Eversheds has clinched a role on one of its largest M&A transactions of recent years, acting on Xstrata’s $1.7bn (£923m) acquisition of a stake in Canadian mining company Falconbridge.

The national firm is advising new client Brascan, the vendor on the deal, after the company’s usual adviser, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, was brought in on the other side of the transaction to advise Xstrata, the listed UK-based mining group.