July 2008/3

The final defendant in the cases related to illegal payments made by Milberg Weiss has pleaded guilty to a charge over tax.

The scheme of arrangement on the four EW Payne Pools has been approved in the UK High Court.

London-headquartered (re)insurance broker Cooper Gay & Co Ltd secured £31.6mn of new funding last week which may help the fast-expanding group finance new acquisitions.

Aon Ltd has recruited ZFS executive Mark Chessher to become its chief financial officer later this year.

Everest Re is to set up a representative office in Brazil after it received approval to operate in the newly-deregulated reinsurance sector in May, according to reports.

The European Commission has cleared Berkshire Hathaway and Munich Re to complete their buyout of SCOR's stake in Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers (GAUM).

Max Capital president of reinsurance and co-founder John Doucette has left the company to "pursue other opportunities".

State Farm Insurance has blamed the Florida authorities for its decision to seek premium increases of nearly 50 percent across the state for homeowners insurance.

Integro Insurance Brokers has parted company with John Chippindale, the managing director and president of its Canada operation, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Law firm Clyde & Co has hired Susan Stryker, formerly of Sterns & Weinroth, as it seeks to expand its US (re)insurance practice.

Towergate Partnership subsidiary Towergate Financial has raised over £100mn to establish a national independent financial adviser (IFA) operation which it plans to build with the acquisition of regional IFAs.

AM Best has left the ratings of Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) unchanged following the acquisition of a 50 percent stake in Spanish bank Banco Sabadell's insurance subsidiaries.