{"id":15224,"date":"2025-12-18T10:28:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=15224"},"modified":"2026-04-19T10:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:35:30","slug":"ndungu-loses-sportpesa-battle-ordered-to-pay-millions-in-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/ndungu-loses-sportpesa-battle-ordered-to-pay-millions-in-costs","title":{"rendered":"Ndung\u2019u loses SportPesa battle, ordered to pay millions in costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The judge dismissed Co-founder’s claims that his 17 per cent stake was unlawfully reduced to 0.85 per cent through share issues between 2019 and 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Kenya.- A London court has ordered Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u<\/strong>, a former Co-founder of African betting operator SportPesa<\/strong>, to pay KSh 374m<\/strong> (\u20ac2.55m) in legal costs to the company and its directors after he lost his challenge to reclaim a stake in the betting firm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order, issued on December 10<\/strong>, requires Ndung\u2019u to make an interim payment by January 9, 2026<\/strong>. He must pay KSh 94.5m<\/strong> (\u20ac650,000) to SportPesa Global Holdings Limited (SGHL) and KSh 275.9m<\/strong> (\u20ac1.9m) to the directors. Interest will apply if he misses the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costs are due to a November 2025 ruling by Justice Edwin Johnson<\/strong> in the case Ndung\u2019u v SPG Limited<\/strong>. The judge dismissed Ndung\u2019u\u2019s claims that his 17 per cent stake<\/strong> was unlawfully reduced to 0.85 per cent<\/strong> through share issues between 2019 and 2022<\/strong>. The court found no proof of fraud, forgery, conspiracy or unfair treatment by directors including Guerassim Nikolov, Gene Grand, Kalilina Lyubomirova and Asenath Wachera Maina<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The share dilution happened after Pevans East Africa<\/strong>, the first Kenyan SportPesa operator, lost its betting licence in 2019 over a tax dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority.<\/strong> The company stopped trading in Kenya, and its value dropped. Directors raised new capital to keep international operations going and transferred the SportPesa trademark to SGHL<\/strong> and later to Milestone Games Limite<\/strong>d, the current owner led by CEO Ronald Karauri<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndung\u2019u argued these steps were meant to exclude him and another minority shareholder. The judge ruled the actions were necessary to save the business and followed proper procedures. Ndung\u2019u had been offered chances to invest in the new shares but did not take part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SportPesa directors welcomed the outcome in a shared statement: \u201cWe are delighted with this decision. The UK High Court found that the allegations made against us had no substance. We always knew that we acted legally and properly at all times, and this judgment confirms that.\u201d<\/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> SportPesa wins share dispute case in London court<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The judge dismissed Co-founder’s claims that his 17 per cent stake was unlawfully reduced to 0.85 per cent through share issues between 2019 and 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":6960,"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 court has dismissed claims by SportPesa co-founder Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u regarding the unlawful dilution of his 17% stake to 0.85% and ordered him to pay KSh 374m (\u20ac2.55m) in legal costs. The court affirmed that the share issues and trademark transfers were necessary actions to preserve the business following Pevans East Africa's license loss in Kenya due to a tax dispute.","focusai_entities":"Paul Wanderi Ndung\u2019u, SportPesa, SportPesa Global Holdings Limited, SPG Limited, Pevans East Africa, Milestone Games Limited, Guerassim Nikolov, Gene Grand, Kalilina Lyubomirova, Asenath Wachera Maina, Ronald Karauri, Justice Edwin Johnson, Kenya Revenue Authority","focusai_location":"London, Kenya","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on SportPesa Valuation?","query":"How might this definitive legal resolution regarding shareholder disputes and corporate restructuring impact SportPesa's current and future enterprise valuation, particularly concerning potential M&A activities or capital market access?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Lessons?","query":"What specific governance framework enhancements or compliance protocols could other iGaming operators implement to mitigate similar shareholder disputes arising from regulatory enforcement actions and subsequent capital restructuring?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60013,60023],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-15224","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\/15224","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=15224"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15244,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15224\/revisions\/15244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}