Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance (CC) will share £9m in fees following Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG's) £1.7bn takeover of Virgin Money.

The magic circle duo were drafted in to advise on the acquisition when the deal was confirmed in June.

The deal will create the UK's sixth-largest bank, with six million personal and small business customers. CYBG's retail customers will move over to Virgin Money within the next three years, with CYBG set to take on the Virgin Money brand.

According to documents published this week, CYBG will incur £4.3m in legal costs, while Virgin Money will spend £4.7m. Financial and corporate broking advice is the largest expense for both companies, with CYBG clocking in with fees of £17.3m and Virgin Money £24m for financial advisers.

A&O is advising longstanding client Virgin Money on the deal, with a team led by City corporate partners David Broadley and George Knighton, alongside M&A partner Seth Jones.

Meanwhile, CC is advising CYBG with a team led by corporate partner David Pudge, and supported by corporate colleagues Gareth Camp and Katherine Moir, alongside IP partner Stephen Reese, head of CC's UK antitrust team Alex Nourry, regulatory partner Simon Crown and capital markets partners Adrian Cartwright and Christopher Walsh.

Slaughter and May is acting for Virgin Money's majority shareholder Virgin Group, which has a 34.8% stake in the business, with a team headed by M&A head Roland Turnill and corporate partner Rob Innes, intellectual property partner Cathy Connolly and financial regulation partner Jan Putnis. Virgin Money's fees have not been made public.

The deal comes six-and-a-half years after Virgin Money bought the remnants of Northern Rock for £747m in 2011. A&O, Ashurst and Herbert Smith advised Virgin Money on the deal, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Northern Rock and its owner, UK Financial Investments.

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