Ashurst, Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith have landed the lead roles on telecoms giant NTL’s potential £835m takeover bid for Virgin Mobile, which was publicly announced this morning (5 December).

The deal sees a team for Ashurst providing NTL with UK M&A, regulatory and commercial advice, led respectively by Robert Ogilvy Watson, Nigel Parr and Mark Lubbock.