VRI founder falls on his sword

Leon Ivory, the founder of Perth-based VRI BioMedical, resigned last night, effectively bringing to a close two months of sometimes bitter feuding between the company's board and one of its largest shareholders.

Ivory's resignation, along with that of Ken Baxter, took place on the eve of an extraordinary general meeting called by shareholder Australian Heritage Group (AHT), in which shareholders were to be asked to vote to remove the two as board members.

Ivory and Baxter have been replaced on the board by AHT director Sally Capp, and independent directors Jim Grant and Ronald Rowland.

Capp said Grant and Rowland, who are both based in Sydney, were not associated with AHT, and had been recommended by other major shareholders of VRI. She said Grant, a former chairman of Deloittes, had a strong accounting background, while Rowland had founded Australian Pharmaceutical Industries and taken it from a start-up to a successful public company.

The three new members join existing board members Jack Cade and Glyn Tonge.

AHT's initial motion to have the VRI board ousted stemmed from what it saw as a need to change the company's structure. Capp had described VRI's structure as "ineffectual".

With the company's R&D based in New South Wales, AHT said, the company should change its reporting structure so that the company secretary reported to Sydney-based CEO Dr Peter French, rather than a chairman in Perth.

Capp said today that much of that work was already done -- Ivory had been replaced on May 23 by independent non-executive chairman Ronald Deane, and the company's CEO now reported directly to French.

"I'm really pleased [that part] is over," Capp said. "It was a fairly nasty campaign, and Perth is a small town. But now there is work ahead of us and we're really keen to get into it.

"It's good when the board gets new energy and new ideas -- it's how we can help the company grow."

Deane welcomed the decision by Ivory and Baxter to stand down before this morning's meeting. "We want to put all this behind us now and run the company," he said.

Deane said a board meeting had been scheduled for next Tuesday.