Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil Gotshal & Manges have won roles on a £500m private equity deal that sees Advent International take over UK furniture retailer DFS.

DFS and Lord Kirkham, the founder and owner of the company, were advised by a Freshfields team led by finance partner Chris Howard and corporate partner Andrew Hutchings.

The team also included corporate partner David Sonter, finance partner Peter Hall, high-yield partner Don Guiney and tax partners Colin Hargreaves and Jonathan Cooklin.

Meanwhile, Weil Gotshal took the lead role for Advent, with a team led by London-based corporate partner Jonathan Wood and finance partner Michael Nicklin, assisted by private equity partner Marco Compagnoni and capital markets partner Peter Schwartz.

Earlier this year Weil also advised longstanding client Advent on its £190m acquisition of Xafinity – a deal which saw City private equity heavyweight SJ Berwin act for the seller, Duke Street.

Wood commented: "This is our second signed European deal in 2010 for Advent. The DFS acquisition has been a particularly interesting transaction, requiring innovation in deal and finance structuring to give Advent the advantage in a competitive auction environment."

Recent private equity deals Freshfields has been involved in include the $755m (£491m) acquisition of UK private equity group Pantheon by US money-holding company Affiliated Managers Group in February, on which Freshfields advised AMG and SJ Berwin acted for Pantheon.

The deal also handed roles to US firms Goodwin Procter and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.