Slaughter and May and Linklaters are advising on Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp's joint venture, a deal that will create a European steel enterprise with an anticipated turnover of about €15bn (£13.3bn).

The steel giants signed a memorandum of understanding today (20 September) on a planned combination of the flat steel businesses of the two companies and the steel mill services of Thyssenkrupp.

The deal will reportedly create Europe's second-largest steel group, after ArcelorMittal.

The 50:50 joint venture will have a workforce of 48,000 people spread across 34 locations, with its headquarters in Amsterdam. The signing of an agreement is being targeted for early 2018, with closing aimed for late 2018.

Slaughters is advising longstanding client Tata Steel on the deal, with a team led by M&A partners Robin Ogle and Padraig Cronin, and finance partner Andrew McClean.

Thyssenkrupp is being advised by a Linklaters team led by Duesseldorf M&A partners Kristina Klaassen-Kaiser and Ralph Wollburg.

Slaughters is being aided by best friend firms Hengeler Mueller in Germany and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in the Netherlands.

The Hengeler team consists of M&A partners Christof Jackle and Karsten Schmidt-Hern, while De Brauw is fielding M&A partners Mark Rebergen and Anja Mutsaers.

The two companies have been in negotiations since last year, following the scrapping of Tata's plans to sell its UK operations.

Earlier this summer, the Indian steelmaker signed an agreement to detach the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) from Tata Steel UK, reducing its pension liabilities by £15bn.

Slaughters acted for Tata on the deal, while Travers Smith advised the BSPS trustees and Hogan Lovells acted for the Pension Protection Fund.