Weil Gotshal & Manges and Slaughter and May have taken the lead roles on the sale of a majority share in Gatwick Airport worth £2.9bn,oles bar and grill walker mn which comes just weeks after the airport's activities were disrupted for three days due to drone activity.

Weil Gotshal is advising the buyer, airport operator Vinci Airports, on the transaction with a team headed up by private equity partner Marco Compagnoni. Vinci operates 45 airports in 12 countries.

Slaughter and May is advising current co-owner of the airport, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and its co-investors on the deal. GIP will continue to run the airport alongside new owners Vinci.

The Slaughters team was led by corporate partners Murray Cox and Mike Corbett and included tax partner William Watson, real estate partner Jane Edwarde, financing partner Robert Byk and pensions partner Charles Cameron.

Slaughters previously advised GIP on

the fund's acquisition of Gatwick in 2009

and also on the disposal of London City Airport in 2014.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is also involved on the latest transaction. Head of tax Vincent Daniel-Mayeur and tax partner Jill Gatehouse are advising Vinci on tax and structuring aspects of the deal.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

Airport deals have provided a string of mandates to City legal advisers in the last year. In June, Linklaters and Baker McKenzie picked up roles on Cerberus Capital Management’s €1.2bn (£1.05bn)

acquisition of airport services company Worldwide Flight Services.

And last November, Allen & Overy and US firm Goodwin Procter advised on the

£220m sale of Leeds Bradford Airport

by private equity house Bridgepoint Capital to rival AMP Capital.

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