Kirkland & Ellis has bagged a key role advising Bain Capital on its $3.5bn (£1.7bn) acquisition of African retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores – the largest leveraged buy-out seen on the continent to date.

Kirkland acted for regular client Bain, fielding a City-based team including corporate partners James Learner and Christopher Field, finance partners Stephen Gillespie and Neel Sachdev and tax partner Ian Taplin.