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Medline shares surged more than 30% in their hotly anticipated New York debut on Wednesday, valuing the medical supply giant at $46 billion in the largest US initial public offering since Rivian’s 2021 listing, capping a strong year for new listings and fueling optimism for 2026.
Shares of the company opened at $35, compared with its IPO price of $29 per share.
The medical supplies maker and distributor — acquired for $34 billion in 2021 by Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in one of the largest leveraged buyouts of all time — sold 216 million shares to raise $6.26 billion in an upsized offering, making it the largest private-equity-backed 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 CEO Jim Boyle.
The company’s market debut also marks the largest IPO globally in 2025, surpassing Chinese battery maker CATL’s $5.3 billion Hong Kong offering in May, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Robust business but tariff concerns remain
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 US 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 $977 million on revenue of $20.6 billion for the nine months ended September 27, up from $911 million on $18.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.
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US IPO activity has stayed resilient in 2025, shrugging off the impact of market volatility in April, fueled by President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, as well as the longest government shutdown.
First-time share sales in the US this year have raised a combined $46.15 billion — excluding blank-check firms — the highest since the 2021 boom, according to Dealogic data. The total number of traditional offerings rose more than 21% in 2025 compared to 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 ETFs.
Liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global, Swedish fintech Klarna, cloud-computing firm CoreWeave and stablecoin issuer Circle were among the largest US IPOs of 2025.
Wall Street is anticipating a stronger pickup next year, with high-profile firms such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX preparing for a possible stock market flotation.
A successful listing by Medline could also encourage more PE-backed firms to move ahead with their plans.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and JPMorgan acted as lead bookrunning managers for Medline’s offering.
English (US)