Linklaters and Kirkland & Ellis are lead advisers on the sale of the elevator unit of the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp—a deal that marks the largest buyout transaction in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis.

A consortium made up of the private equity firms Advent International and Cinven, as well as Germy's RAG Stiftung, are buying ThyssenKrupp's elevator technology unit for €17. 2 billion ($18.9 billion.) RAG Stiftung is the foundation created after the dissolution of the technology and mining group RAG and is now the majority owner of Evonik Industries AG.

In a drawn-out, competitive bidding process, Linklaters advised ThyssenKrupp in a dual-track mode, as the German company had also weighed listing the elevator unit in an initial public offering.