Hogan Lovells is advising the Department for Education (DfE) on its plans to sell £12bn of student loan debt to the private financial sector.

The firm is fielding a team led by deputy CEO David Hudd and London finance partner Julian Craughan.

Weil Gotshal & Manges also has a role, advising Barclays which is the sole arranger on the deal. The firm is also advising the joint lead managers JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Lloyds and Barclays. The Weil team advising on the deal is being led by structured finance partner Brian Maher with support from tax consultant Andrew Norwood.

The UK government announced this Monday (6 February) that the sell-off will cover loans made to students in England between 2002 and 2006, in the first of a planned four-year programme of sales issued before 2012. The sale expected to raise as much as £12bn.

The sale was detailed in the Autumn Statement made by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in November last year. The face value of the loans from 2002 to 2006 is worth around £4bn.

Chief secretary to the treasury David Gauke stated: "The Autumn Statement reaffirmed our commitment to the sale of the student loan book if market conditions were favourable, and I'm pleased the timing is now right to start the process.

"This sale makes sense for taxpayers and will play an important contribution in our work to repair the public finances."

The sale process is expected to take several months. Selling the loan book involves securitising the remaining future repayments on the loans and selling securities representing the rights to these to a range of purchasers.

Previous governments conducted sales of mortgage-style loans in 1998, 1999 and 2013, with Hogan Lovells legacy firm Lovell White Durrant acting for the DfE on the 1998 sale.