Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is acting for Stanley Black & Decker on its billion-dollar bidding battle with Securitas to acquire Swedish security systems company Niscayah, reports The Am Law Daily.

Stanley Black & Decker's offer of $1.2bn (£753m) is roughly 25% more than Securitas' earlier offer of $910m (£571m). Securitas, which spun off from Niscayah in 2006 and moved to repurchase the company earlier this year, is now likely to make a counterbid.

A Cleary team led by corporate partners Michael McDonald (pictured) in London and Ethan Klingsberg in New York is acting for Stanley Black & Decker.

London partner Romano Subiotto is advising on competition matters, while Washington DC partner Jeremy Calsyn is handling antitrust aspects of the deal. Cleary has also brought in Gernandt & Danielsson partner Fredrik Palm as local counsel in Sweden.

Finland-based Hannes Snellman is advising Niscayah on the deal. Corporate partners Christoffer Saidac, Fredrik von Baumgarten, and Bjorn Kristiansson are working with Niscayah from Stockholm, while Securitas has retained Roschier.

Cleary's relationship with Stanley Black & Decker dates back to 2004, when the company was known as Stanley Works. Since then, the firm has represented the tool company on a series of mergers and acquisitions, primarily in the securities sector.

The deal comes after private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman announced last week that they had joined forces to buy US-based Securitas Direct for £2.1bn from Swedish private equity firm EQT.

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