Energy boost: City firm Norton Rose advised the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission on signing a uranium exploration agreement with French nuclear power company Areva, and is advising on negotiations over a mining agreement. Magic circle firm Linklaters advised Areva, while Jordan firm Aljazy & Co acted as local counsel.

Royal investment: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, on his £3.5bn investment in Barclays, part of the bank’s £7.3bn capital raising.

Taylor made: City firm Herbert Smith advised market research group Taylor Nelson Sofres on its £1.2bn takeover by communications company WPP Group. WPP is considering combining TNS with its market research subsidiary Kantar to create what would be the world’s second-largest market research group. WPP was advised by magic circle firm Allen & Overy.

Loan away: International firm Watson, Farley & Williams advised Dutch bank ING on a syndicated $500m (£308m) loan provided by 11 banks to Belgian navigation software company Euronav and US energy transportation company Overseas Shipholding Group. The loan will finance the acquisition, conversion and operation of two floating storage vessels, to be operated by Maersk Oil Qatar on the Al Shaheen field. Euronav, Overseas Shipholding and Maersk were all advised by their in-house teams.

Licence to drill: Regional firm Cobbetts advised AIM-listed Russian oil and gas exploration company Timan on arranging a $100m (£62m) loan facility with Kazakh company Kamanisk Holdings. The transaction will enable Timan to increase its Russian drilling operations. Kamanisk was advised by City firm Clyde & Co.