US firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won roles advising as Pearson sells the Financial Times to Japanese media company Nikkei for £844m.

The FT Group, which has been owned by Pearson for 58 years, comprises the Financial Times and related titles as well as a 50% stake in the Economist Group, publisher of The Economist magazine.

However, the deal does not include the group's stake in The Economist or the FT headquarters on London's Southwark Bridge.

Freshfields is advising Pearson. The firm's team is being led by corporate partner Oliver Lazenby alongside London corporate head Simon Marchant.

Lazenby previously advised Pearson on its sale of M&A market analyst Mergermarket for £382m in 2013.

Skadden is acting for new client Nikkei with a team led by corporate partner Scott Hopkins in London and head of corporate in Tokyo Mitsuhiro Kamiya.

Both Skadden and Freshfields have won major mandates in the technology, media and telecoms market recently.

Skadden secured a role last month advising US fund manager Fidelity on its offer to buy out the minority shareholders of London-listed telecoms provider Colt Group, valuing the company at £1.7bn. Slaughter and May is acting for Colt on the deal.

In May Skadden won a role advising computer chip manufacturer Broadcom Corporation on its $37bn (£24bn) sale to tech company Avago Technologies, which is taking advice from Latham & Watkins.

Earlier this year Freshfields was appointed to advise Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, owned by local billionaire Li Ka-shing, as it entered into exclusive talks with Telefonica to acquire 02 for £10.3bn.

Freshfields is also acting for BT on its proposed acquisition of EE for £12.5bn.

On the sale of FT Group, Pearson is taking financial advice from Evercore, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Cazenove.

Rothschild Group is acting as financial adviser to Nikkei on the deal.

Nikkei saw off competition from German publisher Axel Springer, which was also in talks to buy the FT Group but confirmed today that it would not be purchasing it.

John Fallon, Pearson chief executive, said the company had been "a proud proprietor of the FT" for nearly 60 years.

He added: "We've reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social. In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT's journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company."

Tsuneo Kita, chairman and group chief executive of Nikkei, said: "Our motto of providing high-quality reporting on economic and other news, while maintaining fairness and impartiality, is very close to that of the FT. We have the same journalistic values. Together, we will strive to contribute to the development of the global economy."

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.