help get their foot in Colorado, which they must deem as a strategic market.

It was interesting for me to note how the announcement was taken in Boulder.  You can read an article here which is entitled, “Longmont’s Carroll-Lewellen Funeral Home, a Corporate Critic, Sells to Texas Corporation”.  I found that somewhat of an odd take off the Carriage Services press release.  The article claims, however, that Carroll-Lewellen Funeral Home was critical of the sale of the Allnutt Funeral brand to Service Corporation International earlier this year.