Slaughters' allies team up for Endesa bid

The founding partners of European best friends Uría Menéndez and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo have been thrown together on the fight for Spanish utility Endesa.

Italy's Enel and Spain's Acciona signed a joint pact to bid for Endesa this week, with Rodrigo Uría and Sergio Erede as the leading advisers for the companies.

They will face a strong legal challenge from E.ON, which is being advised in Spain by Perez Llorca.

The company has complained to Spain's market regulators, accusing Enel and Acciona of market disruption and insider trading.

E.ON raised its offer for Endesa to €40 (£27.16) a share, which was immediately trumped by a joint bid proposed by Enel and Acciona worth €41 (£27.84) per share this week.

Uría’s team includes co-managing partner and capital markets specialist Luis de Carlos. Uría and Bonelli are Slaughter and May's best friends in Spain and Italy respectively.

Spanish firm Albiñana & Suarez de Lezo is also providing legal advice to Acciona.

Clifford Chance is the sole adviser to Endesa and has been ever since Gas Natural sparked a bidding war with an offer of €21 (£14.26) per share for Endesa in September 2005.

The Clifford Chance team is led by corporate partners Ignacio Ojanguren and Jaime de San Roman.