Elite Manhattan firms Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Davis Polk & Wardwell have bagged plum roles on Bank of America's $21bn (£10.5bn) bid for ABN Amro subsidiary LaSalle Bank.

Wachtell is representing the buyer, while Davis Polk picked up the lead role for ABN Amro on its sale of the Chicago-based bank.

The sale is being triggered by Barclays' bid for ABN Amro, which the UK bank formalised today (23 April) with an offer that values the Dutch bank at around €70bn (£47.5bn).

That deal has generated roles for a raft of law firms. Clifford Chance is advising Barclays with NautaDutilh leading for ABN alongside Allen & Overy. Stibbe and Davis Polk have also landed roles on the proposed merger.

Last week, Linklaters, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Slaughter and May and Willkie Farr & Gallagher all entered the fray after a consortium comprising of Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain's Banco Santander and Belgium's Fortis Bank also confirmed it is plotting a bid.