Ashurst has closed its first-ever deal for Dubai International Capital (DIC), advising the highly-coveted investment house on a A850m (£579m) deal in Germany.

The deal, DIC's first major transaction in Germany, involved the acquisition of German packaging company Mauser from One Equity Partners.

The mandate is significant for Ashurst as DIC, the investment arm of Dubai's ruling family, is currently one of Europe's most active investors.

Dubai corporate partner Nick Bryans, the DIC relationship partner, and Frankfurt corporate partner Katrin Solmecke spearheaded the Ashurst team, which was pulled together across a number of offices, including France and Italy.

The deal also generated roles for Latham & Watkins, which advised One Equity Partners, and Kirkland & Ellis, which advised Mauser.

DIC has previously instructed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for the bulk of its European acquisitions, although it is understood the firm may have been conflicted on this deal. The mandate puts Ashurst in a strong position to advise the client in the future.

Solmecke commented: "DIC is looking to do more work in Germany and hopefully we are now in a position to advise on it. It was a good team effort to get them on board."

Ashurst's German buy-out practice has suffered some setbacks in the past 18 months. Respected Munich partner Joerg Kirchner, who co-headed the City firm's German corporate practice, quit to launch Latham's Munich office in November 2005.

However, recent months have seen the German private equity team pick up some substantial mandates, including the firm's first major instruction for US giant Apollo Management. The City giant bagged a secondary role behind regular Apollo adviser Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz on the buy-out house's A1.5bn (£1bn) acquisition of Dutch mail company TNT's logistics branch.

Ashurst's Munich office also last week hired senior Siemens in-house lawyer Lutz Englisch as a partner.