Fiona Magona
Fiona is a Partner at ALN Uganda | MMAKS Advocates, one of the leading law firms in Uganda, and has been with the firm for over 12 years. Fiona has over 20 years’ experience in multi-jurisdictional commercial transactions cutting across corporate M&A, Private Equity, Energy, Mining and Natural Resources, Projects & Infrastructure, and general corporate commercial, regulatory and investment advisory.
Fiona is consistently ranked by leading global law firm directories as a highly regarded lawyer (IFLR1000), a recommended lawyer (Chambers Global), and leading lawyer (Legal500). Fiona has been described by Chambers and Partners as highly efficient, effective and customer oriented. She was nominated in 2019 for Best Female Lawyer Private Practice Uganda Law Society, Women in Law Awards. She provides legal and strategic commercial advice on cutting edge transactional work across sectors like telecom, broadcasting, insurance, education, banking, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, gaming, mining, and energy.
She also routinely handles legal due diligences, advises on corporate transactional structuring, negotiates local and cross-border transactional agreements, commercial operational agreements. Fiona has an impressive knowledge of the local regulatory framework and is commended for her advice on an array of regulatory and licensing frameworks, and issues affecting local and foreign investors. She has advised on the acquisition of leading financial institutions and investments into a cross section of businesses and projects. Her key clients have largely been private equity funds, multinational corporations, development finance corporations, international, regional and local businesses, banks etc. Fiona led the team that advised the EU, IFAD and EAVCA on proposed amendments to Uganda’s legal and fiscal framework for structuring locally domiciled private equity and venture capital funds.
Fiona recently stepped down as head of the Banking and Finance team at ALN Uganda/MMAKS Advocates, which position gave her oversight over the project finance and corporate finance practice, commodity finance, restructurings, securitization and perfection. During this time, her relationships with key local and regional clients in the finance space were further entrenched, enabling her to enjoy and optimize a substantive network of clients across corporate advisory and finance.
She holds an LLM in commercial law from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), has previously worked with a top tier law firm in Johannesburg South Africa, and served placements in Johannesburg at a former FTSE 100 mining company, and in London with Slaughter and May, a magic circle law firm.
Fiona also sits on the Board of Directors of a leading insurance company in Uganda, a position she has held since 2019.