Robust debut: Boyle posing during the company’s IPO in New York. While Medline sources and manufactures products in tariff-hit regions such as Asia, Boyle says the company owns 33 facilities including 19 in the United States. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: Medical supply giant Medline’s shares rose 41% above their offer price in their hotly anticipated debut, capping a strong year for new listings and fuelling optimism for 2026.
Shares of the company closed at US$41 after opening at US$35, compared with the offer price of US$29 per share.
The medical supplies maker and distributor – acquired for US$34bil in 2021 by Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in one of the largest leveraged buyouts of all time – sold 216 million shares to raise US$6.26bil in an upsized offering, making it the largest private-equity-backed initial public offering (IPO) ever.
“We’re going to run the business exactly the same way we ran it yesterday. It (the IPO) just allows us to buy down debt and amplify our voice,” said Medline chief executive officer Jim Boyle.
The debut valued Medline at US$46bil at open in the largest US IPO since Rivian’s 2021 listing.
The company’s market debut also marked the largest IPO globally in 2025, surpassing Chinese battery maker CATL’s US$5.3bil Hong Kong offering in May, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Northfield, Illinois-based Medline, founded in 1966 by brothers Jon and Jim Mills, is a key manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies such as surgical kits, gloves and gowns used by hospitals worldwide.
The company, which competes with McKesson and Cardinal Health, has posted net sales growth every year since its inception through economic cycles and the Covid-19 pandemic.
While Medline sources and manufactures products in tariff-hit regions such as Asia, Boyle said the company owns 33 facilities, including 19 in the United States, and about half of its output comes from the United States or North America.
“We make things that cost pennies, not thousands of dollars, and having a robust, diverse geography that has primary, secondary and tertiary locations – from a manufacturing perspective – allows us the ability to shift locations to mitigate some of the tariffs,” Boyle added.
Medline’s dominant position in branded medical equipment, including surgical gloves and wheelchairs, has appealed to investors, who are drawn to its growth prospects and view the business as relatively insulated from broader economic swings.
“This is a very different profile than the typical growth IPO – Medline is profitable, cash-generative, and well understood, which resonates in the current market,” said Jeff Zell, senior research analyst at IPO Boutique.
Medline reported net income of US$977mil on revenue of US$20.6bil for the nine months ended Sept 27, up from US$911mil on US$18.7bil in the same period a year earlier.
US IPO activity has stayed resilient in 2025, shrugging off the impact of market volatility in April, fuelled by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, as well as the longest government shutdown.
First-time share sales in the United States this year have raised a combined US$46.15bil – excluding blank-cheque firms – the highest since the 2021 boom, according to Dealogic data.
The total number of traditional offerings rose more than 21% in 2025 compared with the previous year.
“The IPO market continued its recovery in 2025 despite the headwinds of tariffs and a government shutdown, which prevented what could have been a more significant rebound,” said Nicholas Einhorn, director of research at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and exchange-traded funds.
Liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global, Swedish financial technology Klarna, cloud-computing firm CoreWeave and stablecoin issuer Circle were among the largest US IPOs of 2025.
Wall Street is bracing for a stronger pickup next year, with high-profile firms such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX preparing for a potential stock market flotation.
Private equity firms are also expected to bring a wave of portfolio companies to market after years of extending holding periods, as investors emerge from the post-pandemic IPO slump and larger companies across sectors from industrials to technology line up for 2026 listings.
“I think this was a bellwether transaction for the IPO market, especially the sponsor IPO market,” said Steve Wise, co-head of Americas private equity at Carlyle, part of a consortium that acquired Medline in 2021.
“It will give people more confidence that really strong businesses that have growth can have success in the public markets.”
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and JP Morgan acted as lead bookrunning managers for Medline’s offering. — Reuters
