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Commission approval of proposed divestitures: The Commission has approved two petitions from Service Corporation International (SCI) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. regarding proposed divestitures related to SCI’s recent acquisition of Alderwoods. In the FTC’s consent agreement and order allowing the transaction to proceed with conditions, SCI and Alderwoods were required to divest a range of funeral home and cemetery services companies. Through the petitions, public versions of which can be found on the Commission’s Web site as a link to this press release, the companies requested approval to divest Lee Funeral Home in Manassas, Virginia, to Found, LLC; and Evergreen Memorial Chapel in Anchorage, Alaska, Evergreen’s Eagle River Funeral Home in Eagle River, Alaska, and Alaska Cremation Center in Anchorage, Alaska, to Janssen Funeral Homes, Inc. and Janssen-Eastman Properties, LLC. Those divestitures have now been approved.

The FTC vote approving the proposed divestitures was 5-0. (FTC File No. 061-0156, Docket No. C-4174; the staff contact is Elizabeth A. Piotrowski, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623, see press release dated November 22, 2006.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.