NEW YORK, October 2, 2000—Fortis, the international insurance, banking and investment group, announced today that effective October 1, through its U.S. subsidiary, Fortis, Inc., it completed the purchase of American Memorial Life Insurance Company ("AMLIC"), the South Dakota-based prearranged funeral insurance company of Service Corporation International ("SCI", NYSE: SRV).
Under terms of the agreement, Fortis acquired AMLIC for approximately $200 million in cash and entered into a multi-year marketing agreement with SCI to allow for the sale of prearranged funeral contracts exclusively through SCI-owned or affiliated funeral homes.
The acquisition establishes Fortis' leadership position in the prearranged funeral insurance market and furthers Fortis' U.S. strategy to concentrate on a number of market segments in which the businesses are striving for leading positions by offering differentiated products and services.
Fortis, Inc. is a financial services company that, through its operating companies and affiliates, provides specialty insurance and investment products to businesses, associations, financial service organizations and individuals in the U.S. Fortis, Inc. is part of Fortis, the international insurance, banking and investment group, with assets at year-end 1999 in excess of $400 billion. Fortis' listed companies are Fortis (B) of Belgium and Fortis (NL) of the Netherlands. Fortis (B) securities trade on the Brussels exchange under the symbol FOR, on the London exchange under the symbol FAG and on the Luxembourg exchange under the symbol AGF; the securities of Fortis (NL) trade on the Amsterdam exchange as FOR, the London exchange as AMEV, on the Luxembourg exchange as AMV and as an ADR (FAMVY) on the NASDAQ 'Bulletin Board' in the U.S.
Service Corporation International is the largest funeral home and cemetery company in the world. As of 30 June 2000, SCI affiliates operated 3,809 funeral service locations, 581 cemeteries, and 201 crematoria in 20 countries on five continents.