COMPANIES

Judge OKs Seizure of Mutual Benefit Life: A New Jersey judge approved the seizure of troubled Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. by state regulators, the biggest such takeover in the industry’s history. Superior Court Judge Paul Levy also ordered a freeze on all cash withdrawals by policyholders in an effort to stop a run on the insurer’s assets. Levy said he granted the request by New Jersey Atty. Gen. Robert Del Tufo to put the insurer in conservatorship because Mutual Benefit’s “asset base is inadequate to cover its year-end liquidity needs.”