Controversial business tycoon and former Australian of the year Alan Bond remains on life support in an induced coma in a Perth hospital.

The 77-year-old entrepreneur returned to Perth from London this week to undergo the triple-bypass operation.

Doctors placed him in an induced coma following complications from the operation.

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His children John and Craig Bond and Jody Fewster issued a statement about their father Wednesday morning.

“Our father Alan Bond remains on life support and in an induced coma,” they said.

“He has been essentially stable for the last 24 hours and we take some hope from that.

“The family has been overwhelmed by messages of support and it is truly appreciated.”

His ex-wife Eileen told The West Australian that “[the procedure] had not gone too well and we are all hoping and praying”.

Mr Bond was one of WA’s most prominent business figures for more than a decade, and at one stage was the nation’s largest brewer.

Alan Bond with the America’s Cup. Photo: Getty

He also set up Australia’s first privately funded university.

Mr Bond was part of the syndicate that won the America’s Cup in 1983, breaking the United States’ 132-year stranglehold on the title, and ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport.

The victory transcended sailing, becoming the symbol of a time when Australia came of age and made its mark on the international stage.

Mr Bond was declared bankrupt in 1992.

In 1997, he served four years in prison for defrauding $1.2 billion from his then publicly listed Bell Group.

He was bankrupted for $622 million, which still stands as the second-largest personal bankruptcy in history.

After a 19-year absence from the nation’s rich list, Mr Bond resurfaced in 2008 with a personal fortune estimated to be worth $265 million.

Mr Bond and his first wife Eileen, whom he married as a 17-year-old in 1955, divorced in 1992.

The couple had four children together – John, Craig, Susanne and Jody.

Susanne was found dead aged 41 in her upmarket Peppermint Grove home in July 2000.

Mr Bond married theatre producer Diana Bliss in 1995. She died in 2012.

Ms Bliss stood by her husband during his jail sentence, making regular trips to prison to visit him.

– with ABC/AAP