Slaughter and May and Ashurst are advising government contractor Interserve as the beleaguered company looks to secure a rescue package.

Interserve, which is regularly used by the government to provide services in prisons, schools and hospitals, has seen its share price plummet after it announced it was seeking a rescue deal to offset debts of about £500m.

Slaughters and Ashurst are jointly advising Interserve. Ashurst's team includes London corporate partner Tom Mercer. 

Interserve said a deleveraging plan had been considered in April, which would provide the business with the funding needed to "execute its business plan". It would involve converting external borrowings into new equity, which will then be sold onto both existing shareholders and new investors.

The company employs about 45,000 people in the UK and 75,000 worldwide.

Earlier this year, construction company Carillion collapsed into administration, with a raft of top-tier firms advising on the process. 

Slaughters advised its longstanding client as it fought to stave off collapse, while several other firms also won other mandates related to the process.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted for the company's pension trustees, while fellow magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters acted for a number of of the company's lenders. Meanwhile, Dentons advised the official receiver and Mayer Brown acted for the Pension Protection Fund, the UK Government-backed compensation scheme.