New York duo Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and White & Case have bagged roles on French water giant Veolia Environnement's A1.45bn (£987m) acquisition of Sulo Group from Apax and Blackstone.

White & Case Hamburg corporate partner Frank Evers is leading the team advising the buyer. Milbank is representing the private equity houses with Munich-based corporate partner Peter Nussbaum and tax partner Rolf Fueger spearheading the team.

Paris-based Veolia will pay A500m (£342m) and take on A950m (£650m) of debt to buy Sulo, Germany's second-biggest waste management company.

In Germany, Apax has traditionally called on Milbank or Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, although Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also picked up a secondary role on this deal, advising the private equity houses on competition issues with Duesseldorf partner Burkhard Richter taking the lead.

The sale is the latest in a glut of German secondary buy-outs. Other recent examples include Blackstone's A1.3bn (£886m) acquisition of plastic manufacturer Kloeckner Pentaplast from Cinven.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Gleiss Lutz teamed up to advise Blackstone while elite German independent Hengeler Mueller and Freshfields advised Cinven.