Allen & Overy (A&O) has landed a role advising the French Government on one of the biggest public-private partnership (PPP) deals in Europe to date.

A&O will advise government agency Voies navigables de France on the €4.2bn (£3.7bn) deal, which will see the design, construction and maintenance of a 100km stretch of canal forming a junction between France and both Belgium and the Rhine basin.