Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Mishcon de Reya have secured lead roles on the sale of a 50% stake in Earls Court and Olympia conference and exhibition centres (EC&O) to Liberty International.

The pair advised EC&O's majority shareholders – property entrepreneurs Anthony Lyons, Simon Conway and David Coffer – on the share sale to Capital & Counties, a subsidiary of FTSE 100-listed Liberty.

The deal values EC&O, which will be run as a joint venture with Capital & Counties, at around £400m.

The share sale followed a lengthy auction process that is reported to have drawn interest from Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and hedge fund Westbrook, among others. Completion is likely to occur at the end of July.

Orrick and Mishcons originally advised Lyons, Conway and Coffer in 2004 on the acquisition of a 75% stake in EC&O for £245m. They have subsequently acted on a number of re-financings for the trio, who acquired the remaining 25% stake in the buildings from Nomura in 2005.

Orrick corporate partner Dean Poster led the team advising EC&O Venues on the sale, shareholder arrangements and related restructuring alongside finance partner Alexander Janes and tax partner Paul White.

Mishcons head of real estate Nick Doffman led the team advising on the transactional documents and property issues, alongside property partner Daniel Lipman.