Spur takes claim of John Dory's in R12.25m deal

27 Jan 2012

Spur Corporation announced yesterday that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries had acquired the Kapsimalis Family Trust's 35% interest in John Dory's with effect from 25 January for the sum of R12.25 million.

Spur is now the owner of the entire issued share capital of John Dory's. Spur previously owned 65% of John Dory's.

The franchise restaurant group said that disputes between it and certain of its directors on the one hand, and founder and managing director of John Dory's Franchise, Stamatis Kapsimalis and his family trust had been settled.

John Dory's declared and paid a dividend to Spur of R3.25 million and to the Kapsimalis Family Trust of R1.75 million.

In October last year it was revealed that Kapsimalis, was taking court action against Spur's managing director, Pierre van Tonder, and financial manager, Ronel van Dijk.

Kapsimalis was seeking more than R4 million in damages.

According to the Business Report, Kapsimalis' first complaint was that a series of rentals were allegedly subsidised by the John Dory's franchise to benefit a restaurant owned by Van Tonder and Dean Hyde, a non-executive director at Spur.

"The second [complaint] arises from rebates earned by and due to John Dory's, allegedly concealed and retained by Spur over seven years," the newspaper said in November.