Norton Rose and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are among a line-up of firms on Apax Partners' C$1.1bn (£700m) acquisition of Canadian company GardaWorld Security Corporation.

Simpson and Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott are advising London-based private equity house Apax on the acquisition, with Norton Rose and Canada's Seguin Racine and McCarthy Tetrault taking related roles for global private security provider Garda, which is headquartered in Montreal.

The Simpson team includes New York partners Ryerson Symons (M&A), Brian Steinhardt (credit), Kenneth Wallach (capital markets), Brian Robbins (executive compensation and employee benefits), Gary Mandel (tax), Josh Levine (FCPA) and George Wang (OFAC).

London antitrust partner David Vann and Washington DC regulatory partner Peter Thomas are also part of the Simpson team.

Stikeman's team comprises partners from the firm's Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal bases, while Seguin Racine – based in Laval, Quebec – is advising Garda.

Meanwhile, Norton Rose is advising a special committee of Garda's directors, with Montreal partners Francis Legault, Stephen Kelly and Amar Leclair-Ghosh leading.

McCarthy Tetrault took a role for UBS, which handled M&A advice for Garda.
The deal is expected to close later this year.

Apax Partners advises on some $35bn (£21.5bn) worth of funds globally. Last year, Simpson's London office picked up a role alongside Clifford Chance on the private equity house's €9bn (£7.9bn) fundraising for Apax VIII.

• For more, see Simpson Thacher's City office wins trophy role alongside CC on €9bn Apax fundraising