he had me fooled and i lost heaps because ofit

Neptune Marine's founding managing director said yesterday the company's board should have axed its acquisitive chief executive Christian Lange a lot earlier.

"It's a good thing that he's gone," said Clive Langley, who hired Mr Lange in 2006. "I would imagine that the board at this moment in time are looking back thinking 'gosh, we should have done this several years ago'."

As flagged by _The West Australian, _the marine services group confirmed yesterday that Mr Lange had been replaced by Neptune's newly-hired regional vice-president for Australasia, Robin King.

Neptune said Mr Lange had decided to step down after discussions with the board on the company's structure and direction.

However, sources said on Tuesday that the board had been left with little choice but to axe Mr Lange after major shareholders baulked at participating in an $80 million equity raising launched last week by Neptune. The raising is seen as vital in repaying $39 million in bank debt.

Mr Langley, who sold patents to Neptune in 2003 for his underwater welding technology - the group's flagship product - and was managing director when it listed on the stock exchange in 2004, said he sold out of Neptune in May 2007 because of concerns about Mr Lange's management style and aggressive growth strategy.

"I quite liked Christian (at first)," he said. "We didn't have anyone who was young and enthusiastic. But . . . he absolutely wanted to put his mark on every part of that company."

Mr Lange did not return telephone calls yesterday.

According to his contract, he could be entitled to a $750,000 termination payout. However, a Neptune spokeswoman declined to comment on whether there would be a payout.

Mr Langley said he was confident Neptune could turn its fortunes around, despite a plunge in net profit to $800,000 in 2009-10.

"It's sad to think that Neptune can't win every job because Neptune should have 20 teams probably everywhere in the world working right now," he said. "I can guarantee that with the correct management of the various divisions that to achieve more than $800,000 profit isn't very difficult to do."

Neptune said it would not make any further comment until the "end of the week".

Trading in Neptune's shares remained suspended, pending the raising. It is believed the group initially planned to raise $28.3 million through a share placement and a further $51.7 million through a 4-for-3 rights issue, both at 8? a share, a hefty discount to the stock's last trade at 20.5?.