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Iona Hunter

Senior Associate

Contact
CMS (UAE) LLP
Level 15 Burj Daman
Dubai International Financial Centre
Burj Daman
PO Box 506873
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Languages English

Iona is a Senior Associate in the IPF team specialising in advising on large, high value infrastructure projects, including in the health, education, waste, energy and transport sectors.

Iona acts for public sector clients, investors and funders on a variety of Public Private Partnerships, allowing her to understand the key drivers from each party’s perspective, and ultimately to find a deal which works for all sides.  

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Relevant experience

  • King Fahd Causeway Authority on the PPP for the creation and operation of a second road and a railway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
  • Medina Development Authority in Saudi Arabia to advise on the development of its Bus Rapid Transport project in Medina.
  • Committee for Roads of Republic of Uzbekistan in respect of a planned new PPP road to be built between the cities of Tashkent and Andijan in Uzbekistan.
  • The Asian Development Bank on the tendering process, including in relation to the Request for Qualification, and also on drafting the Due Diligence Report in relation to the development of a Public Private Partnership project for the construction and maintenance of 13 general secondary education schools in the City of Tashkent and Tashkent region.
  • The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) on the construction of new student accommodation for a university in Abu Dhabi to be procured as a PPP project.  Advice spans from assisting in preparing the initial business case, participating in market sounding, assisting in preparing the procurement documents and drafting and negotiating the contract documents.
  • Public sector participants and lenders on a number of school and health centre projects procured under the Scottish Hub programme.  These were all Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) or Design and Build (DBDA). 
  • The Laing O’Rourke/Aberdeen Asset Management consortium on their successful bid for the NPD DBFM for a new £220m acute hospital in Dumfries, funded by EIB and Aviva.  
  • Transport Scotland on its procurements of (i) the M8, M73, M74 Motorway Improvements Project (£500m); and (ii) the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty DBFO project (£550m). 
  • Red Sea Development Company in respect of developing logistics contracts for the transport of goods and products for arrival by sea to a holding facility and then on to final destinations within the Red Sea resort.  This included preparing logistics contract and reviewing and updating RFP documents.
  • The Investment & Development Office (IDO) on the production of standard form ship building contracts, ship repair contracts and associated subcontracts.
  • Equinor on a Port Services Agreement with Port of Tyne as part of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm project.  Work included Reviewing and agreeing the Port Services Agreement between the Equinor/SSE joint venture with Port of Tyne and reviewing and advising on the Port of Tyne’s standard terms and conditions and their incorporation into the Port Service Agreement.
  • lCaledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on the procurement of the MV Loch Seaforth and the MV Catriona.  This included negotiating build and charter contracts.  The Loch Seaforth was initially bank-financed, leased to CMAL and sub-leased to the operator but was then purchased by CMAL in 2019 which Iona also assisted with.
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Education

  • 2009 – Diploma in Legal Practice, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh
  • 2008 – Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B), University of Glasgow, Glasgow
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Feed

18/04/2024
Renewable energy in Saudi Arabia
1. Introduction  For many, the energy industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) is synonymous with large-scale production of oil and gas. The OPEC member was the world’s second largest producer...
11/03/2024
Introduction of New Federal Law on Regulation of PPPs
Introduction On 1st December 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) Federal Law No.12/2023 – On the Regulation of the Partnership Between the Public and Private Sectors (the “New PPP Law”)...
07/12/2023
Roundtable: urbanisation and transport
Join the CMS Infrastructure and Projects team in person at CMS Dubai for a breakfast roundtable discussion. Our conversation will be driven by the announcements and negotiations at COP28, and will be...
04/02/2021
It’s good, but it’s not quite “surgical linguistic precision”: Westminster...
On 22 January 2021, the High Court handed down its judgment in Westminster City Council v Sports and Leisure Management Limited [2021] EWHC 98 (TCC). The Court had been asked to determine the allocation...
17/11/2020
Is the provision of local authority sports and leisure facilities outside...
Background A dispute arose between councils across the UK and HMRC in relation to VAT liability of charges paid by members of the public for access to sports and leisure facilities provided by those authorities...
18/04/2019
BARECON - The Importance of Class
In the recent case of Silverburn Shipping (IoM) Ltd -v- Ark Shipping Company LLC [2019] EWHC 376 (Comm), the High Court ruled that an obligation in a charterparty to keep a vessel in class is both an...
14/09/2018
A Bigger Splash – Getting the most out of Leisure Outsourcing
Local authorities are constantly under pressure to increase savings and decrease cost, risk and resource. As a result, over time there has been a steady increase in the outsourcing of leisure services...
19/07/2018
Update to the hub Standard Form DBFM Agreement - SFT Standard Form - Version...
Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) have released their first update of the Standard Form DBFM Agreement since November 2016.  The DBFM Agreement is the standard form of document for the design, build, finance...
25/02/2016
The New Flamenco – fathoming the quantum of a damages claim
In Fulton Shipping Inc of Panama v Globalia Business Travel S.A.U. (the New Flamenco) the Court of Appeal overturned the Commercial Court’s decision and upheld the decision of the arbitrator that an...
03/02/2016
Virtual Reality - Preventing Cyber Attacks On-Board Ships
In response to what is a very modern threat, in January 2016 the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) issued guidelines on cyber security on-board ships. The guidelines recognise that...
11/01/2016
Changing tack on the Sale of Goods Act
Recent years have seen a number of decisions considering the inclusion of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (“SOGA”) in maritime contracts. It will be interesting to see whether 2016 brings any further developments...