Another Setback for Hoylake: Illinois became the...

Another Setback for Hoylake: Illinois became the seventh state in which the investment consortium headed by Sir James Goldsmith lost its federal court attempt to bypass state regulatory approval of the change in ownership that would occur if Hoylake Investments takes over BAT Industries, parent of Los Angeles-based Farmers Group, an insurance holding company. Hoylake has agreed to immediately sell Farmers to a French insurer, Axa Midi Assurances, which opposes Hoylake’s attempt to circumvent state regulation. Approval must come from insurance regulators in the nine states in which Farmers’ subsidiaries have their headquarters.