Magic Circle duo Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among the firms advising on payments giant Mastercard's €2.85 billion acquisition of Danish rival the Nets Group.

Mastercard is a leader in the global payments industry, covering more than 210 countries and territories.

It is acquiring a majority stake in the corporate services business of Nets Group, which operates managed service and software licence models across the European market. According to a person involved in the sale, if successful it will be the largest acquisition Mastercard has ever made.

Clifford Chance is advising Mastercard on the acquisition, with a team led by London corporate partners Lee Coney and Christopher Sullivan, as well as antitrust partner Greg Olsen.

Bird & Bird is also advising Mastercard alongside CC.

Meanwhile, Freshfields' team – led by corporate partners Tim Wilmot, Andrew Craig, Cyrus Pocha and Keir MacLennan, tax partner Jill Gatehouse, and antitrust partner Thomas Luebbig – is advising the Nets Group and its majority shareholder, Hellman and Friedman, on the deal.

The team is being supported by a team from Danish law firm Kromann Reumert.

Mastercard is one of CC's longstanding clients. The firm previously advised the company on a £333 million takeover of Datacash, and its £700 million acquisition of U.K. payments company Vocalink.