Two major investors in PG&E Corp. are also backing a loan to one of the law firms suing the bankrupt California utility on behalf of thousands of wildfire victims, Bloomberg News reported. Centerbridge Partners LP is among the 20 biggest shareholders in PG&E and has committed to buying as much as $325 million in the utility’s shares when it emerges from chapter 11. Apollo Global Management Inc. last year held as much as $506 million in PG&E bonds and tried unsuccessfully with other creditors to take control of the company. The two firms bought stakes in a line of credit provided in September to the law firm of Mikal Watts, who worked with a group of lawyers that later negotiated a $13.5 billion settlement with PG&E for almost 80,000 people who lost homes, businesses or loved ones in blazes blamed on the utility’s equipment. Victims are now in the middle of voting whether to approve the bankruptcy plan.
