Consolidation
M&A activity, acquisitions, and corporate consolidation in deathcare.
HE SECONDED THE MOTION: An Oklahoma Funeral Board Member Voted to Approve License Transfers for Properties He Sold to a Canadian Corporation
Oklahoma Funeral Board member John Davenport sold his eight-funeral-home company to Toronto-based Park Lawn Corporation in December 2025. In April 2026, he seconded the board motion approving license transfers for those properties. He did not recuse. Meanwhile, the Institute for Justice is suing the board as an unconstitutional cartel, and the governor who appointed him tried to abolish it.
NOT A CONSOLIDATOR: A Toronto Company Bought 13 Oklahoma Funeral Homes in Seven Months
A Toronto Stock Exchange company acquired 13 Oklahoma funeral homes in seven months while describing itself on its investor page as "not a consolidator." The acquired homes keep their local names. No state agency tracks who owns them.
QUIETLY ACQUIRED: How America's Largest Funeral Chain Bought 47 Homes in 18 Months
We tracked every deal, every price increase, every community left with fewer choices. The consolidation of American deathcare is accelerating — and it's happening without scrutiny.
Carriage Services Buys Knoxville's Oldest Funeral Home. The Town Pushed Back.
When the fourth-generation family funeral home changed hands, residents noticed: higher prices, shorter services, and a corporate script replacing personal care.
THE QUIET GIANT: How Everstory Partners Bought a Family Cemetery — and What It Reveals About Who Controls America's Burial Grounds
When Everstory Partners acquired Franklin Memorial Park in New Jersey, it was one more deal in a buying spree that has gone largely unnoticed. Behind the warm rebrand lies a company transformed from a troubled publicly traded cemetery operator into a private equity-powered consolidator with 460+ locations and global capital backing.
THE VALUATION FUNNEL: Inside Pinnacle Funeral Service's Quiet Acquisition of 15 Wisconsin Funeral Homes
When Mark Langendorf sold his family's nearly century-old funeral home to Pinnacle Funeral Service, he described the buyer as "the right steward for the future." But behind the warm language of legacy and continuity sits a company that has acquired 15 Wisconsin funeral homes, advertises pre-approved acquisition financing, and operates a Free Valuation page designed to identify its next targets. This is what the succession crisis looks like from the inside.
$1.2 BILLION TO GO DARK: Park Lawn's Take-Private Deal and the End of Public Scrutiny
Park Lawn Corporation, which acquired at least 16 funeral homes in Oklahoma alone over seven months, is going private in a $1.2 billion deal with a preneed insurance company and a Toronto private equity firm. Once the deal closes, the company's acquisitions will no longer appear in any public filing.