FrankfurtHengeler Mueller has teamed up with the London arm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – rather than its UK ‘best friend’ Slaughter and May – to advise on one of the largest private equity backed deals in Germany this year.

The arrangement, which also involved a team from Hengeler’s US best friend Davis Polk & Wardwell, defies the rationale behind the wave of Anglo-German mergers and alliances that are designed to offer international clients a one-stop shop.