A university friendship has helped Travers Smith win a lead role opposite Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on the £865m sale of the Scarborough Property Group.

Travers won the mandate to advise the selling shareholders on the transaction after coming to the attention of Scarborough through a relationship between its senior partner, Alasdair Douglas, and Scarborough’s head of legal, Cesidio Di Ciacca. The pair were at university together.