Pinsent Masons has secured a substantial corporate instruction for a legacy construction client after taking a lead role on SIAC's acquisition of UK steel and concrete producer Bison Group.

The national firm landed the role for the Dublin-based SIAC, a legacy Masons construction client, after winning out ahead of several rival bids in a competitive tender earlier this year.

The deal, which closed last month and has a value "in the tens of millions", marks SIAC's first major UK acquisition and sees it take on Bison Structures, which produces steel structures for the retail, industrial and commercial sectors.

SIAC, which has an annual turnover of about £165m, will absorb the new division into its existing steel and concrete businesses.

The mandate will be regarded as a feather in Pinsents' cap as one of the main drivers behind the merger in 2004 that created the firm was to cross-sell Pinsents' national corporate practice with Masons' heavyweight portfolio of construction clients.

Manchester cor porate partner Howard Gill led the team for Pinsents supported by pensions partner Stephen Scholefield and employment solicitor Louise Burn.

Top 10 Scots firm Burness acted for Bison with corporate finance partner Christopher Scott taking the lead role.

Gill told Legal Week: "This is an example of the merger dividend generated by Pinsent Masons as a whole.

"The company wanted to keep this instruction with people they knew and who knew their business."

Other similar instructions since the merger include mandates for legacy Masons client Amey on its acquisition of Midlands engineering consultancy Owen Williams and an advisory role for Lend Lease on its £245m buy-out of The Crosby Group.