Four US firms have taken taken roles on the $2.4bn (£1.5bn) buyout of amusement park owner Cedar Fair by an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, reports The Am Law Daily.

Weil Gotshal & Manges and Squire Sanders & Dempsey advised Cedar Fair, which operates some of the tallest and fastest rollercoasters in the US.

The New York-based Weil team was led by corporate partners Michael Aiello, Howard Chatzinoff and Matthew Gilroy and tax partner Marc Silberberg.

For Squire Sanders, partner Cipriano Beredo led an Ohio-based team that included tax partner Steven Mount. Squire Sanders has represented Cedar Fair since the company's initial public offering more than 20 years ago. In the 2005, the firm advised Cedar on its $1.24bn (£765m) acquisition of Paramount Parks.

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and O'Melveny & Myers advised Apollo on the deal. Wachtell's team included corporate partners Steven Cohen and Ante Vucic, litigation partner Paul Rowe, restructuring and finance partner Eric Rosof and tax partners Jodi Schwartz and Joshua Holmes. Apollo is a regular Wachtell client.

O'Melveny's team was led by corporate partner Gregory Ezring, real estate partner Jeff Held and environmental law partner Eric Rothenberg. O'Melveny has also advised Apollo for many years on a number of matters, including its 2004 purchase of Borden Chemical for $1.2bn (£740m).

The deal, which still requires the approval of two-thirds of Cedar Oak shareholders and government regulators, will see Apollo pay about $635m (£390m) in cash for Cedar stock and will refinance the Ohio-based company's hefty debt, estimated at more than £1.6m (£990,000).

The Am Law Daily is the website of The American Lawyer, Legal Week's US sister title.