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Under fire, Jundt quits Kona Grill
The chief executive resigned from the money-losing chain in advance of an agitated shareholder's bid for the company.
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Former Twin Cities money manager Marcus Jundt has resigned from Kona Grill Inc. following a management-shareholder fight that erupted as the chain of eateries struggles with ongoing losses.
The company announced Jundt's resignation Friday and said that Kona's chief operating officer, Mark Bartholomay, temporarily will act as president and chief executive. Kona also said that independent director Anthony Winczewski has joined the audit committee.
Jundt said in a statement that he was "very disappointed" by the vote at Kona's 2009 annual meeting last month when a majority voted to "withhold authority" as he ran for reelection to the chain's board of directors. "I appreciate that a substantial majority of the company's public owners have spoken their will and, therefore, it is in the company's best interest for me to step aside at this time," he said in the statement.
Jundt, 43, maintains residences in Arizona and Minnesota. He has been dueling with an investment company in Greenwich, Conn., called Mill Road Capital that owns about 10 percent of Kona's shares and has attempted to buy the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based chain. In letters filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in a company conference call, Mill Road Capital had accused Jundt of mismanaging the chain and of ethical lapses, including trying to offer his father, James Jundt, preferential treatment in proposed stock sales.
Marcus Jundt denied the accusations in a company conference call with industry analysts last month.
On Monday, Mill Road Capital submitted a bid to buy all of Kona's capital stock for about $28 million in cash at $4.60 a share, about twice Kona's Friday closing price. The news boosted Kona shares $1.64, nearly 72 percent, to close at $3.93. Thomas Lynch, senior managing director of Mill Road Capital, declined to comment about Jundt's departure.
Kona's management moves return it to compliance with Nasdaq rules that require a majority of a company's board of directors to be independent.
Marcus and James Jundt were prominent money managers in the Twin Cities, and James Jundt once was a co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings. James Jundt's company, Jundt Associates Inc., landed in court in 2007 over a dispute about paying a manager's $1.83 million bonus. The investment company closed and remains in a court-appointed receivership pending an appeal.
Both Jundts remain major Kona shareholders. Kona, an upscale chain serving sushi and American food, is building a restaurant in Eden Prairie that is scheduled to open this fall.
Jennifer Bjorhus • 612-673-4683
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