Inmarsat. Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Clifford Chance, Kirkland & Ellis and Baker McKenzie have picked up roles on a private equity consortium's $3.3 billion takeover bid of British satellite operator Inmarsat.

CC is advising longstanding client Inmarsat with a team headed up by corporate partners Lee Coney and David Lewis. Global private equity head Jonny Myers and competition partners Jenine Hulsmann in London and Tim Cornell in Washington, D.C. are providing support.

Alongside his role for Inmarsat, Coney has been advising Provident Financial Group on its defence of a £1.3 billion hostile takeover by Non-Standard Finance.

The consortium, made up of Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, is being advised by Kirkland & Ellis, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.

Bakers is leading for the financial advisers to the consortium, with a team led by corporate partner James Thompson and finance partner Matt Smith.

CC advised Inmarsat in 2005 on its £1 billion initial public offering, with the firm's now-managing partner Matthew Layton and global capital markets head Adrian Cartwright leading the team.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised regular client Apax Partners last year when it sold chemicals distribution company Azelis to 3i for about $2 billion, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer recently picked up a role for Warburg Pincus as part of Dubai-based payment solutions company Network International's London IPO for an expected £2.3 billion.