Business Moves
Lawson-Hawks, Christopher Lee Insurance Services
Lawson-Hawks Insurance Associates Inc., a regional independent insurance broker based in Mountain View, Calif., acquired Christopher Lee Insurance Services of Carmel, Calif. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
John Miller, CEO of Lawson-Hawks Insurance Associates, said, “We see in this purchase an opportunity to not only expand our Monterey-area operations and get an even larger foothold in professional liability coverages for the legal profession, but the timely addition of two unique professional talents in Mary and Chris Chancellor.”
With Lawson-Hawks, the companies want to become one of the dominant professional liability providers for the legal community in California.
EPIC
California-based EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center), a retail property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage, created a national Public Entities Practice and team to deliver property and casualty risk management services, employee and executive benefits consulting and specialized risk solutions for public entities. The company has integrated construction, development and alternative energy expertise into the public entities practice.
D. Michael Enfield will head the new initiative. In response to the public entity insurance crisis of the mid-1980s, Enfield designed and implemented capital funding programs for public insurance pools through an adaptation of public financing. His efforts resulted in the generation of more than $120 million in new policyholder surplus for public pools in California, Montana and Wisconsin.
Property and casualty practice leaders for this public entities practice include Baltimore-based Craig Routson and Brian Marx (mid-Atlantic Division), Michael McNulty, Marianne Schleicher and Jeffrey Stephens (San Francisco), Chris McTigue and Jim Gillette (Los Angeles) and Tony D’Asaro (Irvine).
Terri Ezaki will lead EPIC’s Public Entities Benefits Consulting Group. Ezaki is based in the company’s Sacramento division and has provided employee benefits solutions to the public sector for more than 25 years David Alvarado, Dan Francis, Jr., John Greenfield and Nancy Hahn will contribute to the Alternative Energy Program Team.
Breckenridge IS Inc., REcentis Intermediaries
Breckenridge IS Inc. acquired a majority interest in REcentis Intermediaries LLC, a specialty reinsurance broker with offices in Westlake Village, Calif. and Sydney, Australia.
REcentis has expertise in energy, casualty and financial reinsurance. It has consulted, designed and executed reinsurance programs for risk retention groups, captives, program administrators and Fortune 500 companies.
The company was founded in 2006 by Brendan Roche, former head of R.K. Carvill & Co.’s West Coast operations, and REcentis President James Fulgentis, former executive vice president with Wachovia Securities. Roche, before joining Carvill was a partner and managing director of Minet Burn & Roche, the leading Australian reinsurance broker (and an affiliate of the St. Paul Companies).
For Breckenridge, the addition of reinsurance complements its services in financial services, workers’ compensation, construction, public entity, transportation and alternative risk. Breckenridge IS Inc. markets property/casualty insurance solutions to brokers throughout the United States. With this acquisition, Breckenridge will have offices in 14 U.S. states plus Australia.
Berkshire Hathaway, Wesco Financial
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Pasadena, Calif.-based Wesco Financial Corp. entered into a definitive merger agreement, whereby Berkshire Hathaway will acquire the remaining 19.9 percent of the shares of Wesco’s common stock that it does not presently own in exchange for cash or shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B common stock, at the election of each shareholder. The transaction is valued at approximately $547.6 million.
The transaction requires the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of Wesco’s outstanding shares in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement, and is subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction is also subject to a non-waivable condition that a majority of the outstanding shares not owned by Berkshire Hathaway vote in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement. Berkshire Hathaway agreed to vote the Wesco shares it owns in favor of the transaction. Closing is expected to occur before the end of the second quarter of 2011.
Greenhill & Co. is acting as financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal advisor to the Special Committee. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP is serving as Berkshire Hathaway’s counsel.
Since 1983, Wesco has been an indirect 80.1 percent subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.