{"id":13838,"date":"2025-12-01T05:43:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=13838"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:19:09","slug":"sportpesa-wins-share-dispute-case-in-london-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/sportpesa-wins-share-dispute-case-in-london-court","title":{"rendered":"SportPesa wins share dispute case in London court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The court determined that Paul Wanderi <\/strong>Ndung\u2019u failed to provide evidence to support his allegations of fraud, forgery or unfair prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Kenya.- Betting operator SportPesa<\/strong> has emerged victorious in a London court case over a share dispute brought against it by Kenyan businessman and shareholder, Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former chair alleged that company directors and shareholders, including Guerassim Nikolov, Gene Grand, Kalilina Lyubomirova and Asenath Wachera Maina<\/strong>, had conspired to reduce his stake in the company from 17 per cent to 0.8 per cen<\/strong>t between 2019 and 2022<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndung\u2019u also accused the company of forgery and claimed its conduct was oppressive and financially damaging to his interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the High Court of Justice in London<\/strong> dismissed all claims lodged by the plaintiff, ruling that the dilution of his shares in the company was lawful and necessary. In a 190-page judgment<\/strong> handed down on November 18<\/strong> by Justice Edwin Johnson<\/strong>, the court determined that Ndung\u2019u failed to provide evidence to support his allegations of fraud, forgery or unfair prejudice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge cleared the four directors of wrongdoing in connection with the share allotments and trademark transfers involving Pevans East Africa, SportPesa Global Holdings and Milestone Games.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dispute began after Pevans East Africa lost its Kenyan betting licence in 2019<\/strong> over unpaid taxes estimated at tens of billions of Kenyan shillings (hundreds of millions of euros). The company stopped trading, and its shares lost measurable value. To keep the international brand alive, new capital was raised and the trademark was sold twice for \u00a3100,000<\/strong> each time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndung\u2019u argued these steps were designed to push him and Wachera Maina<\/strong> (who together held 38 per cent of Pevans) out of the business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court rejected Ndung\u2019u’s argument, finding that the capital injections were justified to clear tax debts and resume operations under the new licence granted to Milestone Games Limited <\/strong>in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milestone is now 71 per cent <\/strong>owned by SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri <\/strong>and 14 per cent by Robert Macharia<\/strong>. Before the 2019 shutdown, Pevans had paid out KSh 1.57bn<\/strong> (\u20ac10.4m) in dividends to shareholders between 2015 and mid-2019<\/strong>. Ndung\u2019u personally received KSh 130m <\/strong>(\u20ac867,997) during that period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London ruling clears a significant legal obstacle for SportPesa’s UK holding companies, enabling the firm to concentrate on its business in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa<\/strong> and several European countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ndung\u2019u, the defeat in London is another setback in a six-year fight to regain control of the brand he helped build.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, other legal battles continue in Kenya. On November 14, 2025<\/strong>, Ndung\u2019u asked the High Court in Nairobi to freeze Milestone\u2019s use of the SportPesa name, claiming the trademark transfers violated his constitutional rights. The case has been sent to the Constitutional and Human Rights Division for hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Operators and players urged to comply with 10 per cent betting tax as Zambia marks Taxpayer Appreciation Day<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The court determined that Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u failed to provide evidence to support his allegations of fraud, forgery or unfair prejudice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":11148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A London High Court has ruled in favor of betting operator SportPesa, dismissing claims by shareholder Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u regarding alleged share dilution, fraud, and forgery. The court found the dilution lawful and necessary for capital raising to address tax debts and secure new licensing following Pevans East Africa's licence loss in Kenya. This judgment clears a significant legal hurdle for SportPesa's UK holding companies, enabling strategic focus on its operational markets.","focusai_entities":"SportPesa, Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u, Guerassim Nikolov, Gene Grand, Kalilina Lyubomirova, Asenath Wachera Maina, Justice Edwin Johnson, Pevans East Africa, SportPesa Global Holdings, Milestone Games, Ronald Karauri, Robert Macharia","focusai_location":"London, Kenya, Nairobi, Tanzania, South Africa, Europe","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.85), investor_analyst (0.95), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"SportPesa's UK Strategy","query":"How will the London ruling impact SportPesa's strategic expansion plans and potential capital market activities for its UK holding companies, particularly concerning future M&A or public offerings?"},{"label":"Kenyan Regulatory Impact","query":"What are the potential implications of the ongoing legal battles in Kenya for SportPesa's operational stability and regulatory compliance within that jurisdiction, especially regarding trademark usage and licensing?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60013,60023],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-13838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-legal-news","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13838"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13901,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13838\/revisions\/13901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}