Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have taken lead roles on the £2.9bn takeover bid for British engineering company Tomkins by a Canadian consortium.

The consortium, which comprises private equity group Onex Corporation and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), has made an offer of 325p per share for the company and due diligence is now at an "advanced stage", according to Tomkins.

Slaughters is advising Tomkins with a team including corporate partners Nigel Boardman and Nilufer von Bismarck (pictured), pensions partner Eddie Codrington, competition partner Bertrand Louveaux and tax partner William Watson.

Meanwhile, Freshfields is advising Onex and CPPIB with a team led by corporate partners David Higgins and Simon Weller.

The news comes as an increasing number of Canadian pension funds make investments in publicly-listed companies.

In March 2010 Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan successfully purchased National Lottery operator Camelot for just under £400m, beating off a rival bid from buyout giant CVC.

CPPIB announced in June 2009 that its bid to acquire Australia's Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group for an estimated A$2.2bn (£1.25bn) had been approved.

The company has now reportedly made a bid for tollroad operator Intoll Group, a Macquarie spinoff company.

Click here to follow Legal Week on Twitter