SJ Berwin and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have picked up lead roles as British Land prepares to sell half of London's Broadgate Circle to US private equity house Blackstone Group.

City firm SJ Berwin is representing longstanding client British Land on the deal, which will see the two companies form a 50:50 joint venture, through which two Blackstone real estate funds will buy the stake in Broadgate, which is valued at £2.13bn.

Corporate partner Michael Goldberg is leading the SJ Berwin team, which also includes corporate partners Delphine Currie and Tandeep Minhas, real estate partner Lewis Myers, EU and competition partner Cameron Firth, tax partner Heather Corben and finance partner Gillian Smith.

Simpson Thacher took the lead for Blackstone, with the deal marking former Clifford Chance corporate partner Adam Signy's first major transaction since he joined the US firm. Signy played a key role alongside US-qualified London real estate partner Farhad Karim.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) provided Blackstone with UK real estate and tax advice. Real estate partner Robert Bindless and tax partner Michael Wistow led the BLP team.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Simmons & Simmons were also involved in the deal, with Freshfields acting in relation to a shareholder circular and Simmons in relation to a securitisation matter. Corporate partner Julian Long and real estate partner Emma Kendall lead the team for Freshfields on the parent company corporate aspects of thejoint venture.

Broadgate, which covers 30 acres of office real estate in the City, is British Land's largest asset, representing 27% by value of the company's portfolio. The estate comprises 16 office buildings, including the recently completed 201 Bishopsgate and Broadgate Tower. British Land, which will be asset manager for the joint venture, said the deal would allow it to make new investments as the real estate market picks up.