Slaughter and May, Hengeler Mueller and Linklaters have acted on the €5.1bn (£4.3bn) sale of RWE AG's oil and gas business to Russian investment vehicle LetterOne Group.

RWE – one of Europe's five leading energy companies – has agreed to sell the holding company for its oil and gas unit, RWE Dea, to LetterOne Group, which was set up by Russian private investment group Alfa. RWE Dea has interests in 14 countries including Germany, the UK, Norway, Denmark and Egypt.

Slaughters and Hengeler advised RWE on the transaction. The Slaughters team was led by corporate and oil and gas partner Hywel Davies while Hengeler fielded a team led by partners Matthias Hentzen and Thomas Meurer.

Linklaters advised LetterOne, with a team led out of Dusseldorf including corporate partners Ralph Wollburg, Tim Johannsen-Roth and Christopher Bremme.

The deal is subject to final documentation, RWE Supervisory Board approval and regulatory approval in various jurisdictions.

In 2006, Slaughters fought off competition from RWE's regular lead corporate counsel Linklaters to act on RWE's disposal of Thames Water. The instruction was seen as a significant one at the time for Slaughters after they advised Thames Water opposite Linklaters in 2000 when the British supplier was taken over by the German company.