Some of Chemist Warehouse’s largest shareholders have started to cash in stakes in the pharmacy giant’s listed vehicle Sigma Healthcare (ASX: SIG) at the same time, while one broker is recommending investors avoid the stock.
Announcements to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) show two Sigma directors netted almost $900 million (US$576 million) by selling almost 300 million shares but, according to one media report, the divestments have been more on a larger scale.
Damien Gance sold 126.5 million shares in Sigma at $3.02 per share on 9 May for $382 million, leaving him with 133.74 million shares, according to an ASX announcement on 15 May.
This followed his sale of 100 million shares at $2.97 each for $297 million on 14 April and another 40 million at $3 each for $120 million on 14 February, according to ASX announcements on 16 April and 18 February.
Danielle Di Pilla offloaded 29.8 million Sigma shares at between $3.15 and $3.20 per share between 26 and 29 May for $94.663 million, leaving her with 31.4 million shares, according to an ASX announcement on 30 May.
In fact, the selling has been more widespread with the Australian Financial Review reporting 37 large shareholders, mainly Chemist Warehouse franchisees, had sold their entire holdings for a total of $2.8 billion.
The float of Australia’s biggest pharmacy chain through a backdoor listing via Sigma on 13 February created billionaires of Co-Founder and Managing Director Mario Verrochi, who received shares valued at $7.1 billion; Co-founder and Chairman Jack Gance ($4.4 billion); Chief Financial Officer Samuel (Sam) Gance ($4 billion) and Damien Gance ($1.1 billion).
The AFR wrote that 37% of the $13.8 billion in shares not restricted from sale had changed hands since the backdoor listing.
Verrochi and Jack and Sam Gance are restricted from selling any shares before the earlier of 31 August 2025 and the close of ASX trading on the day Sigma announces its 2025 financial year (FY25) results and 90% of their shares before the earlier of 31 August 2026 and the close of trading on the day of the FY26 results.
The newspaper cited the share register analysis in a report by governance advisory firm Ownership Matters, which declined to comment to Azzet.
Morningstar analyst Shane Ponraj said he had increased his fair value of Sigma shares by 45% to $2.40 and he expected further share price growth.
“However, (the) shares are expensive as we think Sigma's best days for growth are behind it,” Ponray wrote in a note headed ‘A retail giant is now publicly investable, but we think investors should give it a miss’.
At the time of writing Sigma shares were trading at $3.03, down nine cents (2.9%) on the day, which capitalises the company at $34.98 billion.
