Cleary, Ropes & Gray on latest Lehman sale

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Ropes & Gray have secured the key roles on the latest deal to result from the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman have both turned to longstanding advisers for their joint acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ investment management unit.

Neither firm would confirm the advisers but it is believed Cleary New York partner Chris Austin is leading his firm’s team advising Hellman while Boston-based partner Alfred Rose is thought to be advising Bain on the deal.

The acquisition comes less than a week after Barclays acquired Lehman’s investment management unit for $1.35bn (£730m) last Friday (19 September).

Cleary's Austin has advised Hellman on a number of transactions in recent years including the private equity group’s 2006 investment into US fund manager Artisan Group.

In 2005, Ropes & Gray’s Rose advised Bain as part of a private equity consortium on its $21bn (£11.3bn) acquisition of SunGard Data Systems.