Kuiken grabs bigger Ilion share

Networking distributor Ilion is at greater risk of a takeover after it emerged last week that Paul Kuiken, the chief executive of rival Landis, had increased his share in the troubled firm to 13 per cent.

In a Rule 8 disclosure to the Stock Exchange, Ilion highlighted several errors in earlier declarations made to it by Kuiken's personal company, Finance IT (FIT).

Among the claims, Ilion said FIT had purchased 245,000 ordinary Ilion shares in late April, not 225,000 as previously stated.

FIT previously held 11.8 per cent of Ilion after acquiring the 6.63 per cent stake of its founder and former chairman, Wayne Channon (PC Dealer, 14 April).

But the Rule 8 declaration also indicated that Channon had maintained an interest in Ilion through his involvement with FIT. It stated: 'By virtue of a deed dated 18 June, FIT and Channon are no longer together interested in Ilion shares.'

The Rule 8 declaration also said ABN AMRO, acting for FIT, had disclosed 'out of time' the acquisition of 100,000 and 250,000 shares on 7 May and 10 May respectively, that were later sold on 11 June.

Ilion's disclosure saw its share price rise 6p to 87.5 on 5 July. Minh Tran Chau, group financial director at Ilion, said: 'Maybe people think Landis is about to make an offer, but it has not made any approach.'

However, several sources told PC Dealer that Landis was likely to make a bid for Ilion within weeks.

Landis was unavailable for comment.