Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have taken roles on the merger of Northern Foods and Greencore Group, two food companies seeking to cut costs by combining operations, reports The Am Law Daily.

The new company, called Essenta Foods, will be one of the largest frozen and prepared foods providers in the UK with combined sales of £1.7bn.

Northern Foods turned to Herbert Smith corporate partners Gareth Roberts and Gillian Fairfield, who led a team from the firm advising the Leeds-based company on the transaction. Carol Williams serves as the head of the legal group at Northern Foods.

"This is the first time that the cross-border merger regulations have been used to effect a UK public bid," Fairfield said in a statement. "[W]e will have a court process in England as well as one in Ireland and the team has worked closely with counsel in both places, as well as the various regulators involved to plot how a cross-border merger should work in this situation."

The Herbert Smith team also included tax partner Isaac Zailer, finance partner Ian Yeo, and employment partners Mark Ife, Andrew Taggart, and Roderick Morton.

Dublin-based Greencore turned to three firms for advice on the deal. Slaughters corporate partners Jonathan Marks and John Papanichola served as counsel to the company along with Davis Polk & Wardwell, while Eugene McCague, chairman of Irish firm Arthur Cox, also advised Greencore along with corporate partners Brian O'Gorman and Stephen Hegarty.

The merger calls for Greencore and Northern Foods to each hold equal 50% stakes in Essenta, with the transaction expected to close by the second quarter of 2011.

Northern Foods' brands include San Marco and Goodfella's pizzas, while Greencore produces Bisto yorkshire puddings and Heinz pickles.

The Am Law Daily is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.