DLA Piper and Linklaters have lined up on Banco Santander's €2.9bn (£2.4bn) acquisition of a majority stake in Bank Zachodni WBK (BZWBK) from Allied Irish Banks (AIB).

The acquisition sees DLA Piper advise Banco Santander as it acquires 70.36% of the Polish bank. The team includes City corporate partners Jon Hayes and Polly Owen, Warsaw corporate partner Patryk Laskorzynski and Madrid finance partner Javier Santos.

Hayes said: "This is a high-profile transaction for both parties. In the last few years we have done an increasing number of M&A deals globally and see this line of work continuing to grow in emerging markets."

Linklaters took a role for AIB, led by London corporate partner Matthew Middleditch, alongside Warsaw corporate head Jolanta Tropaczynska and corporate counsel Daniel Cousens.

The financial advisers for the transaction included Morgan Stanley for AIB and Nomura and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for Banco Santander.

The news comes as AIB has come under pressure to sell its overseas assets to raise capital, with speculation growing over whether the bank will eventually become majority state-owned.

BZWBK is Poland's third largest bank by branches and profits. AIB entered the Polish market in 1995, when it acquired a non-controlling interest in Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy, which merged in 2001 with Bank Zachodni to form BZWBK.