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Global law firm K&L Gates LLP served as legal counsel to Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE: FHI) in its agreement to acquire a majority stake in FCP Fund Manager, LP, a privately held real estate investment manager headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2026 pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, marks Federated Hermes’ second private markets acquisition of 2025. It follows the firm’s April purchase of Rivington Energy Management and underscores its continued expansion into alternative asset classes.

FCP specializes in US multifamily real estate, deploying both equity and select debt strategies. Since its founding, the firm has invested in, operated, or financed more than US$14.6 billion in gross asset value, including more than 75,000 apartment units. FCP’s team of more than 75 professionals will continue to manage the business from its six US offices, maintaining deep coverage across 19 high-growth metro areas.

The deal was led by Chicago partner Brent Williams with relationship partners Clair Pagnano, leader of the firm’s global Asset Management and Investment Funds practice, and Michael Caccese, firm co-chair.

Pagnano stated: “This acquisition underscores Federated Hermes’ strategic commitment to expanding its private markets platform and strengthening its position in real estate investment management. We’re proud to be advising Federated Hermes on this transaction with FCP and look forward to a successful closing and supporting their continued success in this dynamic space.”

“On behalf of Federated Hermes, we would like to thank K&L Gates for their expert advice, counseling and active support in the lead up to, and execution of, the definitive transaction agreement between Federated Hermes and FCP Fund Manager, LP. We look forward to continuing to work with K&L Gates towards a successful closing of the transaction,” said George Magera, Federated Hermes’ general counsel.

Jaguar Land Rover has not drawn down any of a £1.5bn loan facility guaranteed by the government, with suppliers expressing anger over ministers’ claims to have supported the carmaker’s supply chain after a crippling hack.

Britain’s biggest automotive employer was forced to shut down all of its wholly owned factories from 1 September for more than a month, after cyber-attackers compromised key computer systems.

Liam Byrne, the Labour MP who heads of parliament’s business select committee, on Friday wrote to the business secretary, Peter Kyle, asking for clarification as to whether any money had reached JLR, and whether the aid was requested by the carmaker.

Suppliers to JLR have privately expressed anger about the government’s messaging, which appeared to take credit for helping them. An executive at one parts maker said: “In some ways the government played a blinder with everyone thinking they bailed out JLR. They did nothing.”

JLR was able to restart limited production only in early October. It has since been focusing on ramping up output, with a full rate of production expected by early December.

The shutdown caused chaos in the UK automotive industry, which was already under pressure after an extended period of low demand. Suppliers laid off thousands of workers to save cash, and this month the Guardian revealed JLR’s plan to pay upfront for parts in order to get money into the supply chain quickly after a month without orders.

JLR is on track to avoid the worst-case scenario of a shutdown lasting into the new year. However, the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM), a lobby group representing many of the company’s suppliers, said financial support to parts makers still needed to be accelerated.

Most suppliers work on 60-day payment terms, meaning some will start to feel the worst of the financial pressure next week, two months after the attack halted orders.

The crisis prompted calls by MPs for government intervention, before the Labour party conference at the end of September. The evening before the conference, Kyle announced that government-controlled UK Export Finance (UKEF) would guarantee a £1.5bn loan, in effect promising to cover 80% of the debt if JLR were to default.

The size of the guarantee was “outside of UKEF’s normal risk appetite”, its chief executive warned the business secretary.

Announcing the loan guarantee, Kyle said it had “the explicit intention that that is to support the supply chain into JLR as well”. In its announcement the government said it would “bolster JLR’s cash reserves so it can support its supply chain which has been greatly impacted by the shutdown”.

In his conference speech two days later, Kyle trumpeted the government’s intervention. He said: “I’ve announced £1.5bn support – a huge amount of money to help a hugely important company.”

The Financial Times reported that JLR only formally agreed the loan covered by UKEF this month, with HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Group and NatWest acting as potential lenders. Several sources told the Guardian that none of that loan facility had gone into JLR’s accounts, nor had any gone to any of its suppliers. Instead, the carmaker used its existing large cash reserves for its scheme to help suppliers.

The ability to access a loan readily, even if not used, may have helped JLR marginally by lowering the risk of it breaching other banking agreements. However, the loan guarantee is unlikely to have helped suppliers.

A government spokesperson said: “We acted quickly and decisively to put support in place for JLR through a loan guarantee at a critical moment to help the company and its supply chain stabilise the situation.

“We continue to work closely with JLR, the industry and major banks to keep a close eye on the supply chain through this challenging period.”

Even after JLR’s own support scheme – which received no help from the government – some suppliers have raised concerns that it is taking some time for payments to trickle down through the “tiers” of the supply chain. While tier 1 suppliers have generally received cash from JLR’s scheme, the carmaker is reliant on them to keep making payments to the lower tiers.

Byrne, a Labour MP in a Birmingham constituency that is home to many JLR workers, also asked for more information on how the government was monitoring whether adequate support was going beyond the first tier, and why the government thought a loan guarantee was the best option to help the supply chain.

Stephen Morley, the president of the CBM, said some parts makers had received much-needed cashflow but others further down the chain would start feeling the worst of the squeeze imminently, two months after their last invoices became due.

“From 1 September, no matter when you get paid, there’s no sales to invoice,” Morley said. “Depending on your payment terms, come 1 November the majority of invoices would have been due. This is a critical pinch point as there is nothing to invoice.”

However, he added that the recovery was going better than expected overall. He said: “JLR has done well so far, but there’s work to do.”

Subscribers to YouTube TV have lost access to ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels, as the two companies struggle to negotiate a licensing deal.

Disney said the online pay-TV platform, which is owned by the tech giant Google and available only in the US, had refused to pay fair rates for the content, which also include National Geographic and the Disney channel.

In its own statement, YouTube TV said that Disney’s proposed terms “disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products”.

After tense negotiations, the channels vanished from YouTube TV just before midnight on Thursday – the deadline to reach a new deal. The blackout affects roughly 10 million subscribers.

If Disney channels remain suspended for an “extend period of time”, YouTube TV said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit.

YouTube and Disney-owned Hulu are among the biggest online TV platforms in the US.

Their stand-off follows similarly contentious talks this year between YouTube and other media companies, which had also threatened to limit the shows available to YouTube TV subscribers.

Google struck a deal at the last minute with Comcast-owned NBCUniversal earlier this month to keep shows like “Sunday Night Football” on YouTube TV. It has also reached agreements with Paramount and Fox in recent months.

In separate statements, both Google and Disney said they were working toward a resolution to restore Disney content to YouTube TV.

Still, the companies remain divided on fees.

“With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.

But YouTube said in a statement that Disney was proposing “costly economic terms” that would lead to higher prices for YouTube TV customers and limit their options for content, benefiting Disney’s own live TV offerings like Hulu+ Live TV.