CW $34b debut | KKR suits up for Alinta | Jarden operative bound for Jefferies

Good evening,

It’s the largest addition to the ASX boards ever. But Chemist Warehouse‘s $34-billion public markets debut has also turned out to be a disappointment for bulge-bracket investment banks’ bosses.

As the dust settled on the pharmacy giant’s first day as a publicly tradable entity, it was mid-tier stockbroker Morgans that traded the lion’s share of the nearly $1 billion worth of Sigma shares that changed hands. Known to be close to the Di Pilla family, it kept chipping away at small but numerous sell orders on behalf of Chemist Warehouse franchisees. It ended the day with a 28.6 per cent market share.

That was in line with how the day began, with Sydney’s Unified Capital Partners having already sold a nearly $110 million block on behalf of a couple of franchisees, several hours before founders Mario Verrocchi and the Gances were due to ring the bell at the ASX.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

About 63.5 million shares in Sigma Healthcare changed hands late on Wednesday at $2.80 to $2.75, representing $175 million worth of stock. Fund manager sources said they were offered the shares by Barrenjoey and Unified Capital Partners each, starting around 3pm.

The Australian sharemarket notched a new closing high on Thursday despite paring back most of the day’s gains in the final minutes of trade.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.