Sirtex founder Bruce Gray returns to register amid takeover offer

Thought a few may be interested in this AFR note today. All history, but a few may enjoy.

Most long term HC folks will be fully aware.
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Fifteen years ago, a not-for-profit chaired by Sirtex founder and then-executive chairman Bruce Gray was instrumental in rejecting a takeover bid for the company, even though Gray's own stake, at that point a hefty third of the company, voted in favour.
Now, Sirtex is again up for grabs, and Gray, who hasn't been a substantial shareholder for years, has gone above the 5 per cent threshold. But Sirtex's major shareholders aren't too worried about the return of the combative and at times enigmatic founder, as they contemplate an offer that should see everyone walk away richer.
Chinese PE firm CDH Investments' $1.9 billion, $33.60 a share bid for the company is priced at a near 80 per cent premium to Sirtex's price before it received an earlier bid from Varian Medical Systems in January. The bids were welcomed by shareholders, who had seen their investment fall sharply since December 2016's shock earnings downgrade.
Between June 20 and July 8, Gray – the father of well-known private equiteer Andrew Gray – purchased 800,000 shares for $29.2 million. Added to his existing 2 million shares, that pushed his stake to 5.04 per cent. Gray is a difficult man to contact, but it's understood these latest buys are intended to show his confidence in the deal, which most expect to go ahead.

Gray's history with the company that made him rich has been interesting to say the least. In 2004, the University of Western Australia claimed that the company's proprietary cancer-fighting SIR-spheres, developed by Gray while he was an academic, belonged to the uni. It filed suit in the Federal Court against Sirtex and Gray, and the company filed a cross-claim against Gray. Gray was openly contemptuous of the board's handling of the mater, and convened several EGMs to try to oust the chairman who replaced him, Richard Hill. The whole messy and bitter affair took years to sort out, with the university eventually losing both its original case and its appeal. Sirtex won a case against Gray for its litigation costs, successfully arguing he'd breached his duty as chairman by not disclosing correspondence he'd had with the university about the issue in 1999. Gray sold most of his stake for $87 million in August 2013, and hadn't returned to substantial status until last week. His old sparring partner, Hill, stepped off the board last year.