Cravath Swaine & Moore and Sidley Austin have taken the lead corporate roles on a multibillion-dollar US acquisition by consumer products group Unilever.

The acquisition sees Unilever acquire haircare rival Alberto Culver – owner of brands such as V05, St. Ives and TRESemme – in a $3.7bn (£2.3bn) deal, adding to the Anglo-Dutch group's portfolio of haircare brands such as Dove and Sunsilk.

Wall Street duo Cravath and Sidley Austin took the lead M&A roles for the buyer and seller respectively, with Cravath fielding a team under corporate partner Mark Greene and also including tax partner Michael Schler and executive compensation partner Jennifer Conway.

Slaughter and May is advising Unilever on European competition issues and co-ordinating multijurisdictional filings outside the US and Canada, with a team led by City partner Michael Rowe. Arnold & Porter advised on US competition law matters with a team led by Washington DC-based partner Deborah Feinstein.

Slaughters most recently acted for Unilever in July when it advised the longstanding client on the $805m (£685m) sale of its Italian frozen food business Findus to Birds Eye Iglo.
The acquisition, announced this week (27 September), is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Subject to closing, Unilever will pay $37.50 (£23.70) per share in cash for the company.

Alberto Culver, which employs 2,700 staff, has operations in nine countries and annual revenues of around $1.6bn (£1bn).