Linklaters and Slaughter and May have won lead roles on Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS's) £1.6bn sale of its stake in Bank of China.

Linklaters has picked up the main role for regular client RBS, with London corporate partner Anne Drummond and Hong Kong corporate partner Betty Yap leading the team.

Slaughters advised ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley on the transaction, fielding a team from its Asian practice led by Hong Kong partner Benita Yu.

The transaction saw RBS launching an institutional placing of its shares, with ABN and Morgan Stanley acting as placing agents.

Bank of China relied on in-house legal advice in relation to the transaction.

RBS's disposal of its shares comes little more than three years after the bank bought the stake in Bank of China as part of a consortium of investors also including Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

The initial acquisition saw Linklaters banking head Robert Elliott leading a team for RBS also including Yap and Drummond as the consortium bought a combined $3.1bn (£2.12bn) stake in Bank of China. The deal also generated roles firms including Clifford Chance (CC) and Sullivan & Cromwell. Sullivan advising Bank of China while CC advised Temasek.

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