Singapore leader Allen & Gledhill has joined the lengthening roster of law firms advising on the fiercely contested battle to win control of Asia Pacific Breweries (APB).

Allens is advising APB and its parent company Fraser & Neave (F&N) on the sale of a S$5.6bn (£2.8bn) stake of the business to Dutch brewing giant Heineken, which already owns a majority stake of APB. Allens fielded a team led by co-head of M&A Mei Lim to advise APB and F&N.

The transferring stake was held by the company Kindest Place, which was advised by Singapore practice WongPartnership.

Heineken's bid for the Tiger Beer maker was approved last week following months of wrangling after it raised its initial offer and won the backing of Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who is bidding for a majority stake in Fraser & Neave. Sirivadhanabhakdi had last month said that two of his companies would try to buy a share of the APB business before backing the Heineken deal.

APB accepted Heineken's offer following the withdrawal of a higher bid by rival group ThaiBev last month. Also advising on the bid is Stamford Law, which fielded a team led by M&A directors Lean Min-tze and Lian Seng Yap.

Duane Morris & Selvam, the local arm of US law firm Duane Morris, acted for Heineken on the deal, with a team headed by local managing partner Arfat Selvam.

Heineken initially announced plans to acquire an additional stake in APB earlier this year in the hopes of further tapping Asia's fast-growing beer market.

The Dutch-based company, which already controlled a share of APB in the form of an 81-year-old venture with parent F&N, was hoping to acquire the 40% shares in F&N which it did not already own. As part of the last week's agreement, Heineken said it would not try to acquire shares in F&N.