Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has taken a lead role for Citigroup on the $1.1bn (£650m) sale of Japanese telemarketing company Bellsystem24 to private equity fund Bain Capital, reports The Am Law Daily.

Simpson Thacher's team advising Citi on the sale was headed up by Tokyo-based partner David Sneider.

Fellow US firm Ropes & Gray represented long-term client Bain. Partners Tsuyoshi Imai and Newcomb Stillwell, based in Japan and Boston respectively, led the team on the deal.

Citi announced over the summer that it would auction off Bellsystem24 to the highest bidder. The deal is structured as a tender offer, which has a higher certainty of closing since it does not involve a formal shareholder vote, said Stillwell.

The deal marks the latest Asian divestiture for Citi, with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison having taken the lead on previous deals in which Citi unloaded its Japan-based brokerage firm Nikko Cordial for $7.9bn (£4.7bn) and its controlling stake in Nikko Asset Management for $1.3bn (£770m).

Citigroup's troubles have provided much work for lawyers advising various parties on both the US Government's rescue of the company and Citi's subsequent efforts to shed assets in order to raise money and pay back the government.

Last year Simpson Thacher took advisory roles for US Treasury Department on its bailout of Citi and the nation's other large banks.

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on americanlawyer.com.