Sullivan & Cromwell's London office has sealed its second deal for Rio Tinto in little more than a month, advising on the $2bn (£1.2bn) disposal of four packaging business units of its subsidiary Alcan.

The mining giant is offloading Alcan's tobacco and drugs packaging units as well as its European and Asian food packaging arms to Australian group Amcor.

The deal comes after Sullivan advised on last month's $1.2bn (£731.1m) sale of Alcan's Food Americas division to packaging company Bemis.

Sullivan fielded the same team on both deals, with London M&A partners Tim Emmerson and Nikolaos Andronikos leading, with assistance from US partner Steve Holley, who advised on antitrust issues.

Sullivan enlisted around 10 other firms for specialist advice across Europe. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Rio on antitrust issues, with London partner Andrew Renshaw understood to be leading the firm's team, while Italian firm Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners, Salans' Russian arm and France's Flichy Grange were also involved.

SJ Berwin took the lead for Amcor with corporate finance partner Richard Lever leading the team. He worked alongside Canadian firm Davis Ward Phillips & Vineberg and New York corporate partner Steve Levin.

The four business units are understood to hold 15,000 employees, 200 properties, 50 factories and 90 companies across the UK, Europe, Russia and Asia.

Rio bought aluminium group Alcan in 2007 for $34bn (£21bn) but agreed to sell off some of its assets to pay off debt. The Bemis deal saw Bakers act for the acquirer.