Hogan Lovells and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have taken lead roles on a $1.65bn (£1bn) acquisition by one of Russia's largest retailers.

X5 Retail Group, the retail branch of financial-industrial conglomerate Alfa Group, has acquired rival retail chain Kopeyka in a deal expected to close later this month.

Hogan Lovells advised X5 with a team led by Moscow managing partner and corporate head Oxana Balayan (pictured) and senior M&A counsel Richard Cowie. London tax partner Karen Hughes also advised on the deal.

Skadden advised Kopeyka with a team led by cross-border M&A partner Dmitri Kovalenko alongside M&A partners Linda Davies, Pranav Trivedi and Hunter Baker.

Balayan said: "This is the biggest-ever deal in the Russian retail sector. It is exciting to continue to be involved in the success story of X5 and to see how the leading retailer is forming its strategy in the market.

"Russia's new trade law had a significant impact on the transaction with the competition authority requiring certain of the Kopeyka stores to be closed in order for X5 to make the acquisition. No doubt, this transaction will have a positive impact on the Russian M&A market."

Morgan Stanley and UralSib Capital were the financial advisers to Kopeyka, while Sberbank advised X5.

The news follows the €1.5bn (£1.26bn) merger of Russian dairy company Unimilk with the local arm of French foods company Danone in June this year, a deal which handed roles to White & Case and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.