Norton Rose and Maclay Murray & Spens have taken key advisory roles on the sale of Scottish dairy company Robert Wiseman Dairies to Germany's Muller.

The deal, announced earlier this month (16 January), will see the company change hands for £279.5m, with the Wiseman family reportedly set to gain £98.1m for their stake.

Norton Rose picked up a first-time mandate for Muller Dairy UK on the acquisition, with the firm fielding a team of lawyers in London and Frankfurt. Corporate partners Julian Stanier and Paul Whitelock led a team which also included competition partner Mark Jones, finance partners Tomas Gardfors and Oliver Sutter and employment partner Monique Fry.

Stanier has previously acted for other parts of Muller but not the UK Dairy arm.

Linklaters advised Muller's financial adviser NM Rothschild, with corporate partner Aisling Zarraga at the helm.

Maclay Murray, meanwhile, provided advice to Robert Wiseman Dairies, with Edinburgh partners Brian Moore and Michael Livingston in the lead.

Stanier said: "We're very pleased to have helped get this deal across the line so successfully, especially as it's the first piece of public M&A of the year."
East Kilbride-based Robert Wiseman was launched by the Wiseman family in 1944 and now supplies around 30% of the UK's daily consumption of fresh milk.

Muller is the market leader in chilled yoghurts and potted desserts, owning brands including Muller Light and Muller Rice. Muller Dairy UK has operated in the UK since 1987.