Damien Gance, a director of Sigma Healthcare and Chemist Warehouse co-founder Sam Gance’s son, has pocketed $297m in an off-market sale of 100 million shares.
An ASX notice about the massive transaction on April 14 was lobbed on Wednesday.
Shares in Sigma ended the day flat at $2.99, slightly higher than the $2.97 deal cut by Mr Gance in his second selldown.
Mr Gance, who is ranked 149th among Australia’s Richest 250, sold $120m of Sigma shares in mid-February and paid $33.5m for the luxury Malia on Belongil house near Byron Bay.
DataRoom in March reported Sigma could be weighing up a convertible bond raising in a move analysts think could be aimed at paying back some bank debt. The ASX-listed pharmaceuticals company has a market value of about $35bn after it merged with retail pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse.
The founders of Chemist Warehouse, Jack and Sam Gance and Mario Verrocchi and their families, own 49 per cent of Sigma shares. The billionaire trio’s shares are escrowed until August this year, and 90 per cent until August 2026.
But Chemist Warehouse’s minority shareholders, some of whom own parcels of shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars, do not come under the escrow provisions. That set the stock up for intrigue since its market debut as fund managers seek to establish their positions.
Another prominent seller has been HMC Capital, David Di Pilla’s investment manager which realised a huge profit on its Sigma position, the group disclosed to an investor day on April 1. HMC was active in the formation of the merged Sigma-Chemist Warehouse.
This happens to leave HMC cashed up to pursue other opportunities amid a broader shake-out of public and private valuations, like the unlisted hospital operator Healthscope.
Di Pilla is the brother of Sigma executive director Danielle Di Pilla, and the first cousin of Verrocchi.
When Sigma next reports its financials for the period to 30 June 2025, it will include 12 months of the Chemist Warehouse business and Sigma’s financials from 12 February 2025.
Sigma, led by Vikesh Ramsunder, is aiming for a dividend payout policy of 50-70 per cent of net profit.
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