Sirtex back to business after failed takeover bid

With Cephalon and its takeover retiring behind the sidelines - officially, at least -- Sirtex is back to business, according to founder and CEO Bruce Gray. With a changed team if necessary.

"The past few weeks have been like a ball game," he said. "You go, you get excited, the game takes virtually all your attention, but then it is back to work the next day. That's what we are doing."

However, the company is unlikely to carry on after this ball game with exactly the same team as before. Despite claiming not to be disappointed with the outcome, which he described as being "within a whisker of getting over the line", Gray indicated there would be movement within the company.

"There will be some changes. The strong will stay and help grow the business," he warned in an obvious indication of staff changes following the failed takeover.

The consequent drop in Sirtex' share price, following Cephalon's decision to nix the takeover, from $AUD4.85 to $4.55 was not a major issue, claimed Gray. He described it as "expected".

"Certainly, the share price has gone down, but it will stabilise. The company and the business are strong, not flawed, so we will just go ahead as before," he affirmed.

"It would have been different if we had a poor product we were trying to offload, but we don't. That is not how it is in our case."

Gray also noted that if another offer was made from another company, Sirtex would consider it openly.

"Any proposal that we get we will put to the shareholders. In fact we are off to the US next week so it's definitely back to business," he said.