Investor Group May Lose 2 Members From Trimedyne’s Board in Meeting : MEDICAL

A Chicago investor group that tried to acquire Trimedyne earlier this year stands to lose its two representatives on the company’s board when the Santa Ana manufacturer of laser catheters holds its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday.

The seven-person slate of board nominees to be put to a vote at the meeting includes all of the company’s current directors except Fred Holubow and Thomas Polonsky.

Holubow and Polonsky are members of the Irvine B. Harris Group, which until recently was listed as Trimedyne’s largest single shareholder. But in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the group said it was disbanding its collective bid to gain control of Trimedyne.

In January, the Harris Group began a proxy fight to oust Trimedyne founder and chairman Marvin Loeb and director Richard Horowitz, who is also Loeb’s attorney, from the board. In response, Trimedyne filed a lawsuit accusing the Harris Group of violating SEC regulations.

The Harris group had become the company’s largest shareholder when it boosted its stake to 10.5% in July. On Monday, however, the group notified the SEC that it had decreased its stake in the company to to 4.3%, or 280,350 shares.

Loeb is now listed as the company’s largest shareholder, with about 10% of its stock.

Although no longer pursuing a collective acquisition, Harris Group members may continue individually to buy or sell shares or “seek to interest a third party in acquiring” Trimedyne, according to the group’s Aug. 1 filing.

Howard Cooper, Trimedyne’s president and chief executive officer, said the group rejected Loeb’s offer to give it one representative on Loeb’s slate of nominees. As a result, he said, both Harris representatives were eliminated from the slate.

In their place, Cooper said, Loeb has nominated Rick Randall, Trimedyne’s executive vice president of domestic sales and marketing, and Bruce Barron, a director and treasurer of several biomedical firms.