Chemist Warehouse’s billionaire founders have sealed their pharmacy mega-merger with a $34 billion stockmarket debut which created Australia’s 22nd largest listed company and transformed long-serving franchisees into millionaires.

Co-founder Mario Verrocchi on Thursday urged the group’s hundreds of pharmacy franchisees to “stick around” for another five years as shares in the new company, trading as Sigma Healthcare, met high expectations to close 5.4 per cent higher and vaulted into the top 50.