Can Australian Private Equity Still Sell-Down?

Lead managers and underwriters for the hotly anticipated IPOs of Myer and Kathmandu should be appointed within the next week or two.  It's important that these two listings are well received by the market because they will set the tone for a long list of upcoming Australian private equity IPOs.

I'm curious to see what sell-down the market accepts.  Historically Australia has been unusually tolerant of private equity owners that cashed in their equity chips at IPO.  Sell-downs of 70%-100% were the local norm. 

By contrast, in the United States a private equity sell-down of 20%-50% of the fund's shareholding would be more typical and in Hong Kong the sell-down is usually limited to less than 40%.  The balance of the PE fund's shareholding is escrowed for 6-12 months or for the prospectus forecast period.