A trio of City firms have landed roles as publishing giant Informa prepares to launch a multimillion-pound takeover of Germany-based publishing rival Springer Science and Business Media.

Regular adviser CMS Cameron McKenna has taken the lead role for Informa on the deal, with a team led by City corporate partner Gary Green and corporate head Andrew Sheach.

Magic circle giant Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has won the role to advise the sellers, with the firm fielding a team led by private equity partner David Sonter.

Informa has previously considered a bid for Springer – which is owned by UK private equity groups Candover and Cinven – with a long-term aim of merging the two businesses.

Ashurst is advising Informa on competition aspects of the potential deal, with a team led by London-based competition partner Neil Cuninghame.

In addition, Camerons' CMS alliance firms, including CMS Hasche Sigle and CMS Derks Star Busmann, are advising Informa on continental European aspects of the negotiations.

It has been reported that Springer could be sold at a bargain price of €400m (£361m), with pressure mounting on the publisher, which is carrying around €2.6bn (£2.3bn) of debt.

Informa, which has nearly £1bn worth of debt, could be forced to raise further cash to fund the deal, despite having raised £255m via a rights issue earlier this year.

Camerons also advised Informa on that deal, as well as on the rejected £1.9bn takeover bid on Informa by a private equity consortium last year. On that occasion, Freshfields' Sonter took the lead role for the bidders – Providence Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group.

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