Clifford Chance (CC) and Eversheds Sutherland have taken the lead on Blackstone's purchase of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Group, the live events business that operates venues including Birmingham's NEC, the home of dog show Crufts.

The NEC Group is being sold by Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, which has been the majority shareholder in the business since it was sold by Birmingham City Council in 2015.

CC is advising Blackstone on the transaction, reported to be worth about £800m, with a team led by private equity partners Spencer Baylin and Christopher Sullivan.

Meanwhile, Eversheds London corporate partner Louise Finnie is leading for LDC.

Other Birmingham venues owned by the NEC Group include the International Convention Centre, the Genting Arena and Arena Birmingham, as well as caterer Amadeus and national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory.

NEC chief executive Paul Thandi said: "Blackstone's track record in scaling companies, sector knowledge and unrivalled real estate capabilities, make them the ideal new partner for NEC Group to realise the next phase of our ambitious growth strategy."

Other recent corporate deals CC and Eversheds have advised on have included insurance company Legal & General's £4bn pension buy-in of a British Airways (BA) scheme that covers historic pension liabilities for the airline company, as well as Network Rail's £1.46bn sale of its commercial property portfolio.