Key Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw client Unilever has handed the firm a lead role on a £170m real estate deal after calling in the Anglo-American firm to advise on the sale of its headquarters to Irish magnates John Magnier and JP McManus.

The two businessmen, who are best known in the UK as major shareholders in Manchester United, are reported to be backers of Sloane Blackfriars, the vehicle which has acquired the Grade II-listed Unilever House on the Embankment at Blackfriars in London.