Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bagged a plum role advising on the float of the city of Hamburg’s port business in what is set to be one of the biggest German initial public offerings (IPOs) of the year.

Freshfields is advising the company, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), which announced plans to float a stake of about 30% last month following an attempted trade sale in which the company was valued in excess of A3.5bn (£2.4bn).