ventracor's white-knuckled ride

Ventracor's white-knuckled ride

Michael West

December 15, 2008 - 10:40AM

Ventracor blew up last week after it failed to raise the $10 million in required to get it through clinical trials to June next year. The company is now up for sale.

It's been a white-knuckled ride anyway, with ABN Amro tipping in $200 million in equity from retail investors over the years as the share price waxed as high as $3.09 and more recently waned into suspension.

The question of Ventracor's 20,000 shareholders is one thing but what happens to the people with one of the company's VenrtAssist heart devices planted inside their body? Some are permanent implants.

The CEO may still spend Christmas at home in France at his Chateau Marthon and get 12 months payout.

It's another blow-up Babcock chairman Elizabeth Nosworthy could have done without. She and other directors could have been a bit more parsimonious with shareholder funds. The CEO was paid $1.4 million a year _ too much for a company which was not making money and failed to deliver on its milestones.

http://www.businessday.com.au/business/ventracors-whiteknuckled-ride-20081215-6ykg.html