The German arms of Clifford Chance (CC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have picked up lead roles on multibillion-pound deals involving German automotive giant Volkswagen (VW).

CC has acted alongside Scandinavian leader Roschier to advise VW as it bids to increase its stake in Swedish lorry maker Scania from 38% to just under 69%, in a deal worth around SEK27.9bn (£2.26bn).

Frankfurt corporate partners Wolfgang Richter and Johannes Perlitt led the team for CC, alongside Duesseldorf antitrust partner Joachim Schuetze.

Roschier advised VW on local aspects of the deal, fielding a team including Stockholm corporate partners Axel Calissendorff and Ola Ahman.

Swedish giant Vinge advised the vendor, an investment vehicle of Sweden's Wallenberg family, through partners Hans Wibom, Christoffer Saidac (corporate) and Carl Wetter (competition).

Meanwhile, Freshfields last week took the lead role for Porsche on its bid for a majority stake in VW.

Porsche plans to increase its stake in VW from around 31% to more than 50%, with the additional shares valued at around €10bn (£7.6bn).

Frankfurt corporate partner Christoph von Bulow led for Freshfields, alongside partners Thomas Bucker (corporate), Frank Montag (competition) and Gunnar Schuster (finance).

Last year Freshfields advised Porsche as it increased its stake in VW to 30.6%, as well as acting on the formation of Porsche Automobil Holding – a uniquely-structured vehicle created to keep the two brands separate and prevent VW from swallowing Porsche.

At the time of going to press, VW had yet to appoint counsel to advise on the latest bid, although CC acted for VW in last year's stake building.

Commenting on Freshfields' latest role, von Bulow said: "This is a landmark deal and, from our point of view, it is really exciting to contribute to the creation of what will be one of the world-leading automobile alliances."