—— Oaktree Launches LBO Loan Fund; Two Top French Michelin Restaurants Lose Stars; Hong Kong Telecom Firm Gets $1B Offer; Billionaire Donates $1.9B to Museum; U.S. Cash Homebuyers Surge; Goldman May Sell Consumer Finance Unit; Elon Musk Regains World’s Richest Title
1. Oaktree Launches LBO Loan Fund
Private credit firm Oaktree Capital plans to raise $10 billion over the next two years for a new fund that will provide loans to support private equity leveraged buyouts.
According to the Financial Times, the fund will offer at least $500 million in loans for LBO (leveraged buyout) transactions.
Persistent inflation and high interest rates have recently swept through the capital markets, prompting many traditional Wall Street banks to scale back both the frequency and volume of LBO loans. In response, private credit firms have stepped in to fill this financing gap.
Once the new fund is launched, Oaktree will be in a stronger position to compete with other large private credit firms, including Apollo Global, Blackstone, and Sixth Street Partners.
Oaktree founder Howard Marks believes the LBO lending market holds great opportunity and relatively limited competition.
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2. Two Top French Michelin Restaurants Lose Stars
According to a statement released today by Michelin, famed French chef Guy Savoy’s three-star Michelin restaurant has lost one star. Another Michelin three-star seafood restaurant, Christophe Coutanceau, also lost a star.
An additional 25 Michelin-starred restaurants were affected in this round of ratings adjustments.
In October last year, Michelin stripped stars from notable New York restaurants including Carbone, Peter Luger, and Marea.
David Kinch, head chef and owner of Bay Area Michelin restaurant Manresa, noted that after his restaurant was upgraded to three stars in 2016, customer volume surged. Twenty-five percent of patrons came from New York, and at any time, three languages could be heard in the dining room. This illustrates the power of Michelin ratings.
Michelin stars can dramatically boost a restaurant’s reputation and customer traffic.
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3. Hong Kong Telecom Firm Gets $1B Offer
Sources report that Hong Kong telecom company HKBN Ltd. has received a buyout offer from HGC Global, with a valuation likely exceeding $1 billion.
HGC’s parent company is private equity firm I Squared Capital.
Following the news, HKBN shares rose 12% before trading was halted. However, the stock is still down 43% over the past 12 months.
Bloomberg noted that last year, KKR and PAG also showed interest in acquiring HKBN, but market volatility at the time led to a breakdown in the deal.
HKBN provides broadband and WiFi services to residential and business customers, and it also operates data centers.
State-owned enterprises or Chinese government-backed funds may also be interested in HKBN’s assets, as China has recently tightened oversight of sensitive technology and data.
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4. Billionaire Donates $1.9B to Museum
Billionaire Mitchell Rales has donated $1.9 billion to his Glenstone Foundation museum.
As a result, Glenstone now has net assets totaling $4.6 billion—nearly equal to those of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Located in Maryland, Glenstone comprises a sculpture park and museum founded in 2006 by Rales and his wife. The museum also serves as their personal residence to this day.
Bank of America analyst Evan Beard stated that such a large donation guarantees the museum’s ability to operate in perpetuity.
Seven years after opening, Glenstone had just under 10,000 visitors annually, while the Met welcomes 6 million each year.
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5. U.S. Cash Homebuyers Surge
According to new data from real estate analytics firm Attom, the share of all-cash homebuyers in the U.S. reached its highest level since 2013—indicating that more buyers are using this method to avoid costly mortgage rates.
This trend is especially pronounced in the Southeastern U.S., where 13 cities reported cash purchase rates exceeding 50%. In Augusta, Georgia, the figure hit 72%.
Local agents said Wall Street institutions priced ordinary buyers out of the market last year. Now, many homeowners who profited from selling are returning to purchase new properties.
In contrast, institutional investors who bought homes at market highs last year have since suffered losses as conditions worsened. As a result, they are now pulling back on cash investments, giving traditional buyers more room to reenter.
According to a Redfin report, investor-driven home purchases fell 46% year-over-year in Q4 2022.
The share of all-cash home purchases in the U.S. is now at a 13-year high, while institutional investor activity has significantly declined.
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6. Goldman May Sell Consumer Finance Unit
Today, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the firm plans to sell parts of its consumer finance business, including credit card partnerships with Apple, General Motors, and GreenSky.
Solomon pledged that the consumer division would reach profitability by 2025 and added that the company is evaluating other strategic options, including potential sales or restructuring.
In 2022, Goldman’s consumer division—called Platform Solutions—posted a total loss of $1.7 billion. The Wall Street firm had faced skepticism from shareholders and investors ever since it entered the retail banking sector.
Goldman’s push into consumer finance was meant to diversify earnings, but the effort has fallen short of expectations.
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7. Elon Musk Regains World’s Richest Title
Since hitting a low on January 6, Tesla shares have rebounded more than 100%, and are up 70% year-to-date.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Tesla’s 5.5% share price increase today pushed Elon Musk’s net worth to $187.1 billion, surpassing 73-year-old LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, whose net worth stands at $185.3 billion. Musk has reclaimed the title of world’s richest person.
Between August and December last year, Musk donated 11.6 million Tesla shares, worth $1.9 billion, to an undisclosed charitable organization. The donation had almost no impact on his overall net worth.
Earlier this month, Musk said Twitter’s financials may not stabilize until the end of the year. Only then, he added, would he begin searching for a new CEO to replace himself.
In January, Tesla shares had plummeted due to a series of market and company-specific factors.
Yet within just one month, the stock doubled in value, driving Musk back to the top of the global wealth rankings.
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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.