Medline has put forward terms for an absolutely massive IPO, which could see the medical device manufacturing and distribution giant raise as much as $5.37 billion if all goes to plan in the coming weeks.
The company plans to offer 179 million shares priced between $26 and $30 apiece on the Nasdaq under the ticker "MDLN" before the end of the year—which would bestow a valuation of about $37.3 billion at the midpoint, or around $55 billion at the top of the range.
That would rank it among the largest U.S. healthcare IPOs on record, following the watermark set by hospital operator HCA Healthcare’s multibillion-dollar offering back in 2011.
With a catalog of over 335,000 medical products across all areas of care, and backed by 26 North American production sites and 69 global distribution centers—spanning everything from masks, gloves and gowns to wheelchairs and surgical tools—Medline has grown to count more than 43,000 global employees after starting as a family business in Illinois in 1966.
That includes its own name-brand products and shipping agreements for devices developed by other medtechs. And, with its own fleet of more than 2,000 delivery trucks, it aims to offer next-day delivery of medical supplies to about 95% of its U.S. healthcare customers.
Altogether, Medline brought in $25.5 billion in revenue for the 2024 calendar year. Since the 1960s, the company said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has logged a compounded annual growth rate of 18% or more for over 50 years.
For the first nine months of this year, it brought in net sales of $20.6 billion and a net income of $1.0 billion. In terms of tariff-related costs, Medline said it expects to pay between $325 million to $375 million in 2025.
In 2021, Medline was sold to a consortium of private equity firms through a leveraged buyout valued at about $34 billion. The Carlyle Group, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman were part of the group that took control, while the founding Mills family retained about a quarter of the company’s ownership as its single largest shareholder.