Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have landed roles on the £4bn IPO of Merlin Entertainments Group.

Merlin – which owns Madame Tussauds, Alton Towers and the Legoland theme parks – is controlled by Danish investment company Kirkbi and private equity houses CVC and Blackstone. Merlin's investors will sell some of their stakes but remain shareholders.

Ashurst is leading for Merlin, fielding a team led by corporate partners Mark Sperotto, Jonathan Parry and Nicholas Holmes.

Freshfields is advising the banks – Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Citi – with a team led by corporate partner Christopher Mort.

Clifford Chance M&A partner Steven Fox is instructing Kirkbi while Simpson Thacher is advising Blackstone and CVC led by M&A partner Adam Signy.

The company announced yesterday that it would raise around £200m with the sale of at least 20 per cent of its shares. Merlin added that it would use proceeds from the share sale to reduce its debt pile, which currently stands at more than £1.2bn.

Mark Sperotto, client relationship partner for Merlin said: "Having acted on a number of Merlin Entertainment's key transactions over the years, this represents a continuation of the strong commercial relationship which we have built up."

Merlin had hoped to float in 2010 when CVC bought a 28% stake in the group at a value of £2.25bn but the process was delayed due to unstable market conditions. At the time Freshfields instructed CVC while Ashurst and Simpson Thacher acted for Blackstone.

Merlin is the world's second largest visitor attraction operator after Walt Disney and currently operates 99 attractions in 22 countries.