Ashurst's corporate practice has received a major boost after landing a role on the $30bn (£16bn) merger between Russian aluminum producers Rusal and Sual – one of the largest M&A deals on which the City giant has advised.

The UK law deal sees Ashurst client Rusal acquire domestic rival Sual, as well as the aluminium assets of Swiss commodities trader Glencore. The deal will result in the creation of the world's largest aluminium producer.

Ashurst secured the instruction thanks to links with Rus-sian national firm Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners (EPA&P), which advised on local aspects of the deal.

Ashurst fielded a team led by London-based corporate partners David Kershaw and Andrew Edge. Chairman Dimitry Afanasiev led the team for EPA&P, with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher also acting on behalf of Rusal.

Kershaw said: "This is a tremendous boost for us, not just in M&A but also in the Russian mining and energy practices. It was an enormously complex deal, having to reconcile the interests of three parties, and is among the most complex joint ventures and structures we have had to work on."

Linklaters corporate partners Charlie Jacobs and Owen Clay acted for Sual and Glen-core respectively. Jacobs said: "Our teams in London and Moscow enjoyed running a deal of this scale from Moscow."

Reported on legalweek.com (9 October).