Linklaters, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Bredin Prat are advising on the potential sale of General Motors' (GM) European subsidiary Opel to PSA Group.

PSA, the owner of the Peugeot and Citroen brands, is in talks with GM to acquire its European business, which makes Opel and Vauxhall cars. The two companies already have an alliance, signed in 2012, which sees the companies share resources.

French law firm Bredin Prat is the main adviser for PSA on the deal. The firm's team is being led by Paris-based corporate partners Benjamin Kanovitch and Kate Romain, and capital markets partner Olivier Saba.

Linklaters is providing competition advice for PSA, with a team led by Paris partners Anne Wachsmann and Thomas Elkins, while Cleary is advising GM.

GM and PSA's alliance was established in 2012 in an effort to save the companies around $2bn (£1.25bn) a year within five years. The alliance meant that the carmakers shared vehicle platforms, components and modules and formed a purchasing joint venture for buying commodities, components and other goods and services from suppliers.

Freshfields took the lead role for GM on that deal, with corporate partners from its Paris and Frankfurt arms advising. The team consisted of Andreas Fabritius, Markus Paul and Markus Stephanblome, who has since joined White & Case in Frankfurt, while Herve Pisani, Fabrice Cohen (now at Clifford Chance) and Denis Barat (now at Squire Patton Boggs) led from Paris.

Bredin Prat again served as the primary adviser to PSA on both the alliance and on an associated €1bn (£833m) capital increase by PSA, while Linklaters also advised PSA.