It’s the deal that took 18 months to pull together. But for Mario Verrocchi, the reverse listing of Chemist Warehouse has been 40 years in the making.
Minutes before Verrocchi rang the bell today with his co-founders Jack and Sam Gance at the ASX and the new combined Sigma Healthcare entity shares began trading — a moment that cemented their new billionaire status — he joked he’d been dreaming of this day since 1982.
He had to wait a bit longer to ring the bell because the ASX’s staggered open meant Sigma shares didn’t trade until 10:09am, when the bourse made it alphabetically to ‘s’. Old Chemist Warehouse television ads played on a screen while a crowd milled around.
That ding was the end of their journey, and a testament to the quintessential migrant success story. Merging it with the old Sigma Healthcare, the new combined entity is worth almost $32 billion.
