Pinsent Masons and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have taken lead roles on the £418m listing of restaurant entrepreneur Hugh Osmond's corporate acquisition company Horizon on the London Stock Exchange.

The initial public offering (IPO), which also handed an advisory role to Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), saw Horizon start trading stock on 9 February.

Horizon is a special-purpose acquisition vehicle, launched by Pizza Express and Punch Taverns pub chain founder Osmond, which aims to acquire debt-stricken companies and restructure them.

Osmond is a longstanding client of Pinsents, which advised Horizon on UK law matters, while referring the US aspects to MoFo. Leeds and London-based corporate partner Rob Hutchings led the Pinsents team, which also included partners Alison Starr, Robert Moir, Tim Dolan and Jacob Ghanty. City corporate partner Kristian Wiggert advised for MoFo.

Freshfields advised main placing agent Credit Suisse, as well as co-lead manager Numis Securities on both UK and US aspects under a team led by City-based US securities partner Don Guiney.

Osmond set up Horizon with the former deputy chief executive of Lloyds TSB, Michael Fairey. Baroness Denise Kingsmill and former JP Morgan Cazenove vice chairman Terry Eccles sit as non-executive board members.

Click here to follow Legal Week on Twitter