Top US firms Davis Polk & Wardwell and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison have landed roles on the $1.2bn (£616m) sale of German music company Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG to Sony Corp.

The deal will see the Japanese music giant take full control of the Sony BMG joint venture that was created in August 2004.

The newly-formed company will be called Sony Music Entertainment Inc (SMEI) and will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corp.

Paul Weiss was instructed by regular client Sony with New York-based M&A partner James Schwab leading a large team.

Bertelsmann turned to Davis Polk for advice with New York corporate partner Christopher Mayer heading up the team.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is representing Sony Corporation on antitrust issues in the acquisition with a team led by Brussels-based partners Nicholas Levy and Robbert Snelders

The deal is not subject to approval from the shareholders and is expected to complete by the end of the year.

The original joint venture deal – which saw Slaughter and May act for BMG, with Sony represented by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton – originally received merger clearance from the European Commission (EC).

However, in July 2006 the European Court of First Instance overruled the EC after finding that its assessment process had been flawed. That followed a challenge by the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, a client of Brussels-based European Union law and competition boutique Crosby Houben & Aps.