Sidley Austin and Slaughter and May have been appointed to act for Heineken and Diageo respectively on a series of cross-border M&A deals and licensing agreements announced today.

Sidley is fielding a London-based team to act for Heineken.

Partner and co-head of the firm's London corporate group Stephen Blackshaw is leading the team. He is being supported by competition partner Patrick Harrison and data protection and privacy partner William Long.

Slaughter and May is acting for long-standing client Diageo. Its team is being led by corporate partners Robin Ogle and Simon Nicholls.

The collection of deals the pair are working on include Diageo's sale of its 57.9% stake in Jamaican brewer Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) to Heineken. D&G controls the Red Stripe and Dragon brands.

Heineken is also taking full control of holding company GAPL, a joint venture between Heineken and Diageo, which is the licensee for Guinness and ABC Stout distribution for the Singapore market. Under the deal Heineken will now buy out Diageo's shareholding, which is just under 50%.

In a third deal Heineken is selling its 20% stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries to Diageo.

Diageo and Heineken have also entered into licensing agreements for each other's brands in Jamaica and Ghana.

Under the terms of the collection of deals Heineken will pay Diageo $780.5m (