Kirkland & Ellis advised private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC on the debt financing for its proposed acquisition of a significant majority of NFP’s wealth business from Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm. The deal includes Wealthspire Advisors, Fiducient Advisors, Newport Private Wealth and related platforms. The transaction was announced September 3, 2025 and is expected to close in late Q4 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals. Under the terms of the transaction, MDP will acquire the businesses for a total consideration estimated to be $2.7 billion at the time of close.
Read the transaction press release
The Kirkland team included debt finance lawyers Maureen Dixon, Conor O’Muiri and Georgie Bierwirth.
Tony Docherty has taken over managerial duties at Ross County three months after his departure from Dundee
The “stars aligned” in terms of Ross County and new manager Tony Docherty’s shared ambitions, the club’s chief executive Steven Ferguson has said.
Docherty joins the Championship outfit three months on from his dismissal from Dundee, after he guided them to Scottish Premiership survival last season.
Ferguson said the 54-year-old had a “fire burning like a manager who thinks he has got things to prove”.
He added: “That aligns with Ross County and the fact we’ve got things we need to prove – we want to win this league and we want to get back to the top flight.
“That’s what Tony wants and that’s what we want, so really the stars aligned in that situation.”
‘Passion and ambition’
Ferguson said Don Cowie, who left County by mutual agreement last month, had built a squad capable of promotion, and it was now Docherty’s job to “light the fire” needed to achieve that aim.
Docherty said he had been impressed by the “passion and ambition” of Ferguson and chairman Roy MacGregor during their initial conversations.
He said: “I am really excited and desperate to get started.
“I would like a playing style and an identity on the pitch that the fans can get excited about.”
Docherty said the Championship was an “extremely difficult” division, and he would be drawing on his previous experience as a promotion-chasing assistant manager at Kilmarnock and St Johnstone to get County back into the Premiership.
“I see Ross County as a top flight football club, but there will be real competition,” he added.
Docherty said he was proud of his two seasons at Dundee, and revealed that over the past three months he had visited David Moyes at Everton and Brendan Rodgers at Celtic to get an understanding of how other managers worked.
He said he had also enjoyed his spells as a BBC pundit, and that the role had given him a chance to take a closer look at teams in Scottish and European competitions.
‘Overwhelming support’ for new boss
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County fans hope Docherty can harness the attacking talent of players like Ronan Hale
Meanwhile, fans expect Docherty to bring exciting changes, according to Ross Morren, founder of The County Corner podcast.
Morren said: “Managerial appointments can sometimes split the fan base, but there is overwhelming support for Tony Docherty.
“He is well-known for his attacking brand of football.”
Morren added: “I think we’ve lacked identity to our style of play.
“We’ve the likes of Ronan Hale, Jay Henderson, Adam Emslie, Nicky Clark and Kieran Phillips – there’s a lot of attacking talent there.
“If he is able to harness that then it will be an exciting time to be a Ross County fan.”
“The level of precision and control these athletes operate with is directly applicable to our work,” said Song Songguo, SWAT Team Captain. “The techniques Gilbert and Leech shared on managing distance, leverage, and ground control will undoubtedly enhance our team’s skill set in high-pressure scenarios. This was an incredible opportunity to learn from the very best, and it was inspiring.”
This unique crossover highlighted the profound practicality of MMA, arming those who protect the community with new tools for de-escalation and control.
To make a list of Lily Tomlin’s best performances, you run the risk of simply listing a bunch of Robert Altman films (they made four together; in The Player she just has a cameo). In the sprawling Short Cuts, even though she has a pivotal role – as the waitress involved in the accident from which the whole film hangs – Tomlin’s good-natured, moral performance has a habit of getting lost in the din of actors seeking to make their mark, only really coming to the fore after a few rewatches.
9. The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
Slyly feminist … Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
Written by Tomlin’s wife Jane Wagner, this is a parody of 1957’s The Incredible Shrinking Man, in which Tomlin plays both the titular shrinking woman and her neighbour. While the film didn’t enjoy the kindest reception, subsequent generations have been able to see what its slightly muddled execution obscured: that this is a slyly feminist work about a woman buckling under the pressures of untrammelled consumerism.
8. A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Time of her life … Tomlin with Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan in A Prairie Home Companion. Photograph: Cinematic/Alamy
For Altman’s final film, Tomlin found herself paired with Meryl Streep. They play Wisconsin sisters with an old-timey country music act. Tomlin’s approach to the film, she has revealed, involved impishly trying to throw Streep off her game wherever possible – and thereby having the time of her life. Witness, for instance, the moment where she interrupts Streep’s folksy introduction to the song My Minnesota Home by turning around and threatening to break the necks of everyone in the band.
7. I Heart Huckabees (2004)
Even if you haven’t seen David O Russell’s philosophical comedy, there’s a very strong chance that you will have seen its behind-the-scenes footage, in which Russell berates an unimpressed Tomlin in front of the crew. As you might expect from such a chaotic production, the final film is a bit of a mess, tonally and narratively all over the place. Nevertheless, it manages to showcase a range of terrific performances. Tomlin’s – as an existential detective who specialises in espousing transcendental interconnectedness – holds the whole thing together.
6. Grandma (2015)
Paul Weitz has become one of Tomlin’s most trusted collaborators in recent years, and this film – featuring her first leading film role in 27 years – feels tailor-made for her. Tomlin plays a poet mourning the death of her partner, who suddenly finds direction when her 18-year-old granddaughter (Julia Garner) asks her to scrabble together some money for an abortion. It’s a situation that allows Tomlin to play to every strength. She’s funny and short-tempered, and rightfully received a Golden Globes nod for the trouble.
5. The Late Show (1977)
Played to the hilt … Art Carney and Tomlin in The Late Show. Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy
“The nicest, warmest, funniest and most touching movie you’ll ever see about blackmail, mystery and murder,” reads the poster for this hidden gem. Art Carney plays a private detective whose best years are behind him. Tomlin plays a woman with a missing cat who leads him into an ever-deepening conspiracy. What’s astonishing about this film is that all its contrasting tones are played to the hilt. As a thriller, it’s thrilling. As a drama, it’s tight as it comes. But, thanks mainly to Tomlin’s performance, you could easily confuse it for a comedy.
4. Tea With Mussolini (1999)
Cutting through the stuffiness … Cher and Tomlin in Tea With Mussolini. Photograph: RGR Collection/Alamy
Franco Zeffirelli’s semi-autobiographical drama about an Italian boy surrounded by British and American women during the second world war boasts a stellar cast. Maggie Smith is obstinate and dismissive. Judi Dench emotes like never before. Cher sings. But it’s difficult not to be drawn to Tomlin’s Georgie Rockwell, an archaeologist whose presence single-handedly cuts through much of the film’s innate stuffiness.
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
In the comic book pantheon, Peter Parker’s Aunt May is often a thankless role, the doddery old do-gooder left behind after the death of her husband. Tomlin’s version, in the Oscar-winning animated film, was anything but. Halfway through the movie, she effectively becomes Miles Morales’s Q, unleashing a world of cutting-edge technology on the young hero to vault him towards the finishing line. And in a series filled with tremendous vocal performances, her deadpan “Oh great, it’s Liv,” upon seeing Kathryn Hahn’s Doc Ock runs away with the film.
2. Nashville (1975)
Steals the show … Tomlin with Keith Carradine in Nashville. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Limited./Alamy
The ambition of Robert Altman’s vision here is impressive. An acid temperature check on the status of America in the 1970s, Nashville stars everyone – Ned Beatty, Jeff Goldblum, Shelley Duvall, Scott Glenn – and contains a full hour of songs. Tomlin plays a gospel singer with two deaf children, and steals the show. The stretch where she falls for Keith Carradine, only to leave with her dignity intact, is especially beautifully observed. Plus, she co-wrote one of the songs.
1. 9 to 5 (1980)
Stroke of genius … Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in 9 to 5. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
The story goes that Jane Fonda settled on her co-stars for this seminal workplace comedy during a drive back from the theatre. She had been to see a Lily Tomlin play and Dolly Parton was on the radio. Whatever the reason, the casting was alchemic. And Tomlin’s performance as a long serving employee continually passed over for promotion represents its raging black heart. Not only was the film a stroke of genius, part of Fonda’s scheme to drip-feed serious issues as entertainingly as possible, but it kickstarted a double act with Tomlin that has lasted 45 years and counting.
Captions, an AI-powered video creation and editing app for content creators that has secured over $100 million in venture capital to date at a valuation of $500 million, is rebranding to Mirage, the company announced on Thursday.
The new name reflects the company’s broader ambitions to become an AI research lab focused on multimodal foundational models specifically designed for short-form video content for platforms like TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. The company believes this approach will distinguish it from traditional AI models and competitors such as D-ID, Synthesia, and Hour One.
The rebranding will also unify the company’s offerings under one umbrella, bringing together the flagship creator-focused AI video platform, Captions, and the recently launched Mirage Studio, which caters to brands and ad production.
“The way we see it, the real race for AI video hasn’t begun. Our new identity, Mirage, reflects our expanded vision and commitment to redefining the video category, starting with short-form video, through frontier AI research and models,” CEO Gaurav Misra told TechCrunch.
Image Credits:Mirage
The sales pitch behind Mirage Studio, which launched in June, focuses on enabling brands to create short advertisements without relying on human talent or large budgets. By simply submitting an audio file, the AI generates video content from scratch, with an AI-generated background and custom AI avatars. Users can also upload selfies to create an avatar using their likeness.
What sets the platform apart, according to the company, is its ability to produce AI avatars that have natural-looking speech, movements, and facial expressions. Additionally, Mirage says it doesn’t rely on existing stock footage, voice cloning, or lip-syncing.
Mirage Studio is available under the business plan, which costs $399 per month for 8,000 credits. New users receive 50% off the first month.
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While these tools will likely benefit brands wanting to streamline video production and save some money, they also spark concerns around the potential impact on the creative workforce. The growing use of AI in advertisements has prompted backlash, as seen in a recent Guess ad in Vogue’s July print edition that featured an AI-generated model.
Additionally, as this technology becomes more advanced, distinguishing between real and deepfake videos becomes increasingly difficult. It’s a difficult pill to swallow for many people, especially given how quickly misinformation can spread these days.
Mirage recently addressed its role in deepfake technology in a blog post. The company acknowledged the genuine risks of misinformation while also expressing optimism about the positive potential of AI video. It mentioned that it has put moderation measures in place to limit misuse, such as preventing impersonation and requiring consent for likeness use.
However, the company emphasized that “design isn’t a catch-all” and that the real solution lies in fostering a “new kind of media literacy” where people approach video content with the same critical eye as they do news headlines.
Lewis Hamilton is embracing the “good energy” from Ferrari’s passionate fans as he aims to give them something to cheer about at the Italian Grand Prix – despite heading into it with a grid penalty.
Hamilton has experienced a mixed first season at the Scuderia, with plenty to get used to on and off the track, but the seven-time World Champion starts his Monza weekend in high spirits after some special pre-race activities.
Indeed, Hamilton and team mate Charles Leclerc were greeted by a huge crowd of Tifosi at a Ferrari gathering in Milan on Wednesday, underlining the incredible support both drivers and the team will have behind them this weekend.
“It was such a unique experience,” said Hamilton during Thursday’s driver press conference. “Already from yesterday morning, getting to [the Ferrari factory in] Maranello, when you walk in and see the Ferrari logo… I still have to pinch myself.
“There are people outside the factory always. I’ve never seen fans outside the factory before, in any of my years. You see that every single time [here]. There’s clearly just so much love for this brand, and what it means to people.
“To be in Milan, really in the heart of it all, seeing the fans and just how passionate they were, it was intense, but very, very positive. I really tried to harness all of that good energy that they gave us.”
As for what Ferrari might be able to achieve at Monza, Hamilton expressed cautious optimism following the “loads of positives” he felt at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out.
“Every weekend is the first time driving this car at a track, and the approach is different from my previous experiences,” he reiterated. “When you go to these places the set-up’s different, so it’s always new, which I’m enjoying at the moment.
“I think Ferrari have generally gone pretty well [here] in the past years. Obviously they won here last year, with a great strategy and great drive from Charles.
“I’m just really keen to see how the car works here. We’re definitely learning from weekend to weekend, [with] loads of positives to take from the last, so we just have to keep building on that.”
Pushed on whether he has wondered what it would be like to stand on the Monza podium as a Ferrari driver, Hamilton added: “Honestly, I haven’t, simply because I’ve been on that podium plenty of times here.
“I know what it’s like to be up there, I’ve seen how it’s been for other Ferrari drivers, and anything I try to imagine it’ll be far from it, of what that feeling could be.”
Nonetheless, Hamilton is aware of the task ahead given that he will take a five-place grid penalty on Sunday, having been penalised for a yellow flag breach on the reconnaissance laps before the Zandvoort race.
“It’s going to be challenging this weekend,” he commented. “Qualifying is already… it’s already so close between us all, so just getting into Q3 is tough, getting into the top five is very, very tough.
“Then, on top of that, to be set back five places is not great when you’re going into your first Monza [race] with Ferrari, but it gives me more to fight for and I’m very motivated to make up those places.”
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Researchers have developed a shampoo-like gel that has been studied in animal models and could protect hair from falling out during chemotherapy treatment.
Baldness from chemotherapy-induced alopecia causes personal, social, and professional anxiety for everyone who experiences it.
Currently, there are few solutions—the only ones that are approved are cold caps worn on the patient’s head, which are expensive and have their own extensive side effects.
Bryan Smith, an associate professor in the Michigan State University College of Engineering and with MSU’s Institute for Qualitative Health Science and Engineering, has developed a gel the consistency of shampoo that he hopes will help protect patients’ hair throughout treatment.
When Smith was a trainee at Stanford University, he learned and used a process that inverted the typical engineering process, seeking to objectively identify and completely characterize critical clinical needs prior to solving them.
“This unmet need of chemotherapy-induced alopecia appealed to me because it is adjacent to the typical needs in medicine such as better treatments and earlier, more accurate diagnostics for cancer,” Smith says.
“This is a need on the personal side of cancer care that, as an engineer, I didn’t fully recognize until I began interviewing cancer physicians and former cancer patients about it. Once I understood, it became clear to me that better solutions are very important to many cancer patients’ quality of life.”
This rigorous process of specifying the need, identifying possible solutions, developing an initial prototype, and refining and testing it led to the development of a gel described in a new paper in Biomaterials Advances.
The gel is a hydrogel, which absorbs a lot of water and provides long-lasting delivery of drugs to the patient’s scalp. The hydrogel is designed to be applied to the patient’s scalp before the start of chemotherapy and left on their head as long as the chemotherapy drugs are in their system—or until they are ready to easily wash it off.
During chemotherapy treatment, chemotherapeutic drugs circulate throughout the body. When these drugs reach the blood vessels surrounding the hair follicles on the scalp, they kill or damage the follicles, which releases the hair from the shaft and causes it to fall out. The gel, containing the drugs lidocaine and adrenalone, prevents most of the chemotherapy drugs from reaching the hair follicle by restricting the blood flow to the scalp. Dramatic reduction in drugs reaching the follicle will help protect the hair and prevent it from falling out.
To support practical use of this “shampoo,” the gel is designed to be temperature responsive. For example, at body temperatures the gel is thicker and clings to the patient’s hair and scalp surface. When the gel is exposed to slightly cooler temperatures, the gel becomes thinner and more like a liquid that can be easily washed away.
Smith and his team hope to obtain federal and/or venture funding to move this research forward into clinical trials and, eventually, to human patients.
“The research has the potential to help many people,” Smith says. “All the individual components are well-established, safe materials, but we can’t move forward with follow-up studies and clinical trials on humans without the support of substantial funding.”
Leighton Baines, John Stones, Luke Shaw, Kieran Gibbs, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose, Nathaniel Clyne, Aaron Cresswell, Kyle Walker, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Ben Chilwell, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Bukayo Saka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Tyrone Mings, Tyrick Mitchell, James Justin, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Fikayo Tomori, Rico Lewis, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Above is an exhaustive list of footballers that have played left-back (or left wing-back) for England since Ashley Cole’s international retirement in 2014. It is a varied and sobering inventory that veers wildly between promise, conservatism and desperation, which is a neat synopsis for England’s journey over the 11 years that has taken in everything from major tournament finals to a 4-0 loss to Hungary in 2022, the country’s worst home defeat in 94 years.
Next off the production line and ready to be thrown into the grinder is Djed Spence, who has gone from Tottenham outcast to the verge of becoming the first Muslim footballer to represent England in a little under nine months. Following some excellent displays for Spurs en route to their Bigger Vase triumph, continued good form in pre-season in which he pocketed both Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and PSG’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and a brilliant start to the season under Thomas Frank, Spence’s confidence is at an all-time high, with the 25-year-old channeling the energy of Leon Knight in baiting his opponents with a Social Media Disgrace post – “Bring me your favourite winger” – after locking up Manchester City’s attackers during Tottenham’s 2-0 win at the Etihad last month.
But as anyone who has attempted to carry four pints without a tray can attest, confidence is a fragile thing and, following his England call-up, Spence admitted this week that his self-belief had not always been so strong. Spence’s arrival at Spurs in 2022 was tainted by comments made by the then-head coach, Antonio Conte, who pointedly described Spence as “an investment of the club” and someone “the club decided to buy”, remarks that hurt the Londoner.
Decked in his new England training gear, Spence said on Tuesday: “I was on such a high going into the club. I’d done really well, got promoted with Nottingham Forest. I [was] buzzing to sign for Tottenham. So to hear comments like that wasn’t nice. It does shatter your confidence a bit. I almost came crashing down because of comments from the manager and not playing. I was in a difficult space.”
Since those “really bad days”, Spence has certainly got his mojo back, explaining earlier this year (in an interview where he wore wraparound sunglasses throughout) that he is yet to “come up against anyone that has really tested me”. Spence’s new-found confidence can only be a good thing for England and Thomas Tuchel. We’ll have to see if it is still intact by the time Andorra right-winger Aron Rodrigo Tapia (subs, pls check) is done with him.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust are continuing their campaign to protest the mismanagement of their club and are asking home fans to boycott the game. They’ve reached out to us and asked for our support. In solidarity with their cause, the travelling Mariners are encouraged to join the boycott by refraining from buying any pints, pies, or other items inside the stadium. They would also appreciate it if our fans wore last season’s yellow shirt to show our support for their black and gold campaign. Football clubs belong to their communities and must be protected from poor ownership and management” – hats off to Grimsby fan group the Mariners’ Trust for backing their Wednesday counterparts in their forthcoming Carabao Cup tie.
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Grimsby fans celebrate their team’s shootout win over Manchester United, which earned them a trip to Hillsborough. Photograph: Nigel French/PA
I was watching an interesting short film yesterday on the fourth tier club UE Sant Andreu in Barcelona (as I’m still bored during international fortnight). It turns out that they would have gone out of business in 1977 but Salvador Dalí did a painting for them, unsurprisingly called ‘Gol’, which they auctioned off for four million pesetas and it paid off all the club’s debts. A doff of the cap to the late, great surrealist” – Noble Francis.
West Ham has ELEVEN supporters groups [Wednesday’s news, bits and bobs, full email edition]? Are the styled on the PFJ, JPF, etc of Life of Brian fame?” – Z Snook.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Z Snook. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
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