Charles Russell and Slaughter and May have taken lead roles on the $210m (£128.5m) privatisation of the Bahamas' national telecommunications operator.

The deal, completed on 6 April, will see the Bahamas Government sell a 51% interest in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC).

Charles Russell took the lead role for the Government with a team headed by corporate partner Mark Moncreiffe and real estate partner Michael Bennett.

CWC was advised by Slaughters with a team including corporate partner Andrew Jolly and pensions and employment partner Sandeep Maudgil.

Charles Russell, a longstanding adviser of the Bahamas Government, was originally instructed back in 2008 to advise on regulatory issues, liberalising the communications framework and creating a new regulatory body to oversee it.

Moncreiffe said: "It was a fascinating, multifaceted transaction that involved a lot of corporate and regulatory aspects. It was structured by way of an auction process. It was very much in the public domain in the Bahamas in view of the strategic importance of BTC to the country.

"We felt involved in more than just a transaction; it is of national importance to the Bahamas and we were honoured to be involved."

Charles Russell brought in Bahamas law firm Higgs & Johnson for local law advice while Slaughters worked alongside Lennox Paton.

The Bahamas Government was also advised by KPMG, Citigroup and Towers Watson.