Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have secured the lead roles on the £668m take-private of UK chemicals manufacturer British Vita, bagging the latest in a string of US-backed private equity deals.

The leveraged bid sees Texas Pacific acquire the UK company via a scheme of arrangement, with the US financier instructing Freshfields as lead corporate counsel and Cleary handling financing and antitrust issues.

British Vita's board recommended the offer after rejecting three previous bids. The company became a takeover target after profits suffered from soaring material costs.

Corporate partners Edward Braham and Patrick Gaynor led the Freshfields team, with assistance from senior corporate associates Bruce Embley and Hugo Canwell.

London-based corporate partners Simon Jay and Andrew Shutter spearheaded a team for Cleary that included senior associates Stuart Banks (corporate) and Raj Panasar (finance).

Ashurst acted for British Vita, the largest producer of foam rubber in the UK. The Manchester-based company has traditionally turned to the firm for its major corporate work.

The top 10 London practice fielded a heavyweight team under corporate head Adrian Clark and including corporate partner Robert Ogilvy Watson and solicitor Jonathan Earle. Competition head Nigel Parr provided extra advice.

The deal will be regarded as strategically important for Fresh-fields. It hands the London firm a second major instruction for the leading US buy-out house, after Braham in 2003 acted for a Texas Pacific-backed consortium on the £1.7bn acquisition of Debenhams.

The deal also underlines the inroads London advisers are making with US private equity houses. These are increasingly turning to London firms, over traditional US counsel, in response to surging levels of European deal activity.

Freshfields' Gaynor described Texas Pacific as a "growing force" in European private equity, while Ashurst's Clark added: "It has been a good period for us. There are not a huge number of deals being done at the moment but there is plenty of interest around."