Davis Polk & Wardwell and Weil Gotshal & Manges are both advising on a $16.7bn (£10.7bn) deal that will see General Electric (GE) sell its 49% stake in US media and entertainment giant NBCUniversal (NBCU) to majority shareholder Comcast Corporation.

Under the terms of the agreement, US cable operator Comcast will pay NBCU $12bn (£7.7bn) in cash with $4bn (£2.6bn) in Comcast guaranteed debt and $700m (£450m) of preferred stock in acquiring full ownership of the film and television business.

The deal will see Comcast take full control of NBCU's cable networks, filmed entertainment, televised entertainment, theme parks, and unconsolidated investments, as well as cable networks, including E!, Versus and the Golf Channel, its ten regional sports networks, and certain digital media properties.

A New York-based team from Weil is advising GE on the sale, including corporate partners Howard Chatzinoff, Jennifer Bensch and Samuel Zylberberg, M&A partner Jackie Cohen and tax partner Kenneth Heitner.

Davis Polk is taking the lead role for Comcast with a corporate team including partners David Caplan and Marc Williams; a tax team including partners Avishai Shachar and Neil Barr; a real estate team including partner Thomas Patrick Dore, while partner Jason Kyrwood is providing credit advice. The Davis Polk team is based across its New York and Menlo Park offices.

The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of GE and Comcast and remains subject to final approval, which is expected to be confirmed before the end of the first quarter of 2013.

This deal comes after a raft of top firms including Shearman & Sterling and Allen & Overy all took roles on the $23.3bn (£14.9bn) purchase of Virgin Media by US cable giant Liberty Global.