The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticutissued a preliminary approval of the proposed settlement that and itsmanager, Fifth Street AssetManagement, entered into to resolve a group of state and federalshareholder and class-action lawsuits, according to Form 8-K filings.

Under the settlement, the two companies will pay more than $23million combined to settle lawsuits alleging that Fifth Street Finance inflatedits assets and investment income to boost its manager's revenues and retainedan advisory agreement that was against shareholder interests.