Apr 10, 2017, 2:05pm CDT
Houston-based Service Corporation International, one of the largest funeral services companies in the world, is in discussions to acquire an independently owned Austin-based funeral chain.
Weed-Corley-Fish has four locations throughout central Texas and has been in business for more than 100 years, according to its website. Houston's SCI (NYSE: SCI) confirmed the merger talks saying in a statement that Weed-Corley-Fish's operations will continue as normal following the deal.
Tom Ryan, CEO of SCI, PHOTOS CREDITS: DANIEL KRAMER/HBJ
The deal is expected to close sometime this week, according to a statement from SCI.
"Laurens Fish will continue to lead day-to-day operations, and there are no planned changes to the management team, funeral staff or locations," SCI said in a statement.
Weed-Corley-Fish was not immediately available for comment.
SCI owns and operates more than 1,500 funeral homes and 470 cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada, including 230 combined locations in Texas. The company posted $3.03 billion in revenue in 2016 with $177.3 million in profit, according to its annual earnings report. When SCI CEO Tom Ryan spoke to the Houston Business Journal in 2015, he said that smaller, "tuck-in" acquisitions would fit SCI's long-term growth strategy.
