Magic circle trio Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May have snared the top roles on a joint venture agreement between pharmaceutical giants Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

The transformative deal will involve the two businesses combining their consumer healthcare units in a joint venture with revenues of £6.5bn. Novartis will also acquire GSK’s oncology business for $16bn (£9.5bn) and sell its vaccines division, excluding the flu unit, to GSK for $7.1bn (£4.2bn).