McDermott Will & Emery's London arm has cemented its relationship with the world's biggest explosives maker, Orica – advising the Australian company on its £343m acquisition of UK mining company Minova from Close Brothers.

The Chicago-based firm started acting for Orica on the transaction in September, advising alongside the company's Australian counsel, Freehills, on the deal.

McDermott London corporate partner Michael McFall and head of European competition Scott Megregian led on the deal, assisted by a team including US tax partners Martin Collins and James Riedy.

The Freehills team in Australia was led by corporate partner Neil Pathak and also included competition partner Bob Baxt and banking partner Dan Brealey.

Richards Butler advised Close Brothers, with corporate partners Philip Taylor and Hywel Phillip leading.

The deal is only the second acquisition McDermott's London office has advised Orica on and marks its first European mandate from the client.

Megregian told Legal Week: "We have expanded our relationship with Orica. Freehills is its regular

counsel in Australia but we have a good joint relationship with the firm. This deal is in our mid-range sweet-spot."

The deal, which started through an auction process and is expected to close later this year, was conducted under UK law.

Orica, which already has around a 40% share of the world's explosives market, is hoping it will help boost sales in Russia, Eastern Europe and China.

The Minova acquisition is the latest is a series of acquisitions and initial public offerings of mining companies. In August, Russian aluminium producers Rusal and Sual merged in a £16bn deal, while the £8bn bidding war for Canadian nickel miner Inco is still ongoing.