Marshberry to be Bought by Lincoln International

Marshberry has served as an insurance industry advisor company for 40 years. Specializing in insurance distribution, wealth management and as an insurance brokerage. The company has issued an announcement that it has been purchased by Lincoln International.

Officials of Lincoln Financial say the purchase is to beef up its financial services practice and to expand its advisory services. Lincoln will use Marshberry’s assets to advise private equity companies, those wanting to purchase an insurer or an agency or brokerage, and to assist with consolidating insurance and wealth management.

Marshberry has offices in six cities in the U.S. and has three locations in Europe.

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/4mgdLrl

California plans to boost wildfire fund by $18 billion

Contributions are to be spread across the next two decades

California plans to boost wildfire fund by $18 billion

Business News

By Bloomberg News

Sep 11, 2025

by Eliyahu Kamisher and Michelle Ma

California lawmakers have reached an agreement to shore up the state’s wildfire utility fund. 

The boost would be around $18 billion, with contributions spread out over the next two decades, according to legislation filed on Wednesday. Ratepayers would contribute half of the money and utility shareholders the rest.

The proposal confirmed earlier reporting from Bloomberg News and still needs to be voted on by both state legislative chambers in Sacramento. Then, it would need to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, who had previously proposed a draft similar to Wednesday’s text.

The effort is aimed at stabilizing utilities’ finances and limit shareholder losses. January blazes devastated the Los Angeles area and put the California Wildfire Fund at risk of being depleted. Potential liabilities from fires in the state have increased risks for utilities such as Edison International and PG&E Corp.

“This legislation will stabilize the Wildfire Fund in the short-term and help victims and communities recover and rebuild, without raising customer rates,” according to a joint statement from PG&E, Edison’s Southern California Edison utility and Sempra’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co. While it “represents progress, more work is needed to create comprehensive and permanent solutions to address wildfire risk in California.”

Shares of Edison jumped as much as 3% on the news, before trading up about 1.8% as of 3:15 p.m. in New York. PG&E rose as much as 7.5%, before paring gains to about 2.1%.

Established in 2019 after liabilities from the Camp Fire and other blazes sent PG&E into bankruptcy, the $21 billion fund currently has more than $13 billion in assets, according to the state. The state’s investor-owned utilities can pull from the fund to cover fire-related damages exceeding $1 billion. 

Under Wednesday’s bill, California’s three investor-owned utilities — PG&E, Edison and Sempra — would be required to contribute a combined $300 million to the fund annually from 2029 to 2045. The proposal also includes a backup funding mechanism that requires utilities to chip in an extra $3.9 billion spread over five years if wildfire claims overwhelm the fund. The state would be able to borrow as much as $9 billion to replenish the fund, which would be covered by ratepayers as a charge on their bills. 

All told, that would channel an additional $18 billion to the fund.

The proposed legislation would add about $3 a month to customer bills starting in 2035, according to Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group. “We are disappointed that the requirement for utilities to submit an inflation constrained rate increase alternative was stripped out of the bill,” he said in a statement. 

In October, Newsom directed the legislature to tackle the state’s rising electricity affordability crisis, suggesting changing programs that inflate bills. Still, in order to shore up the wildfire fund, lawmakers will be ultimately forced to decide between lowering utility rates for customers and keeping utilities solvent in the coming years, said Michael Wara, an energy policy expert at Stanford.

“The priority has been affordability, but the priority might change now, because we don’t want to run a risk of another bankruptcy,” Wara said. “Without the fund, utilities go into wildfire season with no insurance.”

Source link: Business Insurance — https://bit.ly/3VQvgnk

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3IsvKgv