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Ian Bendell

Ian Bendell

Foreign Legal Consultant
Chair, Infrastructure and Projects Group
His technical abilities are exemplary, as are his negotiating skills.
client quote - Chambers Canada
About

Ian Bendell is Chair of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s Infrastructure and Projects Group and works of out of ‎the firm’s Toronto office.

Ian is ranked as a Leading Individual in Infrastructure and Projects Canada by ‎Legal 500 2021, where DLA is also ranked in the top tier. Ian is also ranked as a 2021 Global Leader and ‎National Leader in Project Finance and Government Contracts by Who’s Who Legal. Chambers Global has ‎described Ian as “Technically, one of the strongest lawyers in the country, with an incredible work ethic.”‎

With almost 30 years in the international infrastructure market, Ian has extensive experience advising on ‎international project financing and P3 transactions, particularly in public infrastructure. He specializes in ‎advising project companies, equity sponsors, public authorities, banks and other financial institutions ‎around the world on the procurement, financing and implementation of major infrastructure projects.‎

While a partner at a City of London law firm, in addition to advising on other rail and rail related projects, ‎Ian was one of three members of a core legal, technical and financial advisory team that advised the ‎Dutch Government on the first High Speed Rail project to be procured as a public private partnership, ‎the Dutch HSL Zuid project connecting Schiphol airport with the Dutch Belgian Border. In the early 2000s, ‎Ian successfully closed the first Canadian acute healthcare PPP - the William Osler Health Centre - as the ‎lead advisor to the hospital authority.‎

Since closing the William Osler project, Ian has acted for the successful proponents on a wide range of ‎projects that have achieved financial close in Canada and internationally, including some of the most ‎high profile infrastructure projects in the North American market. In the social infrastructure sector, Ian ‎has led teams that have closed multiple projects, including Alberta Schools 1 and 2 in September 2008 ‎and April 2010, the Ontario Provincial Police Modernization Project in September 2010, the Forensic ‎Services and Coroner’s Complex Project in June 2010 and the North Island Hospitals Project in June ‎‎2014, the first infrastructure project to close utilizing a rated Green Bond structure.‎

In the transportation sector, examples of projects Ian has led include the William R. Bennett Bridge ‎Project in June 2005, the Kicking Horse Canyon Project in November 2005, the Golden Ears Bridge ‎Project in March 2006, the Northeast Stoney Trail, Northwest Anthony Henday Drive and Northeast ‎Anthony Henday Drive Projects in February 2007, July 2008 and May 2012, respectively, the Ottawa Light ‎Rail Transit Project in February 2013, the Champlain Bridge and Eglinton LRT projects in June and July of ‎‎2015 and the Highway 427 Extension Project in March 2017. ‎

Ian spent significant time in 2017 and 2018 leading the team that advised Rideau Transit Group, the ‎project entity carrying out the Confederation Line LRT project in Ottawa on issues related to the ‎expansion of the Confederation Line, including closing the financing of the enhanced Belfast ‎Maintenance and Storage Facility for additional vehicles required to provide service on the extended LRT ‎line. In 2018/19, Ian travelled to Sydney for four months to act for Transport for New South Wales, the ‎Government transit authority in New South Wales Australia, where he led the DLA team that closed the ‎Regional Rail Project, a AUD $1.26 billion project to replace an aging train fleet and build a new ‎maintenance facility. Ian is also currently advising Bermuda Airport Authority in relation to the ‎redevelopment of its international airport facilities.‎

Back in Canada, Ian acted for the winning joint venture that will operate and maintain the new Hurontario ‎LRT system in Toronto, Ontario in a project that reached financial close in October 2019. He is currently ‎active on numerous rail projects in Canada, including the $9.2 billion Regional Express Rail On Corridor ‎project, and the Ontario Line South Civil and RSSOM projects and preliminary de-risking work for Canada ‎Infrastructure Bank and VIA Rail on the proposed High Frequency Rail project in the Quebec City, ‎Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto rail corridor.‎

Bar admissionsEngland & Wales, 1987

EXPERIENCE

  • Acted for the winning joint venture that will operate and maintain the new Hurontario LRT system in ‎Toronto, Ontario that closed October 2019.‎
  • Acted for Transport for New South Wales on the procurement of a new fleet of regional and inter-city ‎trains and related bespoke maintenance facilities in Sydney, New South Wales that closed in ‎February 2019.‎
  • Led the team that acted for the consortium that will operate and maintain the Confederation Line LRT ‎Project in Ottawa, Canada following a major East/West extension.‎
  • Led the team that acted for the winning consortium on the $2 billion financing of the New Bridge over ‎the Saint Lawrence Crossing Project in Montréal, Québec that closed in June, 2015.‎
  • Led the team that acted for the winning consortium on the $1.4 billion financing of the Eglinton ‎Crossrail LRT Project in Toronto, Ontario that closed in July, 2015.‎
  • Acted for the Rideau Transit Group Partnership on the commercial and financial close to design, ‎build, finance and maintain the $2.1 billion Confederation Line, the City of Ottawa's first light rail ‎transit system that closed in February, 2013.‎
  • Acted for the successful proponent on the North Island Hospitals Project on Vancouver Island, ‎British Columbia that closed in June, 2014.‎
  • Acted for the successful proponent on the construction of 16 new detachments, regional command ‎centres and forensic identification units in 15 communities across Ontario, the Ontario Provincial ‎Police Modernization PPP Project that closed in September, 2010.‎
  • Acted for the successful proponent on the construction of a new complex in Ontario to ‎accommodate autopsies and forensic science cases, the Forensics Services and Coroner’s Complex ‎PPP Project that closed in June, 2010.‎
  • Led the team that acted for the successful proponent on the construction of the first major acute ‎care hospital DBFM project in Canada to reach financial close, the William Osler Health Centre that ‎closed in November, 2004.‎
  • Selected over seven legal advisory firms from the UK and North America with extensive PPP ‎experience to act for the Bermuda Hospitals Board in connection with the $315 million upgrade of the ‎King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.‎
Languages
  • English
Education
  • Pembrooke College, Oxford, 1981-1984

Awards

  • Leading Individual, The Legal 500 Canada (Infrastructure and Projects), 2014–2023‎
  • The Legal 500 Canada (Infrastructure and Projects), 2020; (Public Procurement), 2014–2023‎
  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Infrastructure) - Most Frequently Recommended, 2017–2023
  • Who's Who Legal: Canada (Project Finance), 2012–2021 Global Leader; (Government Contracts), ‎‎2015–2020 Global Leader and National Leader; (Public Procurement), 2010–2020 National Leader‎
  • Chambers Canada (Projects: PPP & Infrastructure), 2016–2023; (Project Finance), 2018-2023
  • Chambers Global (Projects: PPP & Infrastructure), 2013–2020‎

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