Slaughter and May has won a role on a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) energy deal, as UK oil giant BP moves to sell assets in South America.

The magic circle law firm advised Canadian energy company Talisman Energy and Colombia-based Ecopetrol on the joint cash purchase of BP Exploration Company (Colombia) (BPXC).

City-based corporate and commercial partner Hywel Davies led the team from Slaughters, which also included finance partner Mark Dwyer and the firm's head of tax Tony Beare.

The buyers also instructed Wall Street giant Shearman & Sterling and Canadian law firms Macleod Dixon and Osler Hoskin & Harcourt. Colombian firm Gamboa & Chalela and Cayman Islands-based Maples & Calder also took a role.

Shearman & Sterling supplied a team led by M&A and capital markets partner Adam Givertz, who splits his time between the firm's New York and Toronto offices. Jose Francisco Chalela Mantilla led for the Colombian law firm.

US law firm Mogan Lewis & Bockius advised the target, with a team led by Houston-based finance partner David Asmus, who heads the firm's energy transactions practice.

The acquisition, which was announced earlier this month (3 August), is being made jointly by Talisman (49%) and Ecopetrol (51%). BPXC owns BP's oil and gas exploration and production and transportation interests in Colombia.‬

Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital acted as financial advisers to the bidder and seller respectively.