Funeral director acquires new businesses

WOLVERHAMPTON funeral directors Laurel has expanded its operations with the acquisition of three new businesses.

The acquisitions of John Stuart Funeral Services, CS Bowyer and KY green were arranged on behalf of Laurel by private equity specialist Sovereign Capital. The bolt-ins have expanded the Laurel empire to 50 sites.

Each of the acquired businesses is well suited to the group. John Stuart and CS Bowyer, both based in Wiltshire, have been in business for more than 150 years while KY Green, based in Aylesbury, can trace its origins back over 200 years.

Sovereign said Laurel had provided an appropriate solution to ‘succession planning’ for each of the vendors, with a flexible approach toward meeting their particular aspirations.

Laurel has said it intends to build on the individual heritage of the former family owned businesses – in each case the owners were either the founder (John Stuart) or descendents of the original founders (CS Bowyer, KY Green) – through broadening the range of services available to the bereaved.

Kevin Whittle, Partner at Sovereign Capital, said: “We are pleased to be consolidating Laurel’s position in the UK funeral market and providing each business with all of the benefits of the group’s infrastructure.”

“We look forward to further expanding the group’s geographic reach within this highly fragmented sector.”

Ian Johnston, Chief Executive of Laurel added that as with previous acquisitions, the three businesses’ individual traditions would continue to be upheld while they would benefit from being part of the group’s best practice.

Laurel is currently assessing a number of further acquisition opportunities with a view to continuing to expand the group’s national footprint.  This expansion is being supported by an acquisition facility provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland.