The former UBS banker played a key role in the merger known as Project Orbit, one of the biggest deals of the year. Five months ago, over a sushi dinner at Melbourne’s Nobu, Sigma boss Vikesh Ramsunder and his major shareholder David Di Pilla were toasting a win. Sigma, the listed company in which Mr Di Pilla’s HMC Capital had built a 19 per cent stake since 2022, had won a lucrative contract to supply drugs to Chemist Warehouse, the private retail giant co-founded by Mr Di Pilla’s first cousin Mario Verrocchi, and the Gance brothers 50 years ago. That’s when the lightbulb moment hit. That night the pair, at dinner with Sigma chairman Michael Sammells and Victoria Hardie who runs HMC’s Capital Partners Fund, started to kick around the ambitions of a much bigger deal.
Chemist Warehouse will merge with Sigma Healthcare in an $8.8bn move that will create a pharmaceutical giant. Sigma Healthcare Limited, a major Australia-based pharmaceutical wholesaler and pharmacy franchisors, made the announcement on Monday, announcing its intentions to acquire the Chemist Warehouse Group (CWG). If successful, CWG founders Jack Gance and Mario Verrocchi will join the board, and WG shareholders will also own 85.75 per cent of the new merged group, plus $700m in cash consideration.
What does the Chemist Warehouse merger with Sigma Healthcare mean for the pharmacy giant? After months of speculation and years of offers that have fallen flat, the discount pharmaceutical juggernaut that is Chemist Warehouse has struck a deal with Sigma Healthcare to create the biggest pharmacy company in Australia. The pharmacy franchise has gone from strength to strength, opening hundreds of stores around the country while remaining a private company worth billions of dollars. Its founders have been subjected to various offers for the company over the years but have now struck a deal that will not only take the company public but will see it scale up substantially to be one of the biggest retail companies in Australia.
