Ropes & Gray, Allen & Overy, Latham & Watkins and local outfit Franklin have landed roles on French media giant Vivendi’s €15bn (£12bn) sale of its phone unit SFR to European cable group Altice.

Altice won a bidding contest against French industrial group Bouygues S.A. to acquire SFR through its subsidiary Numericable Group. The deal is thought to be one of the largest leveraged finance deal in Europe since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.