Ann: Update on Novartis Agreement, page-835

How many shares has SI sold?

Well, in 2007 he sold 6 million shares at $2.15 each - refer substantial shareholder notice 9 February 2007. That much we know. So that's $12.9m!

Then, with the Angioblast merger in 2010, he was entitled to 58.8 million shares, as disclosed in the Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting dated 18 August 2010. He actually acquired 31.1 million shares, as disclosed in the notice of 24 December 2010. Given he did not sell any MSB shares at that time, we conclude he must have sold some Angioblast shares prior to the merger. So while it is technically true that there was no sale of MSB shares in this situation, the practicality is that he effectively disposed of around 27 million MSB shares that he could have otherwise acquired. Since Angioblast was a private company, we have no way of knowing the proceeds, although the MSB share price at the time was $3.33.

Just to be clear, there is nothing at all wrong in either of these transactions, and I have no issue whatsoever with directors selling shares - indeed one of the problems of being a director in a listed company is that it is almost impossible to sell any shares - and I think that is unfair. In particular, SI has put blood, sweat and tears and heaps of his own money into building first Angioblast and then Mesoblast from nothing - and he thoroughly deserves taking a bit off the table. And both transactions were done in a professional way, an example of how this should be done.

So, the answer is complex, but it is not correct to say, as some have, that SI has never sold a share.