Allen & Overy (A&O) and Freshfields are advising on Asahi's acquisition of a group of eastern European beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) for €7.8bn (£6.5bn).

AB Inbev is selling the brands, which include Czech market leader Pilsner Urquell, to Japanese brewer Asahi to assist in getting clearance from competition regulators after its £71bn takeover of rival SABMiller, which finalised in October.

The former SAB Miller brands also include Poland's Tyskie and Hungary's Dreier.

A&O is advising long-term client Asahi with a team led by London corporate partner Richard Hough and including London antitrust partner Alasdair Balfour.

Freshfields is advising regular client AB InBev with a team led by City corporate partner Bruce Embley and including Hamburg-based corporate partner Natascha Doll and Cologne-based  antitrust partner Andreas von Bonin.

Hogan Lovells is also advising AB InBev with a team led by corporate partner Andrew Pearson.

A&O also acted for Asahi earlier this year, when it bought SAB Miller's two European beer brands – Italy's Peroni and the Netherlands' Grolsch – for £2bn. Its team on that deal was also led by Hough.

A&O also advised the banks that funded a $75bn (£49bn) loan to AB InBev for its merger with SABMiller.

Freshfields advised AB InBev on the divestment of Grolsch and Peroni with a team led by Embley.

Freshfields also acted for the company on its merger with SAB Miller, which was advised by Linklaters. However, Embley was not part of the team on this transaction, which included London M&A partner Mark Rawlinson, London head of corporate Simon Marchant and antitrust partner John Davies, who works out of London and Brussels.