New York duo Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz have bagged the lead roles on the $27.5bn (£14bn) take-private of telecoms giant Alltel as the boom in big-ticket M&A in the US shows little sign of slowing.

Cleary is advising the buyout consortium, which comprises Texas Pacific Group and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs Group. Texas Pacific relationship partner Paul Shim led the team for the Manhattan giant, with acquisition finance partner Meme Stowers and corporate partner Duane McLaughlin assisting.

Wachtell is advising the target, with executive committee co-chair Edward Herlihy spearheading a team that includes corporate partners Lawrence Makow and Stephanie Seligman.

New York rival Weil Gotshal & Manges also grabbed a slice of the action on the buyers' side, providing additional advice to Goldman Sachs. New York M&A partner Mike Aiello took the lead role for Weil Gotshal.

The deal is the largest leveraged buyout ever in the US telecoms sector.

The latest deal comes after Cleary and Wachtell earlier this month grabbed advisory roles on Warburg Pincus' $4.5bn (£2.3bn) acquisition of opticians Bausch & Lomb.

Cleary advised the buyer on that deal, with M&A partners Robert Davis and David Leinwand leading the New York-based team. Wachtell advised Bausch, with corporate partners Patricia Vlahakis and Joshua Cammaker playing prominent roles.