In a press release that we received this week, from the Newbridge Group, we learned that three funeral homes in the state of Maine had been acquired by Family First Funeral Homes & Cremation Care.  The press release also stated, “three funeral homes previously under the ownership of Service Corporation International (SCI) have now transitioned to private ownership with Family First Funeral Homes”.

 

The press release continued, “The three funeral homes involved in this transition are Smart & Edwards Funeral Home of Skowhegan, Birmingham Funeral Home of Olde Town, and Veilleux & Redington of Waterville. These establishments are now part of Family First Funeral Homes, a privately held firm with a strong focus on the development, management, and long-term ownership of funeral homes and cremation care locations throughout Maine.”

 

Finally, according to the release, “Since 1999, Family First has strived to maintain a local presence in all 15 locations (that it now owns) in order to strongly connect with the local community and respond to their specific needs. Acquisitions like this one allow Family First to support even more local communities in this way.”

 

According to the company’s website, “Family First Funeral Homes & Cremation Care is a privately-held firm with core competencies in the acquisition, development, management, and long-term ownership of Funeral Homes and Cremation Care locations throughout Maine and is looking to grow throughout the Northeast. We are honored to get to help families by honoring their loved ones and understanding the importance of providing people with genuine support.”

 

Here is the Family First Funeral Home & Cremation Care website.

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  Seeing Service Corporation International (SCI) selling some properties is unusual but not unheard of for the company or other large companies.  There are lots of reasons that businesses may sell off some of their parts.  In the Death Care business they could include the business has the wrong funeral/cremation/cemetery  mix, that the business is too small or too large to fit into a company’s focus plan, the larger company may want to leave that part of the country or region or numerous other reasons.

 

There has been a lot of talk in business circles lateley about “right-sizing”.  Especially post-pandemic you are seeing companies look at how they do business in the new world reality and are now starting to make the changes for life going on in a post-pandemic world.  You especially hear lots about right-sizing in the business office markets now. . . . since so many of those companies have changed to a world of at home or distance working.

 

Right-sizing usually means making sure a company has the “right” number of employees . . . but in the case of multiple operations, such as franchising or funeral homes, it can mean making sure the company has the “right” or “appropriate” number of business units.

 

Within the last few months the Death Care space has seen another public company, Park Lawn Corporation, shed over 75 of their businesses in what has been interpreted, at least by some, as a right-sizing facilities/operations move also.

 

This latest move by SCI and Family First may be a good move for both.  As a small regional consolidator the ability to add three funeral homes is, more than likely, a really good move for Family First in their growth aspirations and for SCI. . . for whatever reason they probably did not want to continue operating in those communities.

 

If you are an independent operator or regional consolidator coming together with a larger company that wants to reduce its size, for whatever reason, a transaction like this can be a fortuitous event for you.

 

Related —  “What is Rightsizing? Definition, Pros and Cons”   Forbes Advisor, December 2022

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Artificial Intelligence:  A cure for loneliness?  Observer Research Foundation
• Neglect overcomes burial ground for Montana State Hospital.  Ravelli Republic (MT)

 

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