A New Jersey town council is divided about whether it should switch insurance brokers; Marsh & McLennan Cos. reportedly is seeking to divest Kroll Inc.; and former Crump Group CEO Glenn Hargrove is launching a new insurance wholesaler.

Lots of news to talk about today. Let's start in New Jersey where the mayor and town council of Fair Lawn are reportedly at odds about whether to switch insurance brokers. Partisan politics is the issue, according to a local report.

The town's current insurance broker, Business and Governmental Insurance Agency, apparently has contributed to campaigns for Democratic candidates throughout the state and that has raised concerns among two Republican council members. Mayor Joe Tedeschi, a Democrat, has sided with the two members and favors seeking outside bids for the job. Two deputy mayors, both Democrats, however, oppose the measure.

In other news, the Financial Times this week reported that Marsh & McLennan Cos. has put its risk consulting unit Kroll Inc. up for sale and is seeking about $1.3 billion.

MMC has reportedly attracted a “stream of private equity interest in first round bidding,” the article states. Among the interested parties is The Carlyle Group, Apax Partners and General Atlantic, it said.

Of the three, the one I find most interesting is Apax Partners. In 2007 if you remember, Apax together with Morgan Stanley Principal Investments paid $1.9 billion for broker Hub International Ltd. I have to wonder if Apax might see some synergies between Kroll's risk consulting operations and Hub's insurance brokerage's operations. That was the original idea behind MMC's 2004 $1.9 billion purchase of Kroll the first place. It just never happened. Does Apax's management think it has a better mousetrap? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

More on the Kroll story in Monday's issue of Business Insurance

Also in Monday's issue, you can read about Glenn Hargrove's new wholesale insurance venture MarketScout Wholesale, which he's launching with Richard Kerr, CEO of online wholesaler MarketScout Inc.

Mr. Hargrove, who left Crump Group in January 2008, is fresh off his two-year non-compete agreement and has had sufficient time to think about how his new venture can bring something new and different to the market.