The Nino’s restaurant group – which has about 20 franchises around SA – is facing bankruptcy, with its CEO admitting there is no hope to repay debt of at least R13m. A Business Day report says Rashmikant Bhana – who has run the company for 19 years – has been provisionally sequestrated, with claims that his personal finances are intertwined with those of the company and, according to one creditor, ‘they need to be unsorted’.

This week saw a flurry of applications against the Durban-based group in the High Court, with major shopping centres also taking legal action to recover alleged rental debt.

One of his creditors, Sheldon Lovemore, took a 50% stake in Nino’s after Bhana failed to repay a R7m loan. The amount of that loan is in dispute and Lovemore has now applied to the KZN High Court (Durban) to have the company placed in business rescue.

But Bhana wants the application dismissed. He said the business cannot be rescued and blamed the economy and ‘exorbitant rents’ charged by landlords in high-end shopping centres.

The provisional sequestration order was granted against him by Judge Jacqui Henriques on Wednesday. Local Hindu priest and businessman Vishwarnath Manawer sought the order, claiming Bhana owes him about R7m. Manawer said Bhana made a ‘glib proposal’ that he lend him R3m and buy the Gateway and Pavilion stores from him as going concerns for R1.5m each.

He said the sale of the franchises was never finalised and he ended up making further personal loans to ‘shore him (Bhana) up while he borrowed from Peter to pay Paul’.

Bhana’s attorney said he had been instructed to apply for a rescission of the sequestration order.

Full Business Day report (subscription needed)