Private equity giant TPG is inviting firms to pitch to become one of its key European legal advisers.

The buyout house, which is headquartered in San Francisco, has contacted a number of London-based firms with private equity offerings about the tender.

The PE house has worked closely with a number of firms in the UK, with magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer recently drafted in on a number of mandates.

Freshfields advised TPG on its $5.8bn acquisition of General Electric's UK home lending portfolio in 2015 and, more recently, advised as TPG sold the Merin office platform in the Netherlands to Canadian REIT Dream Global ('Dream') for €622m in July.

Other firms with a relationship with TPG in London include Ropes & Gray, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Kirkland & Ellis.

Ropes acted for TPG Capital and its portfolio company, Beaver-Visitec, on the acquisition of Vitreq over the summer. The US firm had previously advised TPG Capital on its acquisition of Beaver-Visitec in 2016.

News of the tender comes after TPG hired former senior counsel for litigation and legal policy at General Electric, Bradford Berenson, as its general counsel in January this year.

TPG declined to comment.