Private Equity Firms Are Quietly Buying Up Local Funeral Homes - Seven Days Vermont

Private equity firms are quietly acquiring funeral homes across Vermont as older owner-operators retire, according to Seven Days Vermont. Traditional succession, in which a mortician passes the business to a child or younger associate, has become rare. Many retiring directors now either close or sell to PE-backed platforms that typically run dozens of death-care businesses across multiple states. Because acquired homes usually keep their names and websites, the ownership change is often not visible to consumers. In the Barre-Montpelier area, nearly all funeral homes are owned by one of two out-of-state firms: Milestone Funeral Partners of Auburn, Maine, and Rollings Funeral Service of Peachtree City, Georgia, which by its own website owns more than 90 death-care businesses in 18 states.

The investment case rests on the sector's perceived durability. The article describes funeral homes and crematories as having largely recession-resistant revenue, supported by Vermont's aging population, where nearly 25 percent of residents are 65 or older according to U.S. Census data. Economic pressure on independents is significant, however. Per the National Funeral Directors Association, about 75 percent of U.S. funeral homes are small and independently owned, and most employ fewer than five people. Consumer shifts toward direct cremation have eroded margins: according to the consumer advocacy site Funeralocity, a traditional full-service burial in Vermont averages $8,200 versus about $2,300 for direct cremation. Former Vermont Funeral Directors Association president Chris Palermo said his practice's mix shifted from 90 percent traditional services in the 1970s to 80 to 85 percent direct cremation by 2020, when he sold Perkins-Parker Funeral Home in Waterbury to Milestone.

Milestone, which entered Vermont in December 2021 by purchasing Pruneau-Polli Funeral Home in Barre, is backed by Rosewood Private Investments, the PE arm of Dallas-based Rosewood Corporation. CEO Michael Martel, a former 23-year Service Corporation International executive, describes the strategy as consolidating accounting, billing, purchasing and embalming across nearby sites to reduce overhead. He said this funds paid internships, tuition reimbursement, health insurance, continuing education and equity participation for staff. Martel also said consolidation has enabled more predictable schedules for workers.

Critics present a different picture. Tom Harty, vice president of the Vermont Funeral Directors Association, said nearly every owner-operator he knows who joined a PE firm has left after a short period, and that promised hours and pay improvements have not materialized. Hale Funeral Home & Cremation Care in Bradford was acquired by Milestone several years ago. Funeral Consumers Alliance national director April St. Onge said complaints about large corporate or PE-owned homes most often involve lack of care for families and failure to honor prepaid contracts. The Funeral Consumers Alliance no longer has a Vermont chapter to conduct its annual price surveys, but anecdotal reports indicate prices are rising faster than inflation. Former employees described consolidation that removed a Northfield prep room, requiring bodies to be transported more than an hour to Winooski for embalming. The article notes that not all families are unwilling to sell: the Robertson family, owners of Sayles Funeral Home and Guibord-Pearsons Funeral Home, rejected a Milestone sales pitch, and their daughter Liz Robertson Little expects to take over the business.