Ashurst has taken the lead role advising San Miguel Corporation on its $610m (£382m) acquisition of a number of ExxonMobil subsidiaries in Malaysia, reports The Asian Lawyer.

San Miguel, a Philippines conglomerate best known as a brewing company, has acquired three Malaysian divisions of the US oil giant in all-cash deals, paying $206m (£129m) for Esso Malaysia and $404m (£253m) for both ExxonMobil Malaysia and ExxonMobil Borneo.

Ashurst Singapore partners Philip Thomson, Edward Bennett and Keith McGuire headed up the UK firm's team advising San Miguel, while Kuala Lumpur's Zain & Co acted as Malaysian counsel to San Miguel.

ExxonMobil turned to Kuala Lumpur-based Kadir Andri & Partners for Malaysian law advice. According to Ashurst, other international aspects of the deal were handled by ExxonMobil's in-house legal team.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the subsidiaries acquired by San Miguel include both refinery operations and retail outlets in Malaysia, while the deal includes some 560 gas stations.

The company has recently been actively diversifying its operations, focusing on energy and infrastructure assets.

The Asian Lawyer is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.