DLA Piper has underlined its corporate credentials by landing one of the largest UK flotations to come from outside the City with the firm taking the headline role on the £453m listing of UK energy conservation business eaga.

The top 10 UK firm won the lucrative instruction out of its Sheffield office after seeing off competition from several City practices and northeast firms in a competitive tender process held earlier this year.

Sheffield corporate partner Jon Kenworthy led the team for DLA Piper, with support from local corporate assistant Anna Lewis. London-based national corporate finance head Alex Tamlyn also advised.

The firm worked alongside Salans, which acted for eaga's employee benefits trust, which effectively owns the business. Salans London-based corporate partner Richard Thomas and of counsel Ruth Walker advised.

Eaga, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last Thursday (7 June), posted revenues of £354m last year and was previously the second-largest employee-owned business in the UK after retail giant John Lewis.

The Newcastle-based company is responsible for administering the Government's fuel poverty programme, which promotes the reduction of carbon emissions and assists low-income households with energy-saving measures across the UK.

The company will channel some of the cash generated by the flotation into a working capital fund, while the remainder will be distributed among its 3,200 employee owners. Richard Burns, the former senior partner of Hammonds, is currently a non-executive director at the company.

The instruction is one of the largest main market floats ever handled by DLA Piper.

Commenting on the deal, Kenworthy said: "This is a cracking deal. There are very few advisers outside London who could handle a flotation of this size. The work was handled almost entirely in Sheffield, which demonstrates the calibre of this office as a whole, not just the corporate division."

Berwin Leighton Paisner corporate senior associate Alex Latner advised sponsor Green Dolphin.