Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is advising Japanese media group Nikkei on its £844 ($1.3 billion) purchase of the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson, which turned to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for advice.

The deal, struck after Nikkei beat Germany’s Axel Springer to the prize, marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organisation and is a coup for the employee-owned firm which lends its name to the main Japanese stock market index.

Pearson’s 50 percent stake in The Economist magazine and some London buildings owned by the group are not included in the deal.

Reporters at the FT told Reuters there was some apprehension, as they knew very little about their new owner, but there was also relief they had not been bought by Bloomberg - another potential buyer - which could have resulted in duplication of staff roles and more potential job cuts.

Chief Executive John Fallon told reporters he believed that like Pearson, the new owner had a commitment to the “fairness and accuracy of its reporting, and to the integrity and independence of its journalism”.

A Skadden team led by Tokyo corporate practice head Mitsuhiro Kamiya and London partner Scott Hopkins acted for Nikkei on the deal.

Freshfields London corporate partners Oliver Lazenby and Simon Marchant advised Pearson.

Established in 1884 and first printed on pink paper in 1893 to stand out from rivals, the FT has employed some of the leading figures in media and politics, including Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp, former British finance minister Nigel Lawson and Ed Balls, an adviser to former British prime minister Gordon Brown.

The Nikkei newspaper, which has a circulation surpassing 3 million for its morning edition alone, enjoys a must-read reputation for financial and business news in Japan but has struggled to break out of its home market.

The sale of the FT Group is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2015.