Co-operative Pharmacy, the 774-branch pharmaceutical chain acquired by UK conglomerate Bestway earlier this year, has appointed former Addleshaw Goddard partner Caroline Hilton as its head of legal.

Hilton, who was most recently vice president and regional general counsel for the EMEA region for Invensys, is understood to have joined the Manchester-headquartered pharmacy business last week, and will help manage the legal separation of the business from the Co-op Group.

Prior to the £620m sale of the pharmacy business in the summer, Co-operative Pharmacy's in-house legal needs were taken care of by the wider group, headed by Alistair Asher.

In her new role, Hilton will report to the Co-op Pharmacy's financial director Tony Smith, with separate reporting lines to Bestway group general counsel Dawood Pervez. As part of the merger agreement, the Co-op Pharmacy name must rebrand within a year.

Bestway currently works with a number of law firms, including Hogan Lovells and City-based boutique commercial firm Kerman & Co.

For the Co-op Pharmacy deal, Bestway turned to Hogan Lovells' corporate partner Tom Brassington and banking partner Jo Robinson, who faced an Addleshaws team advising the Co-op Group, led by Manchester-based commercial partner Richard Thomas.

The deal also landed roles for Allen & Overy, which advised the Co-op Group on various pensions matters, and White & Case, which took a role for bookrunners JP Morgan and Nomura, which provided the £725m senior debt financing package for the deal.

Speaking to Legal Week, Pervez said Bestway would not require the Pharmacy team to use the company's current go-to list of external advisers.

"We've talked about using the lawyers in a few areas, and we may eventually review that," he said. "The key focus is to separate from the Co-op Group, and get it stood up on its own two feet."

Hilton worked as an associate at Addleshaws between 2005 and 2009, when she made partner. In 2011 she moved in-house, before joining Invensys Rail the following year.

After Invensys' £3.4bn takeover by Schneider Electric earlier this year, Hilton was one of a number of senior members of the legacy engineering and IT company to leave.