Last week, the Chinese government reportedly instructed state-owned companies to phase out the use of the Big Four accounting firms. This week, the Chinese government is asking EY China staff to show their loyalty to the CCP by wearing party badges ($). How galling it must be to pin that badge on after your biggest client told you that they will not be signing your new engagement letter!

The lowdown

• 💵 Abu Dhabi state funds IPIC and Aabar pay Malaysia $1.8 billion to settle 1MDB dispute.

• 🤖 Zuckerberg announces new team at Meta working on generative AI products.

• 🪫 Shareholders sue Tesla and Musk over ‘Full Self Driving’ capability claims.

Featured stories

Oaktree raising LBO fund

Distressed debt specialist Oaktree Capital is seeking to raise $10 billion for a new fund ($) that will provide loans to leveraged buyout groups to fund corporate acquisitions.

This comes as most major Wall Street banks are reducing the size and number of new loans they are willing to write to PE firms. Some big lenders have been stuck holding loans that they had intended to sell. Take the $12 billion that was loaned to Twitter. Lenders had intended to move these loans from their books but were caught out by a rapid increase in interest rates and are now sitting on paper losses. Private credit groups, on the other hand, will typically hold on to loans for years.

Oaktree is also seeing opportunities in bonds related to the Adani Group, which are offering yields of up to 24%. But before this is seen as too much of a vote of confidence in the group, recall Oaktree founder Howard Marks’ quote, “success in investing doesn't come from buying good things, but from buying things well.”

Event spotlight: Pigment's FP&A Week

For finance leaders looking to adapt their playbook for today’s ever-changing landscape, look no further than Pigment's FP&A Week: a series of virtual events with some of the top voices in Finance.

Sit down with over 15 speakers from the likes of Netflix, Figma and Tableau for a week of unique insights and inspiring discussions: from people, to processes, and product – and the rise of the CFO.

Register for FP&A Week for free here. (Sponsored)

The content we're consuming today

• Bloomberg: Adani CFO Says No Refinancing, Capital Plans at HK Roadshow ($).

• The Closer podcast: Episode 4: How Amazon got into the prescription drug business.

• Reuters: Dow said it was recycling our shoes. We found them at an Indonesian flea market.

Off-balance sheet items

• On the subject of LBOs, Barbarians at the Gate is the greatest book on LBOs of all time and is up there with the best business books of all time.

The bottom line