Norton Rose and Clifford Chance (CC) have won lead roles on the proposed £150m sale of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Fleet Street headquarters to a Malaysian pension fund.

Norton Rose real estate head Lindsay Morgan is advising Employees Provident Fund (EPF) on the acquisition of the magic circle firm's City office from its current owner, the German property fund Union Investment.

Freshfields is understood to have more than 10 years left on its lease at the 225,000 sq ft Whitefriars building at 65 Fleet Street, which it has occupied since 1989.

Meanwhile, CC has picked up a mandate advising Union Investment on the potential sale. The German fund has traditionally turned to magic circle rival Linklaters for advice.

The proposed purchase of the Freshfields office is part of a wider move by EPF to invest around £1bn in London property. The pension fund, which has more than 12 million members in Malaysia, is acquiring assets which generate a steady income from bluechip tenants.

The deal comes after CC also won a role on the sale of Allen & Overy's (A&O) City office, advising Hammerson and Oman Investment Fund, which sold their 25:75 joint venture in the Spitalfields base to JP Morgan Asset Management.

Berwin Leighton Paisner advised two funds of JP Morgan Asset Management on the deal, which saw the Bishops Square property – of which A&O rents 71,900 sq m of office space – valued at £557m.