A raft of firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Reed Smith and White & Case are advising on the tussle to acquire London-listed miner Gemfields, the owner of the Faberge jewellery brand.

South African private equity firm Pallinghurst Resources is reportedly on the brink of acquiring Gemfields, with Pallinghurst's shareholders set to vote on whether to push ahead with the acquisition.

Pallinghurst first made an offer for Gemfields on 19 May, having already built up a 47% stake in the AIM-listed miner.

The offer valued Gemfields at £211m and was described by the independent committee of Gemfields as "derisory".

In response, Fosun Gold, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, launched a counter-offer of £256m.

However, in an update to the stock market on 16 June, Gemfields confirmed that 14% of its shareholders had accepted the Pallinghurst offer, taking it to a shareholding of 61% and effectively shutting out the Fosun bid. Pallinghurst requires a shareholding of 75% to allow it to de-list Gemfields from Aim.

Reed Smith is acting for Gemfields on the process, with a team led by client relationship partner James Wilkinson and corporate partner Oliver Harker.

White & Case is the lead legal adviser for Pallinghurst in the UK, alongside ENSAfrica in South Africa and Mourant Ozannes in Guernsey.

The White & Case team is being led by the firm's London corporate co-head Allan Taylor and London-based mining specialist Rebecca Campbell.

Freshfields is advising Fosun on its bid, with a team consisting of Hong Kong corporate partner Philip Li, London corporate partners Stephen Hewes and Andrew Hutchings, and competition partner Alastair Mordaunt in Hong Kong.

In 2012, Reed Smith acted for Gemfields on its acquisition of jewellery brand Faberge from Pallinghurst and investor grouping Rox.