Weil Gotshal & Manges and Shearman & Sterling have bagged lead roles on the sale by General Electric (GE) of its plastics business to Saudi Basic Industries in a $11.6bn (£5.9bn) deal.

Shearman advised the buyer, with firm co-managing partner John Madden and New York-based corporate partner Stephen Besen leading the team acting on behalf of Saudi.

Weil Gotshal advised GE, having maintained its place on the US conglomerate's panel of advisers despite a re-jig earlier this year that resulted in 44 firms being ditched from the roster.

Weil Gotshal is fielding a team out of its New York hub, with firmwide M&A co-chair Howard Chatzinoff leading the team.

The deal comes with the US transactional market firing all cylinders, with both private equity and strategic investors behind the heightened activity. Other notable deals announced this month include the $27.5bn (£14bn) take-private of telecoms giant Alltel by Texas Pacific Group and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs Group.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz landed key roles on that deal, with Cleary advising the buyer opposite its Manhattan rival.