Troubled distributor ilion group today saw a chunk of shares bought by former CEO Wayne Channon and Paul Kuiken from rival Landis Group. Channon, former ilion chairman and CEO, and Kuiken, president and CEO of Landis, bought 1,666,416 ordinary shares at 5p each. This strange turn of events gave them a total of 6.63 per cent of the issued share capital. The announcement was made to the stock exchange this afternoon after the close of trading. It stated that the interest in the networking distributor was acquired "by virtue of three deeds dated 5 April 1999, Finance IT B.V. ("FIT"), Paul Kuiken and Wayne M. Channon". The move followed the acquisition by FIT of 1,300,000 ordinary shares, representing 5.17 per cent of the company, announced in January. Channon appears to be fighting for his old company, having recovered from the "throwing himself on his sword" episode at his resignation over the distributor's woes last December. One analyst, who preferred to remain nameless, told The Register: "The first thing you would think of is that Channon and Kuiken are trying to stake-build as a pre-cursor for buying ilion." Ilion's share price today closed down 1 at 83.5 pence. No one at the company was available for comment. ®