Weil Gotshal & Manges’ City arm has bagged a major public M&A mandate, advising opposite Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on the $4bn (£1.96bn) sale of educational publishing operation Harcourt.

Weil Gotshal acted for the buyer, Boston-based publisher Houghton Mifflin, with London-based M&A partner Ian Hamilton taking the headline role.