Weil Gotshal & Manges and Slaughter and May have taken lead roles on Europcar's €670m (£450m) acquisition of US car rental company Vanguard's European businesses.

The deal, announced on 13 November, sees Slaughters representing Europcar and Weil Gotshal representing Vanguard. It marks the first time that the US firm's London arm has landed a corporate instruction from Vanguard.

London managing partner Mike Francies is overseeing the Weil Gotshal team, with private equity partner Jonathan Wood, who joined the US firm earlier this year from Lovells, also advising.

In addition to the acquisition of Vanguard's non-US operations, which include the Alamo and National brands, the deal gives Europcar access to the US market.

Weil Gotshal IP and commercial partner Barry Fishley and corporate partner and consumer finance head Andrew McLean advised on commercial issues.

Wood told Legal Week: "We have done various things on the finance side, but this is the first corporate transaction we have done for [the client] in London, so we are pleased to be extending our relationship with Vanguard."

Slaughters corporate partner Jeff Twentyman is leading the team for Europcar, with Bredin Prat corporate partners Sebastien Prat and Jose-Maria Perez also advising.

The deal is set to make Europcar the biggest player in the UK car rental market.