Herbert Smith has landed its first instruction from private equity house 3i, advising on financing aspects of the leveraged buy-out of Spanish funeral services company Memora.

The City law firm advised 3i on the €187m (£156m) acquisition of a majority stake in the business from Acciona and Caja Madrid.

London finance partner Kristen Roberts took the lead role for Herbert Smith, with the firm winning the instruction after Roberts acted opposite the private equity house on its 2006 acquisition of VNU Business Media Europe. On that occasion, the City firm advised Societe Generale and BNP Paribas as mandated lead arrangers and underwriters, with Allen & Overy advising 3i.

3i turned to Spanish leader Cuatrecasas for local advice on the Memora deal, with corporate finance chief Rafael Minguez Prieto at the helm. Goncalves Pereira Castelo Branco & Associados advised on Portuguese matters.

Local firm Ramon & Cajal advised the vendors.

Roberts said: "We are delighted to have acted for 3i in the financing of their acquisition of Memora, particularly in such challenging conditions in the leveraged finance market."

Meanwhile, Linklaters was drafted in to advise a consortium of bank lenders including Banco Espanol De Credito, Bank of Ireland, ING, Barclays, Caja Madrid, BNP Paribas and the Royal Bank of Scotland.