Hundreds of Am Law 100 lawyers have landed lead roles on the dissolution of General Electric Co.'s financial unit in a bid by the industrial conglomerate to return $90 billion to shareholders.

Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE announced on April 10 its plans to offload the majority of its GE Capital assets by 2018. The bulk of that divestiture is the $26.5 billion sale of certain real estate and financial assets, about $23 billion of which will be bought by New York-based private equity firm The Blackstone Group and San Francisco-based banking giant Wells Fargo.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising longtime client Blackstone on the deal, while Dechert has taken the lead for Wells Fargo. Hogan Lovells, Davis Polk & Wardwell; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Sullivan & Cromwell are providing legal counsel to GE. The transactions are expected to close in the second and third quarters of the year.