Linklaters and White & Case have landed lead roles on the planned $2.1bn (£1.4bn) initial public offering (IPO) of BTS Group's new infrastructure fund, reportedly Thailand's largest-ever listing.

BTS, which operates Bangkok's SkyTrain transit system, is in the process of setting up the BTS Rail Mass Transit Group Infrastructure Fund, which will be independently managed.

Almost 5.8 billion shares will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, with BTS set to buy one third of the units.

Linklaters is advising the banks, which include Morgan Stanley, Phatra Securities and UBS, with a team of lawyers in Singapore and Thailand led by corporate partner Arun Balasubramanian.

White & Case is providing international counsel to the sponsor, with banking and capital markets counsel Sin Teck Lim leading a team from Singapore.

Thai firm Weerawong C&P is providing local law advice for BTS, with executive partner Peangpanor Boonklum in the lead role.

BTS, which is already a public company in Thailand, is the majority shareholder of Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTSC), which operates the Thai capital's Skytrain and the Bangkok BRT.

The decision to set up the new infrastructure fund comes as the government eyes 508km of rail in Bangkok by 2029, up from the current 80km, with BTS expected to use the capital raised from the IPO to bid for and invest in up-and-coming projects.