Bird & Bird has scooped Michelin as a new client after advising the French tyre company on a e1bn (£702m) outsourcing deal.

The deal, led by Bird & Bird's respected Paris arm, sees the tyre company transfer all of its IT services in Europe and North America to IBM, including the transfer of around 600 jobs.

Bird & Bird landed the instruction after Michelin's senior international counsel Keith Wixler, who was brought in to oversee the project, last year launched a tender process for the work – one of the largest outsourcing deals ever in France.

Paris-based partner Stephane Lemarchand, who led the deal, told Legal Week: "In terms of IT outsourcing this is a very important deal as there has not been one of this size before. The outsourcing market in France is not as mature as it is in the UK and over the coming years it is expected that many of France's biggest companies will move to outsource."

The eight-year contract, signed last month, is mostly based in France, but has additional roll-out requirements across Europe and the US.

The Paris practice is considered the UK firm's strongest international base.