Myer, the Australian department store chain formerly owned by private equity firm TPG, began trading on the Sydney stock market on November 2. The shares, which were priced at A$4.10 against an indicative range of A$3.90-$4.90, fell 8.5%, to A$3.75. The Standard & Poor’s ASX 200 index closed down 2%.

The float price gave Myer an inaugural market capitalisation of A$2.4bn ($2.2bn), and an enterprise value of $2.8bn. Around A$400m of the equity would be new shares issued in order to pay down debt.

TPG bought Myer for A$1.4bn in March 2006, funding the purchase with A$979m of debt. The new owners sold Myer’s flagship Melbourne property in September 2006 for A$605m, and used the proceeds to fund a A$560m dividend for the shareholders. At the time of re-listing, the company carried A$392m of net debt – 1.2 times forecast ebitda for the year, according to the listing prospectus.