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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance (CC) and Kirkland & Ellis are advising on the sale of German pharmaceutical company Stada for €5.3bn (£4.5bn).

Stada, which makes various generic versions of drugs such as Viagra, agreed to support an improved joint takeover bid by private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven today (10 April).

Bain and Cinven had been competing with a rival consortium, including Advent International and Permira, for control of the business. Both had previously made takeover offers that valued the company at €4.7bn (€4bn).

Freshfields is advising Stada on the deal with a team led by Hamburg corporate partner Christoph Seibt. CC, meanwhile, has been instructed by Cinven, and is fielding a team led by Frankfurt private equity and M&A partners Joachim Hasselbach and Thomas Krecek.

Kirkland is acting for Bain and Cinven with a team of partners in Munich and London.

The Munich team comprises corporate partners Joerg Kirchner, Benjamin Leyendecker, Achim Herfs and Anna Schwander; debt finance partner Wolfgang Nardi; and tax partner Oded Schein.

The City team working on the deal includes corporate partners James Learner, Gavin Gordon and Valerie Goldstein; debt finance partners Stephen Lucas, Neel Sachdev and Christopher Shield; capital markets partner Matthew Merkle; antitrust and competition partner Sarah Jordan; and technology and intellectual property partner Emma Flett.

According to Mergermarket data, the deal was the fourth biggest by value in Europe last quarter.