The prospectus for Myer's long-anticipated return to a stock exchange listing - which is likely to value the company at $2.5-$3bn - is expected to be lodged today with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
This will herald the start of a domestic roadshow lasting three to four weeks, followed by an institutional bookbuild towards the end of next month where institutional investors will bid for shares. The final pricing will be set after the bookbuild.
The level of interest from broking firms, acting on behalf of their wealthy customers, suggests there will be strong overall support for Myer's listing, despite fears for the retail sector earlier this year as the financial crisis deepened.
Myer's pre-registration hotline and website went live earlier this month for 3.1 million Myer One loyalty members and 13,500 staff to register interest in shares.
The prospectus is expected to detail whether Texas Pacific Group and Blum Capital, which led the $1.4bn acquisition of the department store chain from Coles Myer in 2006, will sell their entire 84.2 per cent stake or keep a small holding.
The Myer family is expected to keep at least some of its 8.3 per cent stake, while staff and management are likely to retain much of their 7.5 per cent.
The prospectus will also make clear the level of debt Myer will carry after the initial public offering.
As part of the build-up to an IPO, Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes has talked up the 109-year-old retailer's growth prospects, flagging that the number of stores will expand by 15 to 80 over five years.
Three store openings, recently said to be imminent, are understood to include Coomera, a fast-growing northern Gold Coast location, as well as Tuggerah on the NSW Central Coast and Woden in the ACT. The latter two outlets will be in Westfield shopping centres, where rival retailer David Jones is also located.
Experience suggests that Myer and David Jones both do well when they are co-located.
DJs has recently mounted a strong advertising campaign to remind investors of its own growth platform, in anticipation of some switching into Myer stock.
In response to Myer's 15 per cent boost in net profit to $109 million for the 12 months ended July 25, announced on September 11, DJs revealed on Friday it had booked a $156.5m profit over the same period, up 14 per cent.
DJs chief executive Mark McInness highlighted that the company had delivered a profit that was 43 per cent higher than Myer from revenue that was 40 per cent lower.
To some, however, that difference has highlighted the potential for more improvement from Myer.
Jump in energy demand fuels stocksShopping giant Myer profit up 15pc
