Ontario Teachers’ exits funeral services provider Mémora Group

• Mémora is a leading funeral group in Spain and Portugal
• Ontario Teachers’ acquired the company in 2017
• Grupo Catalana Occidente is a publicly traded insurance group

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) this week agreed to the sale of Spanish funeral services group Mémora Group. Spanish insurance group Grupo Catalana Occidente bought the company at an enterprise value of approximately €600 million.

Mémora is a provider for funeral services, funeral parlors and crematoriums in Spain and Portugal. The company is based in Barcelona and owns and operates 139 funeral parlors, 39 crematoriums and 19 cemeteries. It employs over 1,500 people.

Toronto-headquartered Ontario Teachers’ is a global investor with net assets of C$242 billion ($189 billion). It invests across assets classes to deliver retirement income for 333,000 current and retired teachers in Ontario.

“We are proud to have worked with the Mémora team over the last five years and to have helped it reinforce its position as a leading funeral services company in the Iberian Peninsula,” said Jean-Charles Douin, senior managing director, EMEA, private capital, at Ontario Teachers’. “Having delivered on our investment plan for Mémora, we now feel that it is the right time to leave it in good hands. We look forward to watching the business continue to flourish under the stewardship of Grupo Catalana Occidente.”

Barcelona-headquartered Grupo Catalana Occidente is a publicly traded insurance group that employs more than 7,000 people with a presence in over 50 countries.

“This acquisition allows us to become a reference group within the funeral sector, with a presence throughout the national territory as well as in Portugal,” said Francisco Arregui, managing director of Grupo Catalana Occidente. “Our vocation is to maintain the highest quality service during such difficult moments for families, relying on the human and management quality of the Mémora Group.”