Gibson Dunn and Slaughter and May have won lead roles on Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) £7.1bn takeover bid for Britain’s largest software company Autonomy, in a deal which could become the largest ever in the history of the European IT sector.

Gibson Dunn was instructed by the US IT giant as lead counsel in both the UK and US, with magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer brought in as co-counsel, taking a supporting role on corporate matters and providing competition and employment advice.