UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

BEFORE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

In the Matter of ) 

 ) 

Service Corporation International, ) Docket No. C-4423 

a corporation, and ) File No. 131 0163 

 ) 

Stewart Enterprises, Inc., ) 

a corporation ) 

 ) 

PETITION FOR APPROVAL OF PROPOSED DIVESTITURE 

 

Pursuant to Section 2.41(f) of the Federal Trade Commission 

(“Commission”) Rules of Practice and Procedure, 16 C.F.R. § 2.41(f) (2012), and 

Paragraphs II.A of the Decision and Order contained in the Agreement Containing Consent 

Orders accepted for public comment in this matter (“Decision and Order”), Respondent 

Service Corporation International (“SCI”) hereby petitions the Commission to approve the 

divestiture to Hunsaker Partners, LLC (“Hunsaker”) of the Divestiture Business that 

includes the following facility: Cheatham Hill Memorial Park/Southern Cremations & 

Funerals, 1860 Dallas Highway SW, Marietta, Georgia 30064. 

The Divestiture Business associated with this facility (as defined in the 

Decision and Order, and hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Divestiture Assets”) 

will be sold to Hunsaker pursuant to the Asset Sale Agreement dated March 3, 2014, by and 

among Hunsaker and Cheatham Hill Memorial Park, Inc.1

 (the “ASA”). 

 1

 Cheatham Hill Memorial Park, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SCI. 

PUBLIC VERSION
Background 

On December 23, 2013, SCI and Respondent Stewart Enterprises, Inc. 

(“Stewart”) (collectively, the “Respondents”) executed an Agreement Containing Consent 

Orders that included the Decision and Order and Order to Hold Separate and Maintain 

Assets (collectively, the “Consent Agreement”) to settle the Commission’s charges that the 

proposed acquisition by SCI of Stewart would violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade 

Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 45, and Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as 

amended, 15 U.S.C. § 18. On December 23, 2013, the Commission accepted the Consent 

Agreement for public comment, and on December 23, 2013, SCI consummated its 

acquisition of Stewart. Stewart is now a wholly owned subsidiary of SCI. The Consent 

Agreement is presently before the Commission for final approval and issuance of the orders 

contained therein. 

Because this petition and its attachments contain confidential and 

competitively sensitive business information relating to the divestiture of the Divestiture 

Assets—the disclosure of which may prejudice the Respondents and Hunsaker, cause harm 

to the ongoing competitiveness of the Divestiture Assets, and impair the Respondents’ 

ability to comply with their obligations under the Consent Agreement—Respondents have 

redacted such confidential information from the public version of this petition and its 

attachments. Pursuant to Sections 2.41(f)(4) and 4.9(c) of the Commission’s Rules of 

Practice and Procedure, 16 C.F.R. § 2.41(f)(4) & 4.9(c) (2012), Respondents request that 

the confidential version of this petition and its attachments and the information contained 

herein be accorded confidential treatment. The confidential version of this petition should 

be accorded such confidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. § 552 and Section 4.10(a)(2) of the 

PUBLIC VERSION
Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 16 C.F.R. § 4.10(a)(2) (2012). The 

confidential version of this petition is also exempt from disclosure under Exemptions 4, 

7(A), 7(B), and 7(C) of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 552(b)(4), 

552(b)(7)(A), 552(b)(7)(B), & 552(b)(7)(C), and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust 

Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 18a(h). 

Respondent SCI desires to complete the proposed divestiture of the 

Divestiture Assets as soon as possible, following Commission approval thereof. All 

conditions other than Commission approval and those normally satisfied at closing have 

already been satisfied so that SCI and Hunsaker are in a position to close the divestiture 

within a few days of such approval. Prompt consummation will further the purposes of the 

Decision and Order and is in the interests of the public, Hunsaker, and Respondents 

because it will allow Hunsaker to move forward with its business plans for the competitive 

operation of the Divestiture Assets. SCI accordingly requests that the Commission 

promptly commence the period of public comment pursuant to Section 2.41(f)(2) of the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 16 C.F.R. § 2.41(f)(2) (2012), limit the 

public comment period to the customary 30-day period, and grant this petition by 

approving the divestiture of the Divestiture Assets to Hunsaker pursuant to the abovereferenced ASA as soon as practicable after the close of the public comment period. 

I. The ASA Is Final and Consistent with the Decision and Order’s Terms 

Paragraph II.A of the Decision and Order requires the Respondents to divest the 

Divestiture Businesses (as defined in the Decision and Order) within 180 days of the date on 

which the Order is issued.2

 Pursuant to this requirement, SCI diligently has sought buyers that 

 2

 The Commission has not yet issued the Order as final. 

PUBLIC VERSION
would be acceptable to the Commission, through an extensive auction process that produced 

great interest in the properties. As noted above, on March 3, 2014, Cheatham Hill Memorial 

Park, Inc. entered into the ASA with Hunsaker, which requires SCI, through Cheatham Hill 

Memorial Park, Inc., to sell the Divestiture Assets to Hunsaker. The executed ASA is attached 

hereto as Confidential Exhibit A. 

The ASA complies with the requirements of Paragraph II of the Decision and 

Order. Paragraph II.A requires that Respondents divest the Divestiture Assets, absolutely and in 

good faith. Pursuant to the ASA, Hunsaker will acquire the Divestiture Assets. See ASA § 1.1. 

Hunsaker has acknowledged that the Divestiture Assets, together with the 

Hunsaker’s existing resources, enable Hunsaker to operate the Divestiture Businesses as ongoing 

entities and that no other assets are needed from SCI to do so. See ASA § 4.4. 

 

* * * 

As demonstrated above and in the accompanying ASA, SCI has entered into an 

agreement relating to the divestiture of the Divestiture Assets that fully complies with the 

Commission’s Decision and Order with respect to the divestiture of these assets. Accordingly, 

the Respondents hereby seek Commission approval of the proposed divestitures pursuant to 

Paragraph II.A of the Decision and Order. 

 

II. The Prospective Acquirer Will Be a Strong and Effective Competitor 

 A. Background and Operations Experience 

Hunsaker has extensive experience in acquiring and operating funeral homes and 

cemeteries, has the financial wherewithal to make this acquisition, and the acquisition of the 

PUBLIC VERSION
Divestiture Assets by Hunsaker will ensure that the Divestiture Assets remain strong and 

effective competitors in Marietta, Georgia. 

Christine Hunsaker grew up in the funeral business. Her father has been a funeral 

director for 59 years and still works in the industry. After graduate school, Ms. Hunsaker began 

her career in funeral service and has over 25 years of experience in the cremation, funeral, and 

cemetery business. She has been a corporate officer for two of the largest publically traded 

funeral companies in the United States—Stewart Enterprises and SCI. She is a successful owner 

of several businesses, one of which is a large pet cremation company that employs more than 25 

individuals and assists over 8,000 families annually.3

 Ms. Hunsaker also owns Hunsaker 

Properties, LLC, a commercial property holding company. Hunsaker Properties owns the real 

estates for the pet company as well as other commercial buildings, one of which will be the new 

corporate offices for Hunsaker Partners. 

Ms. Hunsaker is currently employed by Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (“Stewart”), now 

a wholly-owned subsidiary of SCI, but will not continue her employment upon the acquisition of 

the Divestiture Assets. She has been in her current role at Stewart as Senior Vice President, 

Cremation since 2009. In this role, she has been responsible for all aspects of the $150 million 

cremation operations and business development, growth, and strategic planning across all lines 

of business in the organization, including cemetery, funeral, pre-need sales, marketing, 

compliance, operations, and vendor partnerships. 

As part of her responsibilities as Senior Vice President, Cremation, at Stewart, 

Ms. Hunsaker has created and achieved several major company goals, including but not limited 

to the following: 

 

3

 The company, which Ms. Hunsaker started in 2004, is named Paws, Whiskers & Wags, Your Pet Crematory, and is 

located at 2800 E Ponce De Leon Ave., Decatur, GA 30030. See www.PawsWhiskersAndWags.com. 

PUBLIC VERSION
 built a new department that managed a $ annual investment in 

cremation/cemetery memorialization; 

 developed extensive cremation garden projects so that cemeteries would be more 

accommodative to cremations, which yielded an incremental $ in cemetery 

cremation sales through the first six months of fiscal year 2013; 

 created and trademarked four new cremation cemetery brands; established new cremation 

merchandising and signage to increase sales, resulting in a year-over-year 

increase in cremation funeral home profitability over a three-year period; 

 established Stewart’s first cremation training program (Face2Face for Cremation) for atneed arrangers and pre-need counselors, resulting in a increase in sales averages 

since inception; and 

 implemented and managed direct buying relationships with suppliers on granite, urns, 

and other cremation products. 

Before joining Stewart, from 2001 to 2004, Ms. Hunsaker served as President, 

Cremation Services/Cremation Operations, North America, for SCI. In this role, Ms. Hunsaker 

was responsible for all aspects of SCI’s North American cremation operations, expansion, 

growth, and personnel. She led the expansion of SCI’s cremation brand, National Cremation 

Society, into over 20 new markets in just 18 months, taking the company from 

operating profit to operating profit growth and operating profit growth in the two 

subsequent years. 

Prior to this role, Ms. Hunsaker served as Director, National Cremation Society 

Brand Development & Marketing, North America, for SCI. She was responsible for SCI’s North 

American business expansion of the National Cremation Society brand, while leading current 

operating locations and personnel toward successful business practices. In this capacity, Ms. 

Hunsaker managed over 125 employees. Ms. Hunsaker also served, prior to this role, as 

Manager, Revenue Services, North America, for SCI. In this role, Ms. Hunsaker was responsible 

for the development, selection, merchandising, and placement of all cremation revenue, 

generating a increase over prior years. She coordinated and directed the activities of 17 

Regional Vice Presidents in the rollout of company revenue strategies. 

PUBLIC VERSION
Before joining SCI, Ms. Hunsaker was a marketing manager for Hillenbrand 

Industries, where she assisted in the launch of a new cremation brand, “Options by Batesville,” 

which is one of North America’s largest cremation supply brands, owned by Batesville Casket 

Company. In this capacity, Ms. Hunsaker managed all sales and business practices for the brand 

for 10 states. She also served as a sales representative, developing 62 customer accounts in 

Northern California and Southern Oregon. 

Since entering the workforce after graduate school, all but two years of her 25-

year professional career has been in the death care industry. Ms. Hunsaker has worked in every 

facet of the funeral, cemetery and cremation business, including, but not limited to, waiting on 

families, sales, marketing, management, leadership, cemetery operations, funeral home 

operations, crematory operations, market expansion and executive management. 

Ms. Hunsaker belongs to the following professional organizations in the death 

care industry: Cremation Association of North America; International Cemetery and Cremation 

Funeral Association; and the National Funeral Directors Association. 

Ms. Hunsaker plans to bring seasoned professionals to the management of the 

Divestiture Assets. Brett Newbern, Vice President, Finance and Business Practices, and Rhonda 

Fuller, Vice President, Funeral Operations and Sales, will comprise the management team. 

These two individuals combined have more than 45 years of experience in the death care 

industry. 

The Divestiture Assets also will benefit from the operational and management 

experience of Paul Mousseau. Mr. Mousseau will serve as the Director of Operations for both 

the funeral home and the cemetery. He is an accomplished death care professional offering a 

successful 30+ year career encompassing sales, marketing and management of funeral homes 

PUBLIC VERSION
and cemeteries. Mr. Mousseau has a Diploma in Mortuary Science from Commonwealth 

College of Science in Houston, Texas, and is a licensed funeral director in the State of Georgia. 

He is also a graduate of the Dale Carnegie Institute with diplomas in Leadership, Sales, Effective 

Speaking and Human Relations. He has more than 100 hours of training from SCI’s DIGNITY 

University. Mr. Mousseau has his pre-need insurance license in the State of Georgia. He has a 

proven track record of increasing business volume in the cemeteries and funeral homes in which 

he was responsible as the manager. Mr. Mousseau will lead the day-to-day operations of the 

Divestiture Assets and will coach and mentor more junior licensed funeral professionals on site, 

 

 

Mr. Mousseau, will also be responsible for leading the cemetery operations. He 

will lead 

In addition, Ms. Hunsaker has retained the services of Lemasters Consulting. 

Lemasters Consulting specializes in the death care profession by providing a resource for funeral 

homes, cemeteries, and crematories on issues such as operations, regulatory compliance, risk 

PUBLIC VERSION
PUBLIC VERSION 

management, proper fonns/documentation, and liability issues. The experience of Lemasters 

Consulting is based on Poul Lemasters, who is both a licensed ftmeral director/embalmer with 

over 20 years of experience in the field and a practicing attomey with experience as cmporate 

counsel for various death care providers, including the fmmer Alde1woods Group. Lemasters 

Consulting represents death care providers across the entire United States and is recognized as an 

expert in the field. Lemasters Consulting also serves as counsel for various death care 

organizations, including the Intemational Cemete1y , Crematmy, and Flmeral Association 

(ICCFA). 

Hlmsaker has no competitive assets in Marietta, Georgia, or the broader Atlanta, 

Georgia, area. 

4 

Hlmsaker has sufficient operating expertise to not only ensure the continued 

competitiveness of the Divestiture Assets, but to enhance it. Ms. Hunsaker has planned several 

marketing and several strategic initiatives for the Divestiture Assets, including the following: 

I 

I 

I 

I 

4 Pet cremation assets do not compete with human disposition. 
PUBLIC VERSION 

I 

I 

B. Financial Capability 

Hlmsaker expects to pay SCI the pmchase price 

Hlmsaker does not anticipate any problems 

Moreover, Hlmsaker expects the call volume at the Divestiture 

Assets to increase in single-digit percentage growth over the next three years because of the new 

mausoleum and cremation garden, which were completed in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In 

addition, Hunsaker expects 

The facilities and equipment of the Divestitme Assets are mostly new and in good 

repair. Hunsaker does not anticipate needing any funds beyond working capital to make 

improvements to the physical property and facilities. 

III. The Proposed Divestiture Agreement Will Achieve the Purposes of the Decision and 

Order and Result in No Harm to Competition 

The proposed divestitme of the Divestitme Assets, as embodied in the ASA, will 

achieve the pmposes of the Decision and Order. Hlmsaker is an experienced operator of death 
PUBLIC VERSION 

care industry assets. Ms. Hunsaker's acquisition of the Divestiture Assets will allow her to 

leverage her cremation experience specifically, 

Hlmsaker enjoys a su·ong fmancial position that will enable it to complete this acquisition, 

continue the operation of the Divestiture Assets, and enhance their competitiveness in the market 

for funeral and cemete1y services. Combining the Divestiture Assets with Hunsaker's 

experience and financial wherewithal will ensure that the objectives of the Commission's 

Decision and Order will be realized. 

The proposed divestiture will result in no hann to competition. Hunsaker does 

not cunently compete in any market, as defmed in the Commission's Complaint, in which the 

Divestiture Assets operate. Consequently, there is no overlap between the operations of 

Hlmsaker and the Divestiture Assets, and the proposed divestiture does not raise any competitive 

ISSUe. 

In sum, the proposed divestiture will remedy any alleged anticompetitive effects 

that could result from the Acquisition. The ASA will achieve the Commission's stated purposes 

of ensuring the continued use of the Divestiture Assets in the same business in which they were 

engaged at the time of the annmmcement of the Acquisition and remedying the lessening of 

competition as alleged in the Commission's Complaint. 

Conclusion 

For the foregoing reasons, the Respondents respectfully request that the 

Commission approve the proposed divestiture of the Divestiture Assets to Hunsaker, as 

embodied in the ASA, as soon as practicable after expiration of the public comment period. 
PUBLIC VERSION

Respectfully submitted, 

Amanda L. Wait 

Hunton & Williams LLP 

2200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20037 

(202) 955-1502 

Counsel for Respondents 
PUBLIC VERSION

CERTIFICATION OF SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL 

The facts and information related in the foregoing Petition, insofar as they pertain to Service 

Corporation International, its subsidiaries, and its assets, are, to the best of my knowledge, 

true, correct, and complete. 

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws ofthe United 

States of nca at the foregoing is true and correct. 

Business Development 

oration International 
PUBLIC VERSION

CERTIFICATION OF HUNSAKER PARTERS, LLC 

The facts and information related in the foregoing Petition, insofar as they pertain to 

Hunsaker Partners, LLC, their subsidiaries, and their assets, are, to the best of my 

knowledge, true, correct, and complete. 

Pursuant tofl'U.S.C. § 1746, I certify under penalty ofpetjury under the laws of the United 

State f 'f~rica that the foregoing is true and correct. 

ti e Hunsaker 

Mana ng Member 

Hunsaker Partners, LLC 

(; 
CONFIDENTIAL 

EXHIBIT A 

PUBLIC VERSION