Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 14

     
     1        A.  And South America.
     2
     3   Q.   In 1978 did McKey already exist or not?
     4        A.  No, 1978 was the year that McKey was founded.
     5
     6   Q.   How was it founded?  What was its composition in 1978?
     7        A.  In 1978 it was a joint venture company between
     8        McDonald's, United Kingdom, Keystone Foods of Philadelphia
     9        and myself.
    10
    11   Q.   What proportion of the shareholding, the share capital, of
    12        McKey did you hold in those days?
    13        A.  20 per cent.
    14
    15   Q.   Has it changed since then?  Do Keystone or McDonald's any
    16        longer have any interest in McKey?
    17        A.  No, none whatsoever.
    18
    19   Q.   Were Keystone always shareholders in McKey or did there
    20        come a time when they dropped out?
         A.  They dropped out in about 1980/1981.
    22
    23   Q.   Then were you and McDonald's the only shareholders?
    24        A.  At that time, yes.
    25
    26   Q.   What was your shareholding at that time?
    27        A.  My shareholding went from 20 per cent to 28 per cent to
    28        34 per cent and eventually, before I bought out McDonald's,
    29        49 per cent.
    30
    31   Q.   When was that?
    32        A.  1990.
    33
    34   Q.   1990, so you bought, their 49 per cent -----
    35        A.  I bought their 51 per cent but with my 49 per cent.
    36
    37   Q.   When did they have 51 per cent, when did they first get
    38        51 per cent, or when did you increase to 49 is really the
    39        question.
    40
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Were they always majority shareholders?
    42        A.  They always were the majority shareholders.
    43
    44   Q.   They were always 51 per cent at least?
    45        A.  At least, certainly.
    46
    47   MR. RAMPTON:  They controlled the company up to 1990 when you
    48        bought them out?
    49        A.  Yes.
    50 
    51   Q.   You made a written statement for the purposes of this 
    52        case.  I am not going to refer you to it.  In that 
    53        statement you told us this -- this, my Lord, is paragraph 5
    54         -- "All cattle for the meat that goes into McDonald's
    55        hamburgers are reared in Ireland, Scotland and England, and
    56        very occasionally, the company purchases meat from cattle
    57        reared in France, Germany and Denmark".  Has that position
    58        remained the same since you signed this statement in
    59        February last year?
    60        A.  Yes, it has.