Four of Australia's largest law firms have lined up on the A$6.7bn (£4.2bn) listing of rail company QR National, marking the second-largest initial public offering (IPO) ever seen in the country.

Allens Arthur Robinson advised the Queensland Government with a team including infrastructure partner John Greig, M&A partners Erin Feros, Kylie Brown and Stuart McCulloch and energy partner Grant Anderson.

Brown said: "This is the first privatisation in Australia for some time and also one of the bigger IPOs. The fact that it is a sale of a government asset makes it interesting on the legal side as there are somewhat different rules that apply.

"The IPO has generated a lot of interest and we hope its positive reception by the market may signal a reopening of the IPO market, and may be taken as a positive sign by issuers looking to float and governments looking at other possible privatisations."

The Allens Arthur team also included corporate partner Andrew Knox, corporate and commercial partner Peter James, litigation and dispute resolution partner Jamie Wells and competition partner Jacqueline Downes.

The State of Queensland will retain a 40% shareholding in the company following the listing.

Meanwhile, Minter Ellison advised QR National, fielding a team headed up by corporate partner Bruce Cowley and commercial and dispute resolution partner Khory McCormick.

Mallesons Stephen Jaques advised QR National's board, with M&A partners David Friedlander and John Humphrey taking the key roles

Clayton Utz advised the lead managers – which included the Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse – with a team led by equity capital markets partner Stuart Byrne and corporate and securities partner Tim Reid.

Clayton also advised on the deal last month that saw the merger of the Singapore and Australian stock exchanges. The $8.3bn (£5.2bn) deal also handed roles to fellow Australian firm Freehills alongside Singapore's Stamford Law and Allen & Gledhill.

The QR National IPO is the largest listing in Australia since the 1997 privatisation of telecoms company Telstra.