Publicly listed funeral company buys smaller firm

Funeral business Dignity has bought over 40 funeral locations and two crematoriums in a new acquisition.

Posted by David Gleck

Funeral group Dignity has completed the acquisition of Yew Holdings, a Yorkshire-based funeral services provider. 

Following sales negotiations a price of £58.3 million was agreed, with Dignity raising most of the funds through a £39.8 million debt facility and a placing of 2,283,019 new ordinary shares to provide another £24.2 million.

It means Dignity will acquire 40 funeral locations and two crematoria in the north of England, although not a further 20 funeral facilities historically operated by Yew.

Since its initial public offering, Dignity has been busy acquiring other funeral services, which so far has included 93 funeral locations and 15 crematoria.

In addition to the facilities, Dignity will also take over the administration of around 9,000 pre-arranged funeral plans from Yew clients.

Chief executive of Dignity Mike McCollum said: "The acquisition of Yew will increase our funeral presence in the north of England and further expand our crematoria portfolio."

As of the third quarter of 2012, Dignity operated 37 crematoriums, up from 35 at the end of 2011.