Slaughter and May and Shearman & Sterling have taken the lead adviser roles as French bank Societe Generale acquires the London-headquartered wealth management company Kleinwort Benson.

The French bank has struck a deal with French financial services group Oddo & Cie. However, it has not disclosed the price it has paid for Kleinwort.

Slaughter and May is advising Oddo & Cie. Its team comprises City corporate partners Roland Turnill and Susannah Macknay, intellectual property partner Cathy Connolly and tax partner Jeanette Zaman.

Societe Generale instructed Shearman & Sterling to advise it on the deal.

Its team is being led by London M&A partner Jeremy Kutner and Paris M&A partner Guillaume Isautier.

The team also includes London-based financial regulatory partner Thomas Donegan, tax partners Sarah Priestley and Simon Letherman, and competition partner James Webber. Washington tax partner Ethan Harris is also working on the deal.

In 2009, Shearman advised Societe Generale on a €4.8bn (£4.4bn) cash call that allowed the bank to repay the state aid it received from the French government during the credit crunch. The US firm fielded a team led out of Paris by corporate partner Herve Letreguilly and capital markets partner Robert Treuhold.

The combined Societe Generale and Kleinwort company would have over 1,000 staff and about £14bn in assets under management making it one of the leading private banks in the UK.

Kleinwort currently operates in London, Jersey, Guernsey and Dublin. It is part of financial services company BHG Kleinwort Benson which is headquartered in Belgium. Oddo & Cie acquired the group earlier this year.

Earlier this month, Slaughters elected Turnill as the new head of its M&A practice, succeeding current head Stephen Cooke who is stepping up to the managing partner post.

Both Cooke and Turnill's appointments will take effect from 1 May 2016.