It can be hard to figure out who’s eating who in the tie-up between 124-year-old department store giant Myer and the five apparel brands – Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E – that billionaire Solomon Lew built his Premier Investments empire around.

Officially, Myer is using its scrip to buy the apparel brands business. But Premier will kick $82 million in cash back to Myer to help fund the integration of the business. And its Premier shareholders – led, of course, by Lew, who owns 40 per cent of that group – will emerge with the largest stake in Myer, at 51.5 per cent.