Slaughter and May and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have secured lead roles as US fund manager Fidelity has offered to buy out the minority shareholders of London-listed telecoms provider Colt Group in an offer that values the company at £1.7bn.

Fidelity is currently Colt's major shareholder and helped to both found the fibre-optic network provider and take it public.

Colt's independent directors offered no recommendation on whether shareholders should accept the offer or not but claimed that it undervalued the business.