Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) are advising on a £2.1bn deal that will see HSBC sell its train-leasing business Eversholt Rail Group to a private equity consortium, reports The Am Law Daily.

The consortium – which comprises 3i Group, Star Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley's infrastructure group – is being advised by an A&O team led by banking partner Jonathan Bevan and corporate partner Susan Howard. A&O also advised on the 2008 financing and acquisition of Angel Trains by a consortium of investors from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Meanwhile, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising HSBC, fielding a multi-practice team led by corporate partner Farah Ispahani and finance partner Marcus Mackenzie, alongside finance partner Simon Hall and tax partner David Taylor.

"In combining both bank and bond debt to finance the acquisition, the deal has set a new benchmark in these continuing uncertain credit times," Mackenzie said in a statement. "We are proud to have been able to assist our client and the purchasers to achieve their commercial goal."

HSBC said in a statement of its own that the sale of Eversholt should be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

Eversholt is part of HSBC Rail, one of three major rolling stock companies in the UK that were created in 1994 through the privatisation of British Rail.

HSBC bought Eversholt in 1997 for £726.5m. The latest sale means that all three of the UK's rolling stock-leasing companies have changed hands in the past two years.

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on americanlawyer.com.