FTC Receives Petition for Approval of Proposed Divestitures from SCI and Alderwoods Group

Petition for approval of proposed divestitures: The Commission has received a petition from Service Corporation International (SCI) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval of several proposed divestitures related to SCI’s recent acquisition of Alderwoods. In the FTC’s consent agreement and order allowing the transaction to proceed with conditions, SCI and Alderwoods were required to divest a range of funeral home and cemetery services companies. Through this petition, a public version of which can be found on the Commission’s Web site as a link to this press release, the companies have requested approval to divest: 1) Conroe Memorial Park, Conroe, Texas; 2) Harper-Talasek Funeral Home, Killeen, Texas; 3) Palmer Mortuary, Sequin, Texas; 4) Trevino Funeral Home, Brownsville, Texas; 5) Darling-Mouser Funeral Home, Brownsville, Texas; 6) Elmwood Funeral Home, Abilene, Texas; 7) Elmwood Memorial Park, Abilene, Texas; 8) Sunset Memorial Home, Odessa, Texas; 9) Resthaven Gardens of Memory cemetery, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 10) Resthaven Gardens of Memory funeral home, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 11) Welsh Funeral Home, Gonzalez, Louisiana; 12) James F. Webb Funeral Home, Meridian, Mississippi; and 13) James F. Webb Funeral Home, Newton, Mississippi to Legacy Holdings.

The FTC is seeking public comments on the proposed divestitures for 30 days, until January 19, 2007, after which it will decide whether to approve them. Comments should be sent to: FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC File No. 061-0156, Docket No. C-4174; the staff contact is Elizabeth A. Piotrowski, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623, see press release dated November 22, 2006.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.